Belgium: Kingdom, Regions, Languages, and Political Structure

The name Belgium is based on the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. This northeastern part of Gaul was inhabited by tribes of Celtic (i.e. the Belgae) and Germanic (i.e. Germani cisrhēnani) origin. In the 18th century, the French adjective belge or belgique was considered the equivalent of Nederlands 'Dutch'; the short-lived independent Belgian State of 1790, for example, was called États belgiques unis in French and was usually called Verenigde Nederlandse Staten in Dutch. Later, the use of belge and belgique became increasingly restricted to the southern Netherlands, now Belgium.

From the High Middle Ages to the mid-17th century, Belgium was a hotbed of cultural and economic creativity and wealth. From the 16th century onwards, Belgium was the theatre of many battles fought by European powers, such as during the Coalition Wars and the First and Second World Wars. Belgium participated intensively in the Industrial Revolution and from 1885 to 1960 possessed the huge colony of the Belgian Congo in Central Africa, since the First World War including the adjacent territory of Rwanda-Urundi.

Geology and geomorphology

In the wake of the post-glacial Flandrian transgression, beach walls were formed, which are still present today as a closed belt of dunes up to 50 metres high along the Belgian coast. This is followed by a zone of marshland about 10 to 20 kilometres wide.

Further inland lies the so-called Flussgeest. Here the deposits of the Maas alluvial fan were covered with sands of great thickness during the last cold period. In the slightly undulating countryside, fields and meadows alternate with patches of woodland and heathland; upland moors also occur in places. To the west of an Antwerp-Brussels line is the wide Flanders plain. In its northern part it is also covered by sands, in the south clay soils dominate, which are more favourable for agriculture. Here the plain is overlooked by a loose chain of Tertiary hills. Towards the west, the plain already mediates with the Northern French stratified plain, which is largely composed of Mesozoic sediments.

The valleys of the Sambre and Meuse rivers form a sharp boundary on a tectonic fault zone separating the Tertiary and Cretaceous plateaus in the northwest from the Ardennes as part of the Rhenish Slate Mountains in the southeast. The heavily forested Ardennes are composed of variably recalcitrant Palaeozoic shales, sandstones, greywackes and quartzites. They reach a height of 694 metres in Belgium with the Botrange in the Hautes Fagnes.

The fault zone of the Haine-Sambre-Meuse furrow is rich in coal deposits. This is where the first continental European mining and heavy industry district developed from 1830 onwards.

Flanders and Brussels-Capital Region

Flanders forms the northern part of the country and consists largely of flat land. It is the most populous region of the country. The politically independent capital region of Brussels is located as an enclave within the Flemish region. This part of the country consists partly of sandy geest ridges - for example in the province of Limburg, which is located in the east of the Flemish Region. However, the Geest is also interrupted by marshlands, which particularly affects the area around the rivers. The most important of these are the Meuse and the Scheldt. In the far west of Flanders is the 65 kilometre long coastline with the port city of Ostend. Especially the provinces of Antwerp and Flemish Brabant with the surrounding area of Brussels are very densely populated.

Walloon Region

The Walloon Region covers the southern part of Belgium. It is the largest region of the country in terms of area. Its territory is mountainous and sparsely populated in the area of the Ardennes and is cut by the river valleys of the Meuse, Sambre and Ourthe. The main cities of the region are located along these rivers, in particular Liège, Namur and Charleroi. Mons, Mouscron and Tournai are also located in the west of the region, in a cross-border conurbation with the northern French city of Lille. Nil-Saint-Vincent (municipality of Walhain) in the densely populated province of Walloon Brabant is the geographical centre of Belgium. The highest elevation in the country is Signal de Botrange (694 m E.P. ) in the Hautes Fagnes in eastern Belgium near the border with Germany. The highest village in Belgium is Mürringen in eastern Belgium (655 m asl).

Numbers

25% of Belgium's land area is used for agriculture. About 95% of all Belgians live in cities. According to the calculations of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Belgium has an area of 30,688 km².

Of which includes

• the Brussels-Capital Region 162 km²
• the region of Flanders 13,624 km²
• the Walloon Region 16,901 km² (including the German-speaking Community 854 km²)

Waters

Among others, there are the following rivers and canals: