Gonesse () is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Val-d'Oise Val-d'Oise (, "Vale of the Oise") is a department in the Île-de-France region, Northern France. It was created in 1968 following the split of the Seine-et-Oise department. In 2019, Val-d'Oise had a population of 1,249,674. ...

department, in the north-eastern suburbs of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. The commune lies immediately north of Le Bourget Airport, and it is six kilometres (four miles) south-west of

Charles de Gaulle International Airport Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, ), also known as Roissy Airport or simply Paris CDG, is the principal airport serving the French capital, Paris ( and its metropolitan area), and the largest inter ...

History

Since

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippi ...

times, cereals have been grown in Gonesse. In the period of the 12th through to the 16th centuries, the cultivation of grain was supplemented by drapery, in particular the production of the coarse woollen material of the ''gaunace''.Histoire de Gonesse – Quelques repères historiques
. ''Ville-gonesse.fr'', retrieved July 11, 2011 The commune was an important producer of

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

for the

ian market in modern times, until the decline of its bakery trade at the end of the 18th century helped feed a strong migration to the capital. WasserstoffballonProfCharles

The world's first hydrogen filled

balloon A balloon is a flexible bag that can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, and air. For special tasks, balloons can be filled with smoke, liquid water, granular media (e.g. sand, flour or rice), or lig ...

—the unmanned balloon launched by

Jacques Charles Jacques Alexandre César Charles (November 12, 1746 – April 7, 1823) was a French inventor, scientist, mathematician, and balloonist. Charles wrote almost nothing about mathematics, and most of what has been credited to him was due to mistaking ...

and the

Robert brothers Les Frères Robert were two French brothers. Anne-Jean Robert (1758–1820) and Nicolas-Louis Robert (1760–1820) were the engineers who built the world's first hydrogen balloon for professor Jacques Charles, which flew from central Paris o ...

from the

Champ de Mars The Champ de Mars (; en, Field of Mars) is a large public greenspace in Paris, France, located in the seventh ''arrondissement'', between the Eiffel Tower to the northwest and the École Militaire to the southeast. The park is named after t ...

in Paris on 27 August 1783—flew for 45 minutes and landed in Gonesse, where the reportedly terrified local peasants destroyed it with

pitchforks A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to t ...

. This caused the government to issue a statement on the harmlessness and the scientific value of such experiments. In 1815,

Marshal Grouchy Emmanuel de Grouchy, 2nd Marquis of Grouchy (; 23 October 176629 May 1847) was a French general and Marshal of the Empire. Biography Grouchy was born in Condécourt (Val d'Oise), Château de Villette, the son of François-Jacques de Grouchy, 1 ...

arrived in Gonesse in the course of the

War of the Sixth Coalition In the War of the Sixth Coalition (March 1813 – May 1814), sometimes known in Germany as the Wars of Liberation, a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, and a number of German States defeated F ...

, with 40,000 troops and 120 artillery pieces. On 2 July, the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister ...

made his headquarters at the commune. Since June 1939, the property Frapart (the ''Castle'') is used as the main establishment of the urban administration. Jean Camus, Louis Furmanek, Pierre Lorgnet, and Albert Drouhot from Gonesse belonged to the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

movement during the

German occupation of France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

from 1940 to 1944. On 25 July 2000,

Air France Flight 4590 On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde passenger jet on an international charter flight from Paris to New York, crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 109 people on board and four on the ground. It was the only fatal Concorde a ...

—a

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...

supersonic transport A supersonic transport (SST) or a supersonic airliner is a civilian supersonic aircraft designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound. To date, the only SSTs to see regular service have been Concorde and the Tupol ...

—crashed onto a hotel in the town after a tyre blew out, caused by running over a strip of metal that had fallen off a

DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 19 ...

at nearby

. The crash led to the deaths of all 109 people on board and four more on the ground. The Concorde crash occurred fewer than 6 km from Goussainville, the site of the

crash Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch ...

of the supersonic

Tupolev Tu-144 The Tupolev Tu-144 (russian: Tyполев Ту-144; NATO reporting name: Charger) is a Soviet supersonic passenger airliner designed by Tupolev in operation from 1968 to 1999. The Tu-144 was the world's first commercial supersonic transport ai ...

during the 1973

Paris Air Show The Paris Air Show (french: Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace de Paris-Le Bourget, Salon du Bourget) is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in north Paris, France. Organized by the Frenc ...

