The .eu domain is also used, as it is shared with other European Union member states.
Belgium (i/ˈbɛldʒəm/BEL-jəm), officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federalstateinWestern Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters as well as those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.[nb 1] Belgium covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres (11,787 sq mi), and it has a population of about 11 million people.
Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, which used to cover a somewhat larger area than the current Benelux group of states. The region was called Belgica in Latin because of the Roman provinceGallia Belgica which covered more or less the same area. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, it was a prosperous centre of commerce and culture. From the 16th century until the Belgian Revolution in 1830, when Belgium seceded from the Netherlands, many battles between European powers were fought in the area of Belgium, causing it to be dubbed the "cockfighting arena of Europe,"[10] a reputation strengthened by both World Wars.
Upon its independence, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution[11][12] and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa.[13] The second half of the 20th century was marked by the rise of contrasts between the Flemish and the Francophones fuelled by differences of language and the unequal economic development of Flanders and Wallonia. This ongoing antagonism has caused far-reaching reforms, changing the formerly unitary Belgian state into a federal state, and several governmental crises, the most recent from 2007 to 2011 being the longest.
The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party and the Liberal Party, with the Belgian Labour Party emerging towards the end of the 19th century. French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie. It progressively lost its overall importance as Dutch became recognised as well. This recognition became official in 1898 and in 1967 a Dutch version of the Constitution was legally accepted.[22]
The Berlin Conference of 1885 ceded control of the Congo Free StatetoKing Leopold II as his private possession. From around 1900 there was growing international concern for the extreme and savage treatment of the Congolese population under Leopold II, for whom the Congo was primarily a source of revenue from ivory and rubber production. In 1908 this outcry led the Belgian state to assume responsibility for the government of the colony, henceforth called the Belgian Congo.[23]
Germany invaded Belgium in 1914 as part of the Schlieffen Plan to attack France and much of the Western Front fighting of World War I occurred in western parts of the country. The opening months of the war were known as the Rape of Belgium due to German excesses. Belgium took over the German coloniesofRuanda-Urundi (modern day Rwanda and Burundi) during the war, and they were mandated to Belgium in 1924 by the League of Nations. In the aftermath of the First World War, the Prussian districtsofEupen and Malmedy were annexed by Belgium in 1925, thereby causing the presence of a German-speaking minority.
The King (currently Albert II) is the head of state, though with limited prerogatives. He appoints ministers, including a Prime Minister, that have the confidence of the Chamber of Representatives to form the federal government. The Council of Ministers is composed of no more than fifteen members. With the possible exception of the Prime Minister, the Council of Ministers is composed of an equal number of Dutch-speaking members and French-speaking members.[27] The judicial system is based on civil law and originates from the Napoleonic code. The Court of Cassation is the court of last resort, with the Court of Appeal one level below.
A string of Christian Democrat coalition governments from 1958 was broken in 1999 after the first dioxin crisis, a major food contamination scandal.[31][32][33] A "rainbow coalition" emerged from six parties: the Flemish and the French-speaking Liberals, Social Democrats and Greens.[34] Later, a "purple coalition" of Liberals and Social Democrats formed after the Greens lost most of their seats in the 2003 election.[35]
On that day a new government, led by Flemish Christian Democrat Yves Leterme, the actual winner of the federal elections of June 2007, was sworn in by the king. On 15 July 2008 Leterme announced the resignation of the cabinet to the king, as no progress in constitutional reforms had been made.[42] In December 2008 he once more offered his resignation to the king after a crisis surrounding the sale of FortistoBNP Paribas.[43] At this juncture, his resignation was accepted and Christian Democratic and FlemishHerman Van Rompuy was sworn in as Prime Minister on 30 December 2008.[44]
After Herman Van Rompuy was designated the first permanent President of the European Councilon19 November 2009, he offered the resignation of his government to King Albert II on 25 November 2009. A few hours later, the new government under Prime Minister Yves Leterme was sworn in. On 22 April 2010, Leterme again offered the resignation of his cabinet to the king[45] after one of the coalition partners, the OpenVLD, withdrew from the government, and on 26 April 2010 King Albert officially accepted the resignation.[46]
The Parliamentary elections in Belgium on 13 June 2010 saw the Flemish nationalist N-VA become the largest party in Flanders, and the Socialist Party PS the largest party in Wallonia.[47] Until December 2011, Belgium was governed by Leterme's caretaker government awaiting the end of the deadlocked negotiations for formation of a new government. By 30 March 2011 this set a new world record for the elapsed time without an official government, previously held by war-torn Iraq. Finally, in December 2011 the current government led by Walloon socialist Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo was sworn in.
