Search Results - Picardie

The modern region of Picardie is larger than the historical province of Picardy. The south of the Aisne department and most of the Oise department were historically part of the province of Île-de-France, while the Somme department and the north of the Aisne department were the province of Picardy proper, with the Boulonais, that is now in Nord-Pas-de-Calais region (Pas-de-Calais departement).

As the historical Picardy was deemed too small to become a region, the French government decided to join it with the north of Île-de-France (specifically, the pays of Beauvaisis, Valois, Noyonnais, Laonnois, Soissonnais, Omois, to name only the most prominent). The name of the historical province of Picardy was given to this new region.

Thus, the Picardie region is somewhat an artificial region,^{[neutrality disputed]} with the south of the Oise department lying inside the metropolitan area of Paris. People in the south of Oise commute to Île-de-France for work, and hardly feel Picard ("Picardy inhabitant" and traditionally Picard-speakers) unlike those coming from the north of this new artificial region for whom the term is very meaningful.^{[citations needed]}