Belgium Article, Belgium Information

Geographically and culturally, Belgium is at the crossroads of Europe, and during the past 2,000 years has witnessed aconstant ebb and flow of different races and cultures . Consequently, Belgium is one of Europe's true meltingpots with Celtic , Roman , Germanic cultures having made an imprint, and later on in history, French , Dutch , Spanish , and Austrian influences.

The earliest named inhabitants of Belgium were the Belgae . They were (mostly) Celtictribes, living in northern Gaul and overcome by Julius Caesar in 54 BC , as described in his chronicle De Bello Gallico . After the Roman Empire collapsed ( 5th century ), Germanic tribesinvaded the Roman province of "Gallia". One of these people, the Franks , finallyinstalled a new kingdom under the rulers of the MerovingianDynasty . Clovis was the most famous of these kings: he converted to Christianity and ruled from northern France, but his empire included today'sBelgium. Christian scholars, mostly Irish monks , preached Christianity and started conversion work under the pagan invaders. The Merovingians were rather short-lived, as the Carolingian Dynasty took over: after Charles Martel countered the Moorish invasion from Spain( 732 - Poitiers), their famous king Charlemagne brought a huge part of Europe under his rulership and was crowned as the " Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire " by the pope himself ( 800 ).

The region was later associated with the Netherlands , under Burgundian then Spanish rule, until the Protestant provinces took their independence (see Netherlands ). Then followed Austrian rule, and a few years of French rule under Napoleon . After Napoleon 's demise, in 1815 , Belgium wasreunited with the northern provinces in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands untilthe Belgian Revolution in 1830 , which established an independent Belgian state. The Belgian revolution was initiated by the French-speakingminority who controlled the factories and other economical resources and who didn't want to live under a Dutch-speakingadministration. The fact that Belgium was mostly catholic and Netherlands predominantly protestant also played a role.

The Belgian King, Leopold I , was chosen with theassistance of the British. The country's neutrality was guaranteed against future foreign military aggression. This neutralitywas violated in 1914 when Germany invaded Belgium as part of the Schlieffen Plan . The British decision to honour their treaty obligations, asmuch as the entente cordiale with France, forced them intothe First World War. After a period of alliance with France after the First World War, Belgium tried to return to neutrality inthe 1930s , but was once again invaded by Germany in 1940 . After World War II , the policy of neutrality was abandoned, and Belgium joined NATO . It was also one of the founding members of the European Economic Community .

Belgium possessed one primary foreign colony during its history: the Congo , which was given to King LeopoldII in the Conference of Berlin in 1885 . He made the land his private property and called it the ' Congo Free State '. In this Free State, the local population was brutalised in exchange for rubber , a growing market with the developement of rubber tyres. In 1908, the internationalpressure against the cruelties of King Leopold became so great that Leopold II was forced to give his property to the Belgianstate as a colony. From then on, it became Belgian Congo , before gainingindependence from Belgium in 1960 .

Belgium's foreign involvement increased after the First World War when two former German colonies, Rwanda and Burundi were mandated to Belgium by the League of Nations . Belgian policy in the administration andsocio-cultural development of these countries has been heavily criticised, many seeing Belgian decisions as contributingsignificantly to the troubles in Rwanda in the 1990s when a genocide took place, with anestimated 1 million casualties.

Since the 20th century , the history of Belgium became more and moredominated by the increasing autonomy of its two main communities, the Dutch- and the French-speakers. As an indication of this,since around 1970, there are no significant national Belgian political parties anymore, but only Flemish or French-speakingparties. The regular attempts to establish national, Belgian parties end up below 1% of the electorate; the Brussels partieseither never got started (as with the 'Blauwe Leeuwen' and 'Rode Leeuwen' for the Flemings in Brussels), or got merged into oneof the French-speaking liberal parties (such as the French-speaking FDF , which howeverhas had a significant influence for years, and still keeps some independence). As such, the political landscape shows anear-perfect dual political system, reflecting the two underlying dominant communities.

Politics

Behind these complex institutions, one notes the two dominant components of the Belgian state: the Flemings and their political institutions under the Flemishgovernment ; and the French-speakers, grouped under the French(-speaking) Community and its more fragmented institutions. All political parties inBelgium belong to one of these two communities, except for a German-speaking party and some marginal parties in Brussels.However, these only attract votes from one of the two communities in Brussels. Thus, there are no national parties active overall the Belgian territory. In short, the Belgian political landscape carefully mirrors the dual nature of Belgian society.