Following a usage which can be traced back to the Burgundian and Habsburgian courts,[48] in the 19th century it was necessary to speak French to belong to the governing upper class, and those who could only speak Dutch were effectively second-class citizens.[49] Late that century, and continuing into the 20th century, Flemish movements evolved to counter this situation.[50]
While the Walloons and most Brusselers adopted French as their first language, the Flemings refused to do so and succeeded progressively in imposing Dutch as Flanders' official language.[50] Following World War II, Belgian politics became increasingly dominated by the autonomy of its two main language communities.[51] Intercommunal tensions rose and the constitution was amended to minimise the potential for conflict.[51]
Based on the four language areas defined in 1962–63 (the Dutch, bilingual, French and German language areas), consecutive revisionsofthe country's constitution in 1970, 1980, 1988 and 1993 established a unique federal state with segregated political power into three levels:[52][53]
The constitutional language areas determine the official languages in their municipalities, as well as the geographical limits of the empowered institutions for specific matters.[54] Although this would allow for seven parliaments and governments, when the Communities and Regions were created in 1980, Flemish politicians decided to merge both.[55] Thus the Flemings just have one single institutional body of parliament and government is empowered for all except federal and specific municipal matters.[nb 2]
The overlapping boundaries of the Regions and Communities have created two notable peculiarities: the territory of the Brussels-Capital Region (which came into existence nearly a decade after the other regions) is included in both the Flemish and French Communities, and the territory of the German-speaking Community lies wholly within the Walloon Region. Conflicts about jurisdiction between the bodies are resolved by the Constitutional Court of Belgium. The structure is intended as a compromise to allow different cultures to live together peacefully.[11]
The Federal State's authority includes justice, defence, federal police, social security, nuclear energy, monetary policy and public debt, and other aspects of public finances. State-owned companies include the Belgian Post Group and Belgian Railways. The Federal Government is responsible for the obligations of Belgium and its federalized institutions towards the European Union and NATO. It controls substantial parts of public health, home affairs and foreign affairs.[56] The budget—without the debt—controlled by the federal government amounts to about 50% of the national fiscal income. The federal government employs around 12% of the civil servants.[57]
Communities exercise their authority only within linguistically determined geographical boundaries, originally oriented towards the individuals of a Community's language: culture (including audiovisual media), education and the use of the relevant language. Extensions to personal matters less directly connected with language comprise health policy (curative and preventive medicine) and assistance to individuals (protection of youth, social welfare, aid to families, immigrant assistance services, and so on.).[58]
Regions have authority in fields that can be broadly associated with their territory. These include economy, employment, agriculture, water policy, housing, public works, energy, transport, the environment, town and country planning, nature conservation, credit and foreign trade. They supervise the provinces, municipalities and intercommunal utility companies.[59]
In several fields, the different levels each have their own say on specifics. With education, for instance, the autonomy of the Communities neither includes decisions about the compulsory aspect nor allows for setting minimum requirements for awarding qualifications, which remain federal matters.[56] Each level of government can be involved in scientific research and international relations associated with its powers. The treaty-making power of the Regions' and Communities' Governments is the broadest of all the Federating units of all the Federations all over the world.[60][61][62]
Belgium shares borders with France (620 km), Germany (167 km), Luxembourg (148 km) and the Netherlands (450 km). Its total area, including surface water area, is 30,528 square kilometres; land area alone is 30,278 km2.[63] It lies between latitudes 49° and 53° N, and longitudes 2° and 7° E.[citation needed]
Belgium has three main geographical regions: the coastal plain in the north-west and the central plateau both belong to the Anglo-Belgian Basin; the Ardennes uplands in the south-east are part of the Hercynian orogenic belt. The Paris Basin reaches a small fourth area at Belgium's southernmost tip, Belgian Lorraine.[64]
The coastal plain consists mainly of sand dunes and polders. Further inland lies a smooth, slowly rising landscape irrigated by numerous waterways, with fertile valleys and the northeastern sandy plain of the Campine (Kempen). The thickly forested hills and plateaux of the Ardennes are more rugged and rocky with caves and small gorges. Extending westward into France, this area is eastwardly connected to the Eifel in Germany by the High Fens plateau, on which the Signal de Botrange forms the country's highest point at 694 metres (2,277 ft).[65][66]
The climateismaritime temperate with significant precipitation in all seasons (Köppen climate classification: Cfb), like most of northwest Europe.[67] The average temperature is lowest in January at 3 °C(37.4 °F) and highest in July at 18 °C(64.4 °F). The average precipitation per month varies between 54 millimetres (2.1 in) for February or April, to 78 mm (3.1 in) for July.[68] Averages for the years 2000 to 2006 show daily temperature minimums of 7 °C(44.6 °F) and maximums of 14 °C(57.2 °F) and monthly rainfall of 74 mm (2.9 in); these are about 1 °C and nearly 10 millimetres above last century's normal values, respectively.[69]
Phytogeographically, Belgium is shared between the Atlantic European and Central European provinces of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom.[70] According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the territory of Belgium belongs to the ecoregion of Atlantic mixed forests.[71] Because of its high population density, its location in the centre of Western Europe and inadequate political effort, Belgium faces serious environmental problems. A 2003 report suggested Belgian natural waters (rivers and groundwater) to have the lowest water quality of the 122 countries studied.[72] In the 2006 pilot Environmental Performance Index, Belgium scored 75.9% for overall environmental performance and was ranked lowest of the EU member countries, though it was only 39th of 133 countries.[73]
The territory of Belgium is divided into three Regions, two of which, Flanders and Wallonia, are in turn subdivided into provinces; the third Region, Brussels, is neither a province nor a part of a province.
