Granville is a commune in the Manche department and region of Normandy in north-western France. Chef-lieu of the canton of Granville and seat of the Communauté de communes de Granville, Terre et Mer, it is a seaside resort and health resort of Mont Saint-Michel Bay at the end of the Côte des Havres, a former cod fishing port and the first shellfish port of France. It is sometimes nicknamed Monaco of the north by virtue of its location on a rocky promontory. The town was founded by a vassal of William the Conqueror, on land occupied by the Vikings, in the 11th century. The old privateer city and fortification, for the defence of Mont Saint-Michel, became a seaside resort in the 19th century which was frequented by many artists, and equipped with a golf course and a horse racing course. Home of the Dior family of industrialists, an important commune which absorbed the village of Saint-Nicolas-près-Granville in 1962, port and airport of South Manche, it has also been a Douzelage city since 1991, twinned with 20 European cities. Administratively, the islands of Chausey, which include a small harbour, are part of the commune of Granville. The town is populated by 13,021 inhabitants, who are called Granvillais.
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