Cherbourg Peninsula, France, 17 September 2005

Cap de la Hague is a

cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

at the tip of the

Cotentin peninsula The Cotentin Peninsula (, ; nrf, Cotentîn ), also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its w ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The La Hague area has

precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...

granite and gneiss cliffs, several coves and small fields surrounded by hedges. France's oldest rocks are to be found on its coast in

Jobourg Jobourg () is a former commune in the Manche department in north-western France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune La Hague. It lies near Cap de la Hague in the Cotentin peninsula. Its population was 493 in 2019. It is surro ...

. Other rocky outcroppings on the coast include Cadomian granite in

Auderville Auderville () is a former commune on the north coast of the Manche department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune La Hague. History On 22 February 1941, an RAF reconnaissance Spit ...

and

Variscan The Variscan or Hercynian orogeny was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. Nomenclature The name ''Variscan'', comes f ...

granite in Flamanville.Alain Foucault. Guide du géologue amateur. Éditions Dunod. p. 182. . The dialect of the

Norman language Norman or Norman French (, french: Normand, Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a Romance language which can be classified as one of the Oïl languages along with French, Picard and Walloon. The name "Norman French" is sometimes used to descri ...

spoken by a minority in the region is called '' Haguais''. The Norman poet Côtis-Capel was a native of the region and used the landscape as inspiration for his poetry. The painter

Jean-François Millet Jean-François Millet (; 4 October 1814 – 20 January 1875) was a French artist and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France. Millet is noted for his paintings of peasant farmers and can be categorized as part of the Realism ...

was also a native of the region. The La Hague site, the largest light water reactor nuclear waste reprocessing plant on earth (over half of the world's capacity), is located in the region.

References

External links

Lahague-tourisme.com: Official La Hague tourism websiteFestival International de Musique de la Hague website
Headlands of France Geography of Manche Landforms of Normandy Geology of France Normandy region articles needing translation from French Wikipedia {{Manche-geo-stub