The regions in the Channel area present a paradoxical identity, for whilst they border the sea, with its intense activity, a large part of their world of work does not reflect this relationship, with many inhabitants and decision-makers demonstrating limited consciousness of its presence.

This situation stems from the mode of construction of their societies and economies over long centuries. The fundamental imprint of history is such that they have developed within the context of two great nation-states and their national economies. Both sides of the Channel are situated within the spheres of influence of their capital cities, which have asserted themselves over the centuries as metropolitan centres of international stature and standing. The imprint of this is particularly strong. The forms of development, the political systems, the nature of the states, the regulatory regimes, the economic and social structures, have experienced very important modifications over the long term. The specific historical and spatial contexts and matrices that establish trends on the largest of scales and determine an era’s major trajectory have been modified and renewed as they have succeeded one another. At the same time, the underlying constructions of national markets and states and the influence of particular capital cities have cut across any historical and spatial commonalities and continued to make their mark.

In the more distant past there have been other configurations, other historical and spatial matrices, but these are visible today only as traces or memories, perceived as heritage. They are, moreover, reinterpreted in the workings of selective memory. Amongst those configurations reduced to traces, the most significant was one of the last to occur before the development of the powerful kingdoms of England and France, that is the emergence of the Duchy of Normandy and then the Anglo-Norman realm, whose territories, in the 13^th century, extended from the south of England to the County of Toulouse. All that remains of these configurations is an architectural legacy and fragments of artistic and cultural heritage, nothing more.

The two areas of southeast and southwest England and north and northwest France developed according to variants of a very similar geo-historical and economic model. The gradual constitution of national markets from the 16^th to the 20^th centuries, together with specialisation of economic activities, a growth in protectionism regarding imports from abroad, and the determination (differently accentuated according to the period) not to be dependent on foreign countries for particular products, led to the emergence of parallel zones of production, and specialised cities. In this scheme of things, which is to be found in similar form in all of Europe’s major countries, the very early presence and continuous growth of the powerful economic nodes of London and Paris, had an enormous influence on the life of communities in the Channel region, though with differential impact. These focal points were markets for agricultural produce, they were labour markets attracting large numbers of immigrants, and also intellectual and artistic centres. They attracted, but at the same time diffused, people and goods. They served as investment and command centres for their economies: they were places of power with considerable influence.

This concern is not with specialist functions in themselves, as all regions within the two countries experienced a similar process during their construction as nation-states with national economies; what is important is their extent and frequency. The intensity of economic relations, influence, movements of people, has always been more significant in those regions closest to Paris and London than in other regions of the two countries. It is specifically the degree of extent and frequency that generates an east-west gradient between the regions on both sides of the Channel. Until recently, particularly until the last quarter of the 20^th century, the most westerly regions have been characterised by their distance, their location “at lands end.” More particularly, it is one of distance from the major focal hubs and markets, from national centres of exchange and capital cities. Brittany and Cornwall have long suffered population loss and have been marginalised from the main current of national economic development.

Northern France, despite its proximity historically to the United Provinces - Northern Italy axis with which it had long been involved, found its own specific development model in the Industrial Revolution of the 19^th century. This carried it through into the next century, relying upon its energy resources and raw materials. Waves of industrial growth affected the regions at different rates and with varying intensities, from nearby Picardy and Upper Normandy to the more distant Lower Normandy and Brittany.

Southern England, however, was largely ex-centric to the Industrial Revolution. During the medieval era, which saw the rise of domestically organised textile manufacturing, there had been a dominant axis of population growth between the West Country and East Anglia, with Bristol and Norwich becoming two of the largest towns in England. By the 18^th century, however, there was a shift northwards, and the rapid ascendancy of the new manufacturing heart of England left large areas of the southwest peripheral, even though the metropolitan southeast continued to expand.

The contemporary pattern of economic development has very considerably re-configured the map. From the 1950s to the 1970s, the least industrialised of the French regions saw the development of industrial activity, often driven by the new automobile, electronics, consumer goods and food processing sectors. At the same time, employment in the tertiary sector expanded considerably. The last third of the 20^th century then witnessed the restructuring of the industrial sector and a move towards high technology. In parallel, the tertiary sector continued to grow very strongly, having already become dominant, particularly in Britain.

These processes, though deeply disruptive in themselves, were a function of the existing relationship with the great metropolitan capital cities, notably along an east-west gradient. With reduced travelling times as a consequence of the development of fast rail links and motorways, distant places with high environmental quality became attractive not only for tourism and retired people, but also for the establishment of newly located firms. Thus, thanks to innovation and economic development, the regions least involved in the industrial revolution have become the new locus of economic strength. Environment and quality of life, not to be confused with ‘heliotropism,’ has become important in regional development. Whatever their past economic history, all the regions of the Channel area will share this future.