For example, a school building in Brussels belonging to the public school system would be regulated by the regional governmentof Brussels. The school as an institution however would fall under the regulations of either the Flemish government, if theprimary language of teaching is Dutch, or the French Community government, if the primary language is French. It is a complex,somewhat unstable and expensive, but peaceful compromise that allows distinctly different cultures to live together.

Communities, regions & provinces

Belgium is divided into three communities, the Flemish community , the French-speaking community and the German-speaking community , and in three regions: Brussels (mainly Dutch- and French-speaking, with apopulation of 960,000), Flanders (mainly Dutch-speaking, with a population of6,000,000), and Wallonia (mainly French-speaking, with a population of 3,300,000).The later two regions are each divided into 5 provinces.

The main cities and their population are Brussels (959,318), Antwerp (445,570), Ghent (224,685), Charleroi (200,233), and Liège (184,550).

Geography

Belgium has an area of 30,510 km² . Belgium has three mainphysical regions: the coastal plain (located inthe northwest), the central plateau , and the Ardennes uplands (located in the southeast).

The coastal plain consists mainly of sand dunes and polders . Polders are areas of land, close to or below sea level , that have been reclaimed from the sea from which they are protected by dikes , or, further inland, fields that have been drained by canals .

The second physical region, the central plateau, lies further inland. This is a smooth, slowly rising area which has many fertile valleys and is irrigated by many waterways . Here one canalso find rougher land, including caves and small gorges .

The third physical region (called the Ardennes) is somewhat more rugged than the first two. It is a thickly forested plateau, very rocky and not very good for farming , which extends into northern France. This is where much of Belgium's wildlife can be found.

The two main rivers in Belgium are the Scheldt and the Meuse . These two rivers bring prosperity to Tournai , Ghent , Antwerp , Liège and Namur . Although generally flat, the terrain becomes increasingly hilly and forested in the southeast ( Ardennes ) region, where one can find Belgium's highest point, the Signal de Botrange at only 694 metres.

The climate is cool, temperate, and rainy ; summer temperatures average 25°C /77°F, winters average 7.2°C / 45°F. Annual extremes (rarely attained) are -12.2°C /10°F and 32.2°C / 90°F.

Economy

Densely populated Belgium is located at the heart of one of the world's most highly industrialised regions. One of the firstcountries to undergo an industrial revolution on thecontinent of Europe in the early 1800s , Belgium developed an excellent transportationinfrastructure of ports, canals, railways , and highways to integrate its industry with that of its neighbours. One of the founding members of the European Union , Belgium strongly supports deepening the powers of the EU tointegrate European economies. Belgium was one of the first countries to adopt the euro , thesingle European currency, in January 1999 and the Belgian franc was completely replaced by euro coins and banknotes in early 2002 .

Belgium is sometimes called "The heart of Europe". This is not only because of its geographical location, but also due to manyinternational institutions having their headquarters in Brussels, such as NATO (others). This, in its turn, is because it has an excellent transportation system. It has a modern and toll-free roadsystem, is connected to the European railway system, and Antwerp is the secondlargest European port .

The economy in Belgium greatly depends on its imports and exports. Its main imports are: food products, machinery, rough diamonds , petroleum and petroleumproducts, chemicals, clothing and accessories, and textiles , and its main tradepartners are Germany, The Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom , Italy , the United States , and Spain . Its main exports are automobiles , food and food products, iron and steel , diamonds, textiles, plastics , petroleum products, and nonferrousmetals. Trade is made together with Luxembourg, since these two countries created a customs and currency union in 1922 .

Demographics

The population density , 336/km², is one of the highest inEurope, after the Netherlands and some smaller countries such as Monaco . The areas withthe highest population density are around the Brussels-Antwerp-Ghent-Leuven agglomerations, as well as other important urbancentres as Liège, Charleroi, Kortrijk, Brugges, Hasselt and Namur. The Ardennes have the lowest density.

There are three official languages, Dutch , French and German . More than half of the country is Dutch-speaking (56%-60%), French is the second most spokenlanguage (40%-44%) and German is spoken by less than 1% of the population, although these figures must be taken with care sincethe last linguistic census dated before 1960 .

Both the official Dutch spoken in Belgium and Belgian French havesmall vocabulary differences from the varieties spoken in the Netherlands and France , but are mutually intelligible with their respective neighbouring dialects . Many speak Flemish or Walloon dialects which are often difficult to understand for people fromother areas. Other regional languages officially recognised (in Wallonia only) are Champenois , Gaumais , and Picard .