A graphical depiction of Belgium's product exports in 28 color-coded categories.
Belgium's strongly globalized economy[74] and its transport infrastructure are integrated with the rest of Europe. Its location at the heart of a highly industrialized region helped make it the world's 15th largest trading nation in 2007.[75][76] The economy is characterized by a highly productive work force, high GNP and high exports per capita.[77] Belgium's main imports are raw materials, machinery and equipment, chemicals, raw diamonds, pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs, transportation equipment, and oil products. Its main exports are machinery and equipment, chemicals, finished diamonds, metals and metal products, and foodstuffs.[78]
The Belgian economy is heavily service-oriented and shows a dual nature: a dynamic Flemish economy and a Walloon economy that lags behind.[11][79][nb 3] One of the founding members of the European Union, Belgium strongly supports an open economy and the extension of the powers of EU institutions to integrate member economies. Since 1922, through the Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union, Belgium and Luxembourg have been a single trade market with customs and currency union.[80]
Belgium was the first continental European country to undergo the Industrial Revolution, in the early 19th century.[81]Liège and Charleroi rapidly developed mining and steelmaking, which flourished until the mid-20th century in the Sambre and Meuse valley and made Belgium among one of the three most industrialized nations in the world from 1830 to 1910.[82][83] However, by the 1840s the textile industry of Flanders was in severe crisis, and the region experienced famine from 1846 to 1850.[84][85]
After World War II, Ghent and Antwerp experienced a rapid expansion of the chemical and petroleum industries. The 1973 and 1979 oil crises sent the economy into a recession; it was particularly prolonged in Wallonia, where the steel industry had become less competitive and experienced serious decline.[86] In the 1980s and 1990s, the economic centre of the country continued to shift northwards and is now concentrated in the populous Flemish Diamond area.[87]
By the end of the 1980s, Belgian macroeconomic policies had resulted in a cumulative government debt of about 120% of GDP. As of 2006, the budget was balanced and public debt was equal to 90.30% of GDP.[88] In 2005 and 2006, real GDP growth rates of 1.5% and 3.0%, respectively, were slightly above the average for the Euro area. Unemployment rates of 8.4% in 2005 and 8.2% in 2006 were close to the area average. By October 2010, this had grown to 8.5% compared to an average rate of 9.6% for the European Union as a whole (EU 27).[89][90] From 1832 until 2002, Belgium's currency was the Belgian franc. Belgium switched to the euro in 2002, with the first sets of euro coins being minted in 1999. The standard Belgian euro coins designated for circulation show the portrait of King Albert II.
Despite a 18% decrease observed from 1970 to 1999, Belgium still had in 1999 the highest rail network density within the European Union with 113.8 km/1 000 km2. On the other hand, the same period of time, 1970–1999, has seen a huge growth (+56%) of the motorway network. In 1999, the density of km motorways per 1000 km2 and 1000 inhabitants amounted to 55.1 and 16.5 respectively and were significantly superior to the EU's means of 13.7 and 15.9.[91]
Belgium experiences some of the most congested traffic in Europe. In 2010, commuters to the cities of Brussels and Antwerp spent respectively 65 and 64 hours a year in traffic jams.[92] Like in most small European countries, more than 80% of the airways traffic is handled by a single airport, the Brussels Airport. The ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge share more than 80% of Belgian maritime traffic, Antwerp being the second European harbour with a gross weight of goods handled of 115 988 000 t in 2000 after a growth of 10.9% over the preceding five years.[91][93]
The effects of World War II made collective security a priority for Belgian foreign policy. In March 1948 Belgium signed the Treaty of Brussels, and then joined NATO in 1948. However the integration of the armed forces into NATO did not begin until after the Korean War.[96] The Belgians, along with the Luxembourg government, sent a detachment of battalion strength to fight in Korea known as the Belgian United Nations Command. This mission was the first in a long line of UN missions which the Belgians supported.
Brussels, the capital city and largest metropolitan area of Belgium.
Almost all of the Belgian population is urban—97% in 2004.[106] The population density of Belgium is 365 per square kilometre (952 per square mile) as of March 2013. The most densely inhabited area is Flanders.[107] The Ardennes have the lowest density. As of 2012, the Flemish Region had a population of 6,350,765, with Antwerp (502,604), Ghent (248,242) and Bruges (117,170), its most populous cities. Wallonia had 3,546,329 with Charleroi (203,871), Liège (195,576) and Namur (110,096), its most populous cities. Brussels has 1,138,854 inhabitants in the Capital Region's 19 municipalities, three of which have over 100,000 residents.[108]
As of 2007, nearly 92% of the population had Belgian citizenship,[109] and other European Union member citizens account for around 6%. The prevalent foreign nationals were Italian (171,918), French (125,061), Dutch (116,970), Moroccan (80,579), Portuguese (43,509), Spanish (42,765), Turkish (39,419) and German (37,621).[110][111] In 2007, there were 1.38 million foreign-born residents in Belgium, corresponding to 12.9% of the total population. Of these, 685 000 (6.4%) were born outside the EU and 695 000 (6.5%) were born in another EU Member State.[112][113]
At the beginning of 2012, people of foreign background and their descendants were estimated to have formed around 25% of the total population i.e. 2.8 million new Belgians.[114] Of these new Belgians, 1,200,000 are of European ancestry and 1,350,000[115] are from non-Western countries (Most of them from Morocco, Turkey, Algeria, and the DR Congo). Since the modification of the Belgian nationality law in 1984 more than 1.3 million migrants have acquired Belgian citizenship. The largest group of immigrants and their descendants in Belgium are Moroccans, with more than 450,000[114] people. The Turks are the third largest group, and the second largest Muslim ethnic group, numbering 220,000.[114][116] 89.2% of inhabitants of Turkish origin have been naturalized, as have 88.4% of people of Moroccan background, 75.4% of Italians, 56.2% of the French and 47.8% of Dutch people.[115]
Belgium has three official languages, which are in order of size of the native speaking population of Belgium: Dutch, French and German. A number of non-official minority languages are spoken as well.[117] As no census exists, there are no official statistical data regarding the distribution or usage of Belgium's three official languages or their dialects.[118] However, various criteria, including the language(s) of parents, of education, or the second-language status of foreign born, may provide suggested figures. An estimated 59% of the Belgian population speaks Dutch (often referred to as Flemish), and 40% of the population speaks French; (the speakers are often referred to as Walloons).[nb 4]
Total Dutch speakers are 6.23 million, concentrated in the northern Flanders region, while French speakers comprise 3.32 million in Wallonia and an estimated 870,000 (or 85% ) in the officially bilingual Brussels-Capital Region.[nb 5][119] The German-speaking Community is made up of 73,000 people in the east of the Walloon Region; around 10,000 German and 60,000 Belgian nationals are speakers of German. Roughly 23,000 more German speakers live in municipalities near the official Community.[7][120]
Both Belgian Dutch and Belgian French have minor differences in vocabulary and semantic nuances from the varieties spoken respectively in the Netherlands and France. Many Flemish people still speak dialects of Dutch in their local environment. Walloon, once the main regional language of Wallonia, is now only understood and spoken occasionally, mostly by elderly people. Wallonia's dialects, along with those of Picard,[121] are not used in public life and have been replaced by French.
Education is compulsory from 6 to 18 years of age for Belgians.[122] Among OECD countries in 2002, Belgium had the third highest proportion of 18- to 21-year-olds enrolled in postsecondary education, at 42%.[123] Though an estimated 99% of the adult population is literate, concern is rising over functional illiteracy.[121][124] The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Belgium's education as the 19th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.[125] Education being organised separately by each, the Flemish Community scores noticeably above the French and German-speaking Communities.[126]
Mirroring the dual structure of the 19th-century Belgian political landscape, characterized by the Liberal and the Catholic parties, the educational system is segregated within a secular and a religious segment. The secular branch of schooling is controlled by the communities, the provinces, or the municipalities, while religious, mainly Catholic branch education, is organised by religious authorities, although subsidized and supervised by the communities.[127]
Since the country's independence, Roman Catholicism, counterbalanced by strong freethought movements, has had an important role in Belgium's politics.[128] However Belgium is largely a secular country as the laicistconstitution provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally respects this right in practice. During the reigns of Albert I and Baudouin, the monarchy had a reputation of deeply rooted Catholicism.[129]
Roman Catholicism has traditionally been Belgium's majority religion; being especially strong in Flanders. However, by 2009 Sunday church attendance was 5% for Belgium in total; 3% in Brussels,[130] and 5.4% in Flanders. Church attendance in 2009 in Belgium was roughly half of the Sunday church attendance in 1998 (11% for the total of Belgium in 1998).[131] Despite the drop in church attendance, Catholicism nevertheless remains an important force in society.[129][clarification needed]
Symbolically and materially, the Roman Catholic Church remains in a favourable position.[129] Belgium has three officially recognized religions: Christianity (Catholic, Protestantism, Orthodoxy and Anglicanism), Islam and Judaism.[132]
Today, there are around 42,000 Jews in Belgium. The Jewish Community of Antwerp (numbering some 20,000) is one of the largest in Europe, and one of the last places in the world where Yiddish is the primary language of a large Jewish community (mirroring certain Orthodox and Hassidic communities in New York and Israel). In addition a very high percentage (95%) of Jewish children in Antwerp receive a Jewish education. There are five Jewish newspapers and more than 45 active synagogues (30 of which are in Antwerp), in the country.
A 2006 inquiry in Flanders, considered to be a more religious region than Wallonia, showed that 55% considered themselves religious and that 36% believed that God created the world.[133] On the other hand, Wallonia has become one of Europe's most secular/least religious regions. Most of the French-speaking region's population does not consider religion an important part of their lives, and as much as 45% of the population identifies as irreligious. This is particulalrtly the case in eastern Wallonia and areas along the French border.
A 2008 estimate found[134] that 6% of the Belgian population, about 628,751, is Muslim (98% Sunni), while a 2011 estimate claims 1,000,000 inhabitants of Muslim background in the country.[135] Muslims constitute 30–35%[136] of the population of Brussels, 4.0% of Wallonia and 3.9% of Flanders. The majority of Belgian Muslims live in the major cities, such as Antwerp, Brussels and Charleroi. The largest group of immigrants in Belgium are Moroccans, with 400,000[114] people. The Turks are the third largest group, and the second largest Muslim ethnic group, numbering 220,000.[114][116]
According to the Eurobarometer Poll in 2010, 37% of Belgian citizens responded that "they believe there is a God", whereas 31% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 27% that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force".[137]
The Belgians are known to enjoy good health. According to 2012 estimates, the average life expectancy is 79.65 years.[63] Since 1960, life expectancy has, in line with the European average, grown by two months per year. Death in Belgium is mainly due to heart and vascular disorders, neoplasms, disorders of the respiratory system and unnatural causes of death (accidents, suicide). Non-natural causes of death and cancer are the most common causes of death for females up to age 24 and males up to age 44.[138]
Healthcare in Belgium is financed through both social security contributions and taxation. Health insurance is compulsory. Health care is delivered by a mostly private system of independent medical practitioners and hospitals. Most of the time each provided service is directly paid by the patient and reimbursed later on by health insurance companies.[138] Belgian health care system is supervised and financed by the federal government, the three Communities and the three Regions, i.e. six distinct Ministries (the Flemish Community and Region have merged).[138]
Despite its political and linguistic divisions, the region corresponding to today's Belgium has seen the flourishing of major artistic movements that have had tremendous influence on European art and culture. Nowadays, to a certain extent, cultural life is concentrated within each language Community, and a variety of barriers have made a shared cultural sphere less pronounced.[11][139][140] Since the 1970s, there are no bilingual universities or colleges in the country except the Royal Military Academy and the Antwerp Maritime Academy, no common media[141] and no single large cultural or scientific organisation in which both main communities are represented.[142]
Belgian contributions to architecture also continued into the 19th and 20th centuries, including the work of Victor Horta and Henry van de Velde, who were major initiators of the Art Nouveau style.[152][153]
Brussels waffles, one of many popular varieties of waffle in Belgium
Many highly ranked Belgian restaurants can be found in the most influential restaurant guides, such as the Michelin Guide.[161] Belgium is famous for beer, chocolate, waffles and french fries with mayonnaise. Contrary to their name, french fries are claimed to have originated in Belgium, although their exact place of origin is uncertain. The national dishes are "steak and fries with salad", and "mussels with fries".[162][163][164]
Since the 1970s, sports clubs and federations are organised separately within each language community.[172] Association football is one of the most popular sports in both parts of Belgium, together with cycling, tennis, swimming and judo.[173] Belgians hold the most Tour de France victories of any country except France. They have also the most victories on the UCI Road World Championships. Philippe Gilbert is the 2012 world champion. Another modern well-known Belgian cyclist is Tom Boonen. With five victories in the Tour de France and numerous other cycling records, Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx is regarded as one of the greatest cyclists of all time.[174]Jean-Marie Pfaff, a former Belgian goalkeeper, is considered one of the greatest in the history of football (soccer).[175] Belgium and The Netherlands previously hosted the UEFA European Football Championshipin2000. Belgium hosted the 1972 European Football Championships.
^The Constitution set out seven institutions each of which can have a parliament, government and administration. In fact there are only six such bodies because the Flemish Region merged into the Flemish Community. This single Flemish body thus exercises powers about Community matters in the bilingual area of Brussels-Capital and in the Dutch language area, while about Regional matters only in the latter.
^Native speakers of Dutch living in Wallonia and of French in Flanders are relatively small minorities that furthermore largely balance one another, hence attributing all inhabitants of each unilingual area to the area's language can cause only insignificant inaccuracies (99% can speak the language). Dutch: Flanders' 6.079 million inhabitants and about 15% of Brussels' 1.019 million are 6.23 million or 59.3% of the 10.511 million inhabitants of Belgium (2006); German: 70,400 in the German-speaking Community (which has language facilities for its less than 5% French-speakers) and an estimated 20,000–25,000 speakers of German in the Walloon Region outside the geographical boundaries of their official Community, or 0.9%; French: in the latter area as well as mainly in the rest of Wallonia (3.414 − 0.093 = 3.321 million) and 85% of the Brussels inhabitants (0.866 million) thus 4.187 million or 39.8%; together indeed 100%.
^Flemish Academic Eric Corijn (initiator of Charta 91), at a colloquium regarding Brussels, on 2001-12-05, states that in Brussels there is 91% of the population speaking French at home, either alone or with another language, and there is about 20% speaking Dutch at home, either alone (9%) or with French (11%)—After ponderation, the repartition can be estimated at between 85 and 90% French-speaking, and the remaining are Dutch-speaking, corresponding to the estimations based on languages chosen in Brussels by citizens for their official documents (ID, driving licenses, weddings, birth, sex, and so on); all these statistics on language are also available at Belgian Department of Justice (for weddings, birth, sex), Department of Transport (for Driving licenses), Department of Interior (for IDs), because there are no means to know precisely the proportions since Belgium has abolished 'official' linguistic censuses, thus official documents on language choices can only be estimations. For a web source on this topic, see e.g. General online sources: Janssens, Rudi
^The Dutch word 'ommegang' is here used in the sense of an entirely or mainly non-religious procession, or the non-religious part thereof—see also its article on the Dutch-language Wikipedia; the Processional Giants of Brussels, Dendermonde and Mechelen mentioned in this paragraph are part of each city's 'ommegang'. The French word 'ducasse' refers also to a procession; the mentioned Processional Giants of Ath and Mons are part of each city's 'ducasse'.
^Leclerc, Jacques, , membre associé du TLFQ (18 January 2007). "Belgique • België • Belgien—Région de Bruxelles-Capitale • Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest". L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde (in French). Host: Trésor de la langue française au Québec (TLFQ), Université Laval, Quebec. Archived from the original on 9 June 2007. Retrieved 18 June 2007. "C'est une région officiellement bilingue formant au centre du pays une enclave dans la province du Brabant flamand (Vlaams Brabant)"
* "About Belgium". Belgian Federal Public Service (ministry) / Embassy of Belgium in the Republic of Korea. Retrieved 21 June 2007. "the Brussels-Capital Region is an enclave of 162 km2 within the Flemish region."
* "Flanders (administrative region)". Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia. Microsoft. 2007. Archived from the original on 31 October 2009. Retrieved 21 June 2007. "The capital of Belgium, Brussels, is an enclave within Flanders."
* McMillan, Eric (October 1999). "The FIT Invasions of Mons". Capital translator, Newsletter of the NCATA, Vol. 21, No. 7, p. 1. National Capital Area Chapter of the American Translators Association (NCATA). Archived from the original on 26 June 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2007. "The country is divided into three autonomous regions: Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north; mostly French-speaking Brussels in the center as an enclave within Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia in the south, including the German-speaking Cantons de l'Est)."[dead link]
* Van de Walle, Steven, lecturer at University of Birmingham Institute of Local Government Studies, School of Public Policy. "Language Facilities in the Brussels Periphery" (PDF). KULeuven—Leuvens Universitair Dienstencentrum voor Informatica en Telematica. Archived from the original on 31 October 2009. Retrieved 21 June 2007. "Brussels is a kind of enclave within Flanders—it has no direct link with Wallonia."
^Petermann, Simon, Professor at the University of Liège, Wallonia, Belgium—at colloquium IXe Sommet de la francophonie—Initiatives 2001—Ethique et nouvelles technologies, session 6 Cultures et langues, la place des minorités, Bayreuth (25 September 2001). "Langues majoritaires, langues minoritaires, dialectes et NTIC" (in French). Retrieved 4 May 2007.
^Footnote: The Celtic and/or Germanic influences on and origin(s) of the Belgae remains disputed. Further reading e.g. Witt, Constanze Maria (May 1997). "Ethnic and Cultural Identity". Barbarians on the Greek Periphery?—Origins of Celtic Art. Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, University of Virginia. Archived from the original on 10 June 2007. Retrieved 6 June 2007.
