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Belgium additional
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Aalst
Antwerp
Antwerpen
Bastogne
Blankenberge
Boncelles
Bouillon
Brugge
Brussels
Casteau
Charleroi
Crupet
Diegem
Diksmuide
Dinant
Durbuy
Durbuy
Lodging
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Edegem
Fleurus
Gembloux
Genk
Gent
Genval
Ghent
Grimbergen
Hasselt
Hasselt
Lodging
Huy
Ieper
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Knokke-Zoute
Kortenberg
Kortrijk
Leuven
Leuven Lodging
Libramont
Liege
Limelette
Louvain La Neuve
Mechelen
Menen (Kortrijk)
Mons
Mons Lodging
Namur
Nieuwpoort
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Oostende
Oostende
Oud-Turnhout
Retie
Rixensart
Schepdaal
Sint Niklaas
Spa
Strombeek-Bever
Turnhout
Waterloo
Wavre
Wevelgem
Zaventem |
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The Kingdom of Belgium (Dutch: Koninkrijk
België; French: Royaume de Belgique; German:
Königreich Belgien) is a country in northwest
Europe bordered by the Netherlands, Germany,
Luxembourg and France. Belgium has a population
of over ten million people in an area of thirty
thousand square kilometres. Straddling the
cultural boundary between Germanic and Romance
Europe, it is both linguistically and culturally
divided. Two major languages are spoken in
Belgium: Dutch—sometimes unofficially called
Flemish—spoken in Flanders to the north; and
French, spoken in Wallonia in the south. The
capital, Brussels, is officially bilingual. In
addition to the two, an officially recognized
minority of German speakers is present in the
east. This linguistic diversity often leads to
political conflict, and is reflected in
Belgium's complex system of government and
political history.
Belgium derives its name from its first named
inhabitants, the Belgae, a group of mostly
Celtic tribes, and from the Roman province in
northern Gaul, known as Gallia Belgica.
Historically, Belgium has been a part of the Low
Countries, which also includes the Netherlands
and Luxembourg. From the end of the Middle Ages
until the seventeenth century, it was a
prosperous center of commerce and culture. From
the sixteenth century until independence in
1830, Belgium, called at that time the Southern
Netherlands, was the site of many battles
between the European powers, and has been dubbed
"the Cockpit of Europe."[1] More recently,
Belgium was a founding member of the European
Union, hosting its headquarters, as well as
those of other major international organisations,
such as NATO.
History
Main article: History of Belgium
Over the past two millennia, the area that is
now known as Belgium has seen significant
demographic, political and cultural upheavals.
The first well-documented population move was
the conquest of the region by the Roman Republic
in the 1st century BC, followed in the 5th
century by the Germanic Franks. The Franks
established the Merovingian kingdom, which
became the Carolingian Empire in the 8th
century. During the Middle Ages, the Low
Countries were split into many small feudal
states. Most of them were united in the course
of the 14th and 15th centuries by the house of
Burgundy as the Burgundian Netherlands. These
states gained a degree of autonomy in the 15th
century and were thereafter named the Seventeen
Provinces.
The Seventeen Provinces (orange, brown and
yellow areas) and the Bishopric of Liège (green
area). For a detailed description, see Seventeen
Provinces
Episode of the Belgian Revolution of 1830, Egide
Charles Gustave Wappers (1834), in the Musée
d'Art Ancien, Brussels
The history of Belgium can be distinguished from
that of the Low Countries from the 16th century.
A civil war, the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648),
divided the Seventeen Provinces into the United
Provinces in the north and the Southern
Netherlands in the south. The southern provinces
were ruled successively by the Spanish and the
Austrian Habsburgs. Until independence, the
Southern Netherlands were sought after by
numerous French conquerors and were the theatre
of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars
during the 17th and 18th centuries. Following
the Campaigns of 1794 in the French
Revolutionary Wars, the Low Countries—including
territories that were never under Habsburg rule,
such the Bishopric of Liège—were overrun by
France, ending Spanish-Austrian rule in the
region. The reunification of the Low Countries
as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands
occurred at the end of the French Empire in
1815.
The 1830 Belgian Revolution led to the
establishment of an independent, Catholic and
neutral Belgium under a provisional government.
Since the installation of Leopold I as king in
1831, Belgium has been a constitutional monarchy
and parliamentary democracy. Between
independence and World War II, the democratic
system evolved from an oligarchy characterised
by two main parties, the Catholics and the
Liberals, to a universal suffrage system that
has included a third party, the Belgian Labour
Party, and a strong role for the trade unions.
Originally, French, which was the adopted
language of the nobility and the bourgeoisie was
the official language. The country has since
developed a bilingual Dutch-French system.
The Berlin Conference of 1885 agreed to hand
over Congo to King Leopold II as his private
possession, called the Congo Free State. In
1908, it was ceded to Belgium as a colony,
henceforth called the Belgian Congo. Belgium's
neutrality was violated in 1914, when Germany
invaded Belgium as part of the Schlieffen Plan.
The former German colonies Ruanda-Urundi—now
called Rwanda and Burundi—were occupied by the
Belgian Congo in 1916. They were mandated in
1924 to Belgium by the League of Nations.
Belgium was again invaded by Germany in 1940
during the blitzkrieg offensive. The Belgian
Congo gained its independence on 30 July 1960
during the Congo Crisis, and Ruanda-Urundi
became independent in 1962.
After World War II, Belgium joined NATO and,
together with the Netherlands and Luxembourg,
formed the Benelux group of nations. Belgium was
also one of the founding members of the European
Economic Community. Belgium hosts the
headquarters of NATO and a major part of the
European Union's institutions and
administrations, including the European
Commission, the Council of the European Union
and most of the sessions of the European
Parliament. During the 20th century, and in
particular since World War II, the history of
Belgium has been increasingly dominated by the
autonomy of its two main language communities.
This period saw a rise in intercommunal
tensions, and the unity of the Belgian state has
come under scrutiny.[2] Through constitutional
reforms in the 1970s and 1980s, regionalisation
of the unitary state had led to the
establishment of a three-tiered system of
federal, linguistic-community and regional
governments, a compromise designed to minimise
linguistic tensions.
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Belgium
Antwerp
Brugge
russels
Charleroi
Liege
Oostende
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Background:
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Belgium became independent from the Netherlands in
1830 and was occupied by Germany during World Wars I
and II. It has prospered in the past half century as
a modern, technologically advanced European state
and member of NATO and the EU. Tensions between the
Dutch-speaking Flemings of the north and the
French-speaking Walloons of the south have led in
recent years to constitutional amendments granting
these regions formal recognition and autonomy. |
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Location:
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Western Europe, bordering the North Sea, between
France and the Netherlands |
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Geographic coordinates:
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50 50
N, 4 00 E
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Map references:
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Europe |
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Area:
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total: 30,510 sq km
land: 30,230 sq km
water: 280 sq km |
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Area - comparative:
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about
the size of Maryland |
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Land boundaries:
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total: 1,385 km
border countries: France 620 km, Germany 167
km, Luxembourg 148 km, Netherlands 450 km |
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Nationality:
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noun: Belgian(s)
adjective: Belgian |
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Ethnic groups:
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Fleming 58%, Walloon 31%, mixed or other 11% |
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Religions:
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Roman
Catholic 75%, Protestant or other 25% |
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Languages:
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Dutch
(official) 60%, French (official) 40%, German
(official) less than 1%, legally bilingual (Dutch
and French) |
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Currency:
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euro
(EUR); Belgian franc (BEF)
note: on 1 January 1999, the European
Monetary Union introduced the euro as a common
currency to be used by financial institutions of
member countries; on 1 January 2002, the euro became
the sole currency for everyday transactions within
the member countries |
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Currency code:
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EUR;
BEF |
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Exchange rates:
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euros
per US dollar - 1.1324 (January 2002), 1.1175
(2001), 1.0854 (2000), 0.9386 (1999); Belgian francs
per US dollar - 34.77 (January 1999), 36.229 (1998),
35.774 (1997) |
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