Dunkerque
or DUNQUERQUE, a fortified seaport town of France, department of Le Nord, 40 miles Lille. It is well built, and has several churches, a theater, concert hall, hospitals, a college, public library, and military prison, and is defended by a citadel .
The churches are less remarkable for architecture than for the paintings they contain. Large sums were expended by the French Government on its harbor and docks; these it was agreed to demolish at the peace of Utrecht, but their destruction was never completed, and at the peace of 1783 they were restored. In 1388 this town was burned by the English; after which its possession was repeatedly contested by the French and Spanish. In 1658 it was given up to the English by Turenne; and in 1662, sold by Charles II. to Louis XIV., for $1,000.000.
It was made a free port in 1826. In September and October of 1917 during the World War, the town was daily bom- DUNNE barded from sea and land, causing great wreckage and considerable loss of life Population before the war about 40,000.