Calais

Port in Pas-de-Calais département, in northern France, 238 km/148 mi north of Paris; population (1999) 77,300, conurbation 104,800. Situated on the Strait of Dover, Calais lies on the shortest crossing of the English Channel, being just 34 km/21 mi southeast of Dover, and is a major ferry port. Its strategic position has made it the victim of several conquests from 1347, when it was conquered by the English, until 1940 when it was occupied by German forces. The entry to the Channel Tunnel, completed in 1994, is at Sangatte, 6 km/3.7 mi from Calais, and the station on the new high-speed railway is at Fréthun, a similar distance from the town centre.