Brussels , the capital, is mostly French speaking, but officially French/Dutchbilingual as it evolved from a Dutch-speaking place when the Belgian state became independent in 1830 to its current dominantlyFrench character being the capital of the central administration of the federal country.

Over 98% of the adult population is literate. Education is obligatory from the age of 6 until the age of 18, but most Belgianstudents keep on studying until the age of 23. This makes Belgium's education system the second most intensive in Europe, afterthe UK's.

Religion

In Belgium Roman Catholicism is the majority religion,accounting for between 75% and 80% of the population, although nowadays only about 10% to 20% of the population regularly goes tochurch. Other religions widely practised in Belgium are Islam , Protestantism , and Judaism .

Religion was one of the differences between the Roman Catholic south and the Protestant north of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands , whicheventually broke up in 1830 when the south seceded to form Belgium. This accounts for thepreponderance of Catholics there nowadays.

Since 1830, Catholicism has had also an important role in Belgium's politics. One example is the so-called "school wars"("guerres scolaires" in French) between liberals and Catholics which took place between 1879 and 1884 for the first one and between 1954 and 1958 for the second one.

Between World War I and World War II the centre of occult and mystical activity was shifted from France to Belgium. Belgiumbecame the main centre for many brotherhoods and secret societies of which many branches still exist today.

Culture

Belgium has a variety of famous artists. These include Peter PaulRubens , René Magritte , Jan van Eyck , Breughel , Memling , Ensor , Delvaux . RenéMagritte is probably the most famous Belgian artist. He, together with Paul Delvaux, are two major artists of the surrealisticstyle. Many great French authors went to Belgium for refuge. In music AdolpheSax is famous for inventing the saxophone in 1840. He appeared on the formerBelgian 200 Belgian francs (BEF) banknotes.

In architecture the name Victor Horta is well known. He was one of theoriginators of the Art Nouveau architecture, a style of architecture whichhad a major impact upon 20th century buildings.

Belgium has a large variety of museums and temporary expositions. Some of the most impressive museums in Belgium are The RoyalMuseum for Fine Arts, in Antwerpen, which has an admirable collection of works by Peter Paul Rubens, and The Royal Museum of FineArts of Belgium in Brussels, which has a cinema, a concert hall, and artworks of many periods.

Many gourmets think that Belgium has the best food in Europe. Brands of Belgian chocolate, like Neuhaus , Côte d'Or , Leonidas , Godiva are world renowned, the praline having been invented in Belgium. In Belgium there are over 450 differentkinds of beer, those of the Trappist monks being the most prestigious.Technically, it is an ale and traditionally each abbey's beer is served in its own glass (theforms, heights and widths are different). Belgians have a reputation for loving French fries . The fried potato strips are sold at many small shops(called fritures or frietkoten) and stands (often at train stations) and are known locally as frietenin Dutch and frites in French, though never, ever as 'French fries'.

Some Belgian cuisine is exported all over the world. Other lessknown snacks are speculaas (a sweet,crunchy cookie), waffles and chocolate truffles. As main courses Belgians have mussels with French fries , endive prepared in a special way, Brussels sprouts , Gentse waterzooi (a casserole made up of chicken and vegetables) and Paling In 't Groen ( eels in a sauce).

Festivals play a major role in Belgium's cultural life. Nearly every city and town has its own festival, some that date backseveral centuries. And these aren't just tricks for tourism, but real, authentic celebrations that take months to prepare. Two ofthe biggest festivals are the three-day carnival at Binche , near Mons , held just before Lent (the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter), and the Procession of the Holy Blood, held in Bruges in May. During the carnival in Binche, "Gilles" lead the procession, which are men dressed in high, plumedhats and bright costumes.

An important holiday (which is however not an official public holiday) takes place each year on December 6 . This is Sinterklaas dag in Dutch or la Saint-Nicolas in French (English: Saint Nicholas ). This is sort of an early Christmas. On December 5 evening before going to bed, kids put their shoes by the hearth withsome water or wine and a carrot for Saint Nicholas's horse or donkey . Supposedly St.Nicholas then comes at night and travels down the chimney. He then takes the food and water or wine, puts down presents, goesback up, feeds his horse or donkey, and continues his course. He also knows whether kids have been good or bad. This holiday isespecially loved by children in Belgium and the Netherlands.

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