French Flanders ( fr. Flandre française , west Flam. Frans-Vloandern , Dutch. Frans-Vlaanderen ), also called South Flanders - a historical (non-administrative) region in the north of France . It is part of the former county of Flanders , which went to France in the Nimwegian world in 1678 .
Today it forms part of the Hautes-de-France region (departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais ). It is divided into three subregions: Westhook, or seaside Flanders, Romanesque Flanders and Flemish Artois .
The main cities: Lille , Douai , Kassel , Dunkirk , Hazebrouck , Bayeul , Arras , Bethune , Saint-Aman-les-Oz , Lance , Saint-Omer , Boulogne-sur-Mer ...
Historically, this region was bilingual: they spoke French ( Picardian dialect ), as well as Dutch ( West Flemish dialects ), although by the beginning of the 21st century the Flemish dialect was almost out of use. There are organizations in support of West Flemish and Dutch.