Population

Sights

Among the places worthwhile to visit in the town are the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, the old Hotel-Dieu, the Hotel-Dieu, the lofts Garlande and Orgemont, and the estates of Malmaison and of Coulanges.

Transport

Gonesse is served neither by the Paris Métro, RER, nor the suburban rail network. The closest station is the Villiers-le-Bel – Gonesse – Arnouville station on the Paris RER line D. This station is located in the neighbouring commune of

Arnouville-lès-Gonesse Arnouville () is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department in Île-de-France in northern France. Previously known as Arnouville-lès-Gonesse, the name was officially renamed to Arnouville on 11 July 2010. Population Education Public primary sc ...

, from Gonesse town centre.

Education

, the commune had 20 municipal primary schools with a total of 3,526 ;pupils, including 11 pre-schools (''écoles maternelles'') with a total of 1,389 pupils (in addition to 20 children in ''toute petite'' programmes) and nine elementary schools with 2,137 total pupils. Junior high schools: * College Philippe Auguste * Collège Robert Doisneau * Collège François Truffaut There is one senior high school, Lycée René Cassin-Gonesse.

Notable people

* King

Philip Augustus Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), byname Philip Augustus (french: Philippe Auguste), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks, but from 1190 onward, Philip became the first French m ...

was born in Gonesse on 21 August 1165. *

Simon Abkarian Simon Abkarian (Armenian: Սիմոն Աբկարյան, born March 5, 1962) is a French-Armenian actor. Life and career Born in Gonesse, Val d'Oise, of Armenian descent, Abkarian spent his childhood in Lebanon. He moved to Los Angeles, wher ...

*Dr. Ernest Broquet, former mayor of Gonesse and recipient of the

Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

* Woyo Coulibaly, footballer *

Axel Disasi Axel Wilson Arthur Disasi Mhakinis Belho (born 11 March 1998) is a French professional footballer who plays as a defender for Ligue 1 club Monaco and the France national team. Club career Early career A youth academy product of Paris FC, D ...

, footballer *

Annabelle Euranie Annabelle Euranie (born 4 September 1982 in Gonesse, France) is a French judoka who competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XX ...

, judoka * Mohamed Fofana, footballer * Franck Julienne, footballer * Aboubakar Kamara, footballer *

Grejohn Kyei Grejohn Kyei (born 12 August 1995) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for Clermont. Club career Kyei is a product of the youth academy of Stade de Reims. He made his Ligue 1 debut on 12 April 2015 against OGC Nice re ...

, footballer *

Louis Labeyrie Louis Labeyrie (born 11 February 1992) is a French professional basketball player for UNICS Kazan of the VTB United League. Professional career From 2008 to 2011, Labeyrie played for Fos Provence Basket. In 2011, he signed with Hyeres-Toulon for ...

, basketball player *

Cedric Moukouri Cedric () is a masculine given name invented by Walter Scott in the 1819 novel ''Ivanhoe''.Sir Walter Scott, Graham Tulloch (ed.), ''Ivanhoe'', vol. 8 of The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, Edinburgh University Press, 1998, , "explanato ...

, footballer *

Alice Nayo Alice Nayo (born January 16, 1993 in Gonesse, France) is a French basketball player who plays for club ESB Villeneuve-d'Ascq ESB Villeneuve-d'Ascq is a French women's basketball club from Villeneuve-d'Ascq playing in the Ligue Féminine de ...

, basketball player * Thierry Rupert, basketball player *

Dylan Saint-Louis Dylan Saint-Louis (born 26 April 1995) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward and winger for Turkish club Hatayspor. Born in France, he represents Congo at international level. Club career Saint-Louis is a youth exponent from S ...

, footballer * Halifa Soule, footballer *

Warren Tchimbembe A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval An ...

, footballer

Twinning with Leonessa

Gonesse has been twinned with the town of

Leonessa :''Leonessa is also the name of a ''frazione'' of Bassano Romano.'' Leonessa is a town and '' comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Province of Rieti in the Lazio region of central Italy. Its population in 2008 was around 2,700. Situated i ...

Rieti Rieti (; lat, Reate, Sabino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 47,700. It is the administrative seat of the province of Rieti and see of the diocese of Rieti, as well as the modern capital of the Sabin ...

, Italy, since 1981.Jumelage et partenariats
. ''Ville-gonesse.fr'', retrieved July 11, 2011

References

External links

Official website
*
Association of Mayors of the Val d’Oise
{{Authority control Communes of Val-d'Oise

History

Population

Sights

Transport

Education

Notable people

Twinning with Leonessa

See also

References

External links