^Edmundson, George (1922). "Chapter I: The Burgundian Netherlands". History of Holland. The University Press, Cambridge. Republished: Authorama. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
^Johannes Kramer (1984). Zweisprachigkeit in den Benelux-ländern (in German). Buske Verlag. p. 69. ISBN3-87118-597-3. "Zur prestige Sprache wurde in den Spanischen Niederlanden ganz eindeutig das Französische. Die Vertreter Spaniens beherrschten normalerweise das Französische, nicht aber das Niederländische; ein beachtlicher Teil der am Hofe tätigen Adligen stammte aus Wallonien, das sich ja eher auf die spanische Seite geschlagen hatte als Flandern und Brabant. In dieser Situation war es selbstverständlich, dass die flämischen Adligen, die im Laufe der Zeit immer mehr ebenfalls zu Hofbeamten wurden, sich des Französischen bedienen mussten, wenn sie als gleichwertig anerkannt werden wollten. [Transl.: The prestigious language in the Spanish Netherlands was clearly French. Spain's representatives usually mastered French but not Dutch; a notable part of the nobles at the court came from Wallonia, which had taken party for the Spanish side to a higher extent than Flanders and Brabant. It was therefore evident within this context that the Flemish nobility, of which a progessively larger number became servants of the court, had to use French, if it wanted to get acknowledged as well.]"
^Els Witte; Jan Craeybeckx; Alain Meynen (2009). Political History of Belgium: From 1830 Onwards. Brussels: Academic and Scientific Publishers. p. 56.
^ ab"The Federal Government's Powers". .be Portal. Belgian Federal Government. Retrieved 4 February 2011.Unknown parameter |introductionaccessdate= ignored (help);Unknown parameter |introductionurl= ignored (help)
^Charles-Etienne Lagasse (2003). Les nouvelles institutions politiques de la Belgique et de l'Europe. Namur: Erasme. p. 289. ISBN2-87127-783-4. "In 2002, 58.92% of the fiscal income was going to the budget of the federal government, but more than one-third was used to pay the interests of the public debt. Without including this post, the share of the federal government budget would be only 48.40% of the fiscal income. There are 87.8% of the civil servants who are working for the Regions or the Communities and 12.2% for the Federal State."
^"The Communities". .be Portal. Belgian Federal Government. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
^"The Regions". .be Portal. Belgian Federal Government. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
^Lagasse, Charles-Etienne (17–18 May 2004). "Federalism in Russia, Canada and Belgium: experience of comparative research" (in French). Kazan Institute of Federalism. "La Belgique constitue ainsi le seul exemple clair du transfert d'une partie de la compétence « affaires étrangères » à des entités fédérées. (Transl.: Belgium is thus the only clear example of a transfer of a part of the "Foreign Affairs" competences to federated units.)"
^Lagasse, Charles-Etienne. Les nouvelles institutions de la Belgique et de l'Europe (in French). p. 603. "[Le fédéralisme belge] repose sur une combinaison unique d'équipollence, d'exclusivité et de prolongement international des compétences. ([Belgian federalism] is based on a unique combination of equipollence, of exclusivity, and of international extension of competences.)"
^Suinen, Philippe (October 2000). "Une Première mondiale". Le Monde diplomatique (in French). "Dans l'organisation de ces autonomies, la Belgique a réalisé une « première » mondiale: afin d'éviter la remise en cause, par le biais de la dimension internationale, de compétences exclusives transférées aux entités fédérées, les communautés et régions se sont vu reconnaître une capacité et des pouvoirs internationaux. (In organizing its autonomies, Belgium realised a World's First: to avoid a relevant stalemate, international consequences caused transfers of exclusive competences to federal, community and regional entities that are recognised to have become internationally enabled and enpowered.)"
^"Rank Order – Exports". CIA – The 2008 world factbook. Archived from the original on 4 October 2008. Retrieved 5 October 2008. "15[th]: Belgium $322,200,000,000 (2007 est.)"
^"Rank Order – Imports". CIA – The 2008 world factbook. Archived from the original on 4 October 2008. Retrieved 5 October 2008. "15[th]: Belgium $323,200,000,000 (2007 est.)"
^"Belgian economy". Belgium. Belgian Federal Public Service (ministry) of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation. Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 12 June 2009. "Belgium is the world leader in terms of export per capita and can justifiably call itself the 'world's largest exporter'."
