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Dover is a major channel port in the English county of Kent. At the 2001 census, the town of Dover proper had a population of 28,156 inhabitants, while the population of the whole urban area of Dover, as calculated by the Office for National Statistics, was 39,078 inhabitants. The town is the administrative centre of the Dover district.
Dover is famous for its white cliffs, which are made of chalk. The cliffs gave Britain its nickname of Albion, meaning "white". The town's name derives from the Brythonic Dubrās ("the waters"), via its Latinized form of Dubris.
Its closeness to continental Europe – it is only 34 kilometres (21 miles) from the French port of Calais – makes Dover one of the United Kingdom's busiest cross-Channel ports, with 18 million passengers passing through each year. Regular ferry services operate from Dover to Calais and Dunkerque. A regular catamaran service to Boulogne recommenced in May 2004. Catamaran services provided by Hoverspeed to Ostend were withdrawn in 2003, and to Calais on 7 November 2005. Hoverspeed had previously operated hovercraft services to and from Calais and Boulogne for many years.
Since 1836 the town of Dover (originally being the two parishes of Dover St. Mary's and Dover St. James) has incorporated the ancient villages and parishes of Buckland and Charlton. These are now suburbs of the town.
Maxton was once a hamlet of Hougham parish to the west of Dover, and the terminus of the tramway system serving the town until its closure in 1936. It is now a suburb of the town.