^David Isby and Charles Kamps Jr, 'Armies of NATO's Central Front,' Jane's Publishing Company, 1985, p.59
^"Rembert Dodoens: iets over zijn leven en werk—Dodoens' werken". Plantaardigheden—Project Rembert Dodoens (Rembertus Dodonaeus) (in Dutch). Balkbrug: Stichting Kruidenhoeve/Plantaardigheden. Revised 20 December 2005. Archived from the original on 10 June 2007. Retrieved 17 May 2007. "... het Cruijdeboeck, dat in 1554 verscheen. Dit meesterwerk was na de bijbel in die tijd het meest vertaalde boek. Het werd gedurende meer dan een eeuw steeds weer heruitgegeven en gedurende meer dan twee eeuwen was het het meest gebruikte handboek over kruiden in West-Europa. Het is een werk van wereldfaam en grote wetenschappelijke waarde. De nieuwe gedachten die Dodoens erin neerlegde, werden de bouwstenen voor de botanici en medici van latere generaties. (... the Cruijdeboeck, published in 1554. This masterpiece was, after the Bible, the most translated book in that time. It continued to be republished for more than a century and for more than two centuries it was the mostly used referential about herbs. It is a work with world fame and great scientific value. The new thoughts written down by Dodoens, became the building bricks for botanists and physicians of later generations.)" O'Connor, J. J.; Robertson, E. F. (2004). "Simon Stevin". School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, Scotland. Archived from the original on 9 June 2007. Retrieved 11 May 2007. "Although he did not invent decimals (they had been used by the Arabs and the Chinese long before Stevin's time) he did introduce their use in mathematics in Europe." "Abstract (*)". S. Karger AG, Basel. Retrieved 11 May 2007. "The importance of A. Vesalius' publication 'de humani corporis fabrica libri septem' cannot be overestimated." (*) Free abstract for pay-per-view article byDe Broe, Marc E.; De Weerdt, Dirk L.; Ysebaert, Dirk K.; Vercauteren, Sven R.; De Greef, Kathleen E.; De Broe Luc C. (1999). "The Low Countries – 16th/17th century". American Journal of Nephrology19 (2): 282–9. doi:10.1159/000013462. PMID10213829.More than one of |work= and |journal= specified (help) Midbon, Mark, University of Wisconsin–Madison (24 March 2000). "'A Day Without Yesterday': Georges Lemaitre & the Big Bang". Commonweal, republished: Catholic Education Resource Center (CERC). pp. 18–19. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007. Retrieved 7 June 2007.
^Patricia Carson. The Fair Face of Flanders. Lannoo Uitgeverij. p. 136. ISBN90-209-4385-5.
^Lance Day (2003). Lance Day, Ian McNeil, ed. Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology. Routledge. p. 1135. ISBN0-203-02829-5.
^Gordon Woodward (2003). Lance Day, Ian McNeil, ed. Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology. Routledge. p. 523. ISBN0-203-02829-5.
^Ulf Larsson (2001). Cultures of Creativity: the Centennial Exhibition of the Nobel Prize. Science History Publications. p. 211. ISBN0-88135-288-8.
^Bruno de Witte (1996). "Surviving in Babel? Language rights and European integration". In Anson F. Rainey. Canaanite in the Amarna tablets1 (Brill). p. 122. ISBN90-04-10521-2.
^"Belgium Market background". British Council. Retrieved 5 May 2007. "The capital Brussels, 80–85 percent French-speaking, ..."—Strictly, the capital is the municipality (City of) Brussels, though the Brussels-Capital Region might be intended because of its name and also its other municipalities housing institutions typical for a capital.
^ abAmong Belgium native German speakers many are familiar with the local dialect varieties of their region, that include dialects that spill over into neighboring Luxembourg and Germany. Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005). "Languages of Belgium". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (Fifteenth ed.) (Dallas, Texas, U.S.A.: SIL International).|accessdate= requires |url= (help) (Online version: Sixteenth edition)
^ abcP. Loopbuyck; R. Torfs (2009). The world and its people4. Marshall Cavendish. p. 499. ISBN0-7614-7890-6.Unknown parameter |volumetitle= ignored (help)
^Inquiry by 'Vepec', 'Vereniging voor Promotie en Communicatie' (Organisation for Promotion and Communication), published in Knack magazine 22 November 2006 p. 14 [The Dutch language term 'gelovig' is in the text translated as 'religious'. More precisely it is a very common word for believing in particular in any kind of God in a monotheistic sense, or in some afterlife], or both.
^ abcDirk Corens (2007). "Belgium, health system review". Health Systems in Transition (European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies) 9 (2).
^"Belgium—Arts and cultural education". Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe, 8th edition. Council of Europe / ERICarts. 2007. Retrieved 8 May 2007.
^"Low Countries, 1400–1600 AD". Timeline of Art History. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2007. Archived from the original on 29 April 2007. Retrieved 10 May 2007.
^Several examples of major architectural realisations in Belgium belong to UNESCO's World Heritage List:"Belgium". Properties inscribed on the World Heritage List. UNESCO. Archived from the original on 28 April 2007. Retrieved 15 May 2007.
^Hendrick, Jacques (1987). La peinture au pays de Liège (in French). Liège: Editions du Perron. p. 24. ISBN2-87114-026-X.
^Guratzsch, Herwig (1979). Die große Zeit der niederländische Malerei (in German). Freiburg im Beisgau: Verlag Herder. p. 7.
^"Low Countries, 1600–1800 AD". Timeline of Art History. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2007. Archived from the original on 13 May 2007. Retrieved 10 May 2007.
^"Belgian Artists: (biographies & artworks)". World Wide Arts Resources. 5 February 2006. Retrieved 10 May 2007.—List of Belgian painters, linking to their biographies and artworks
^Baudson, Michel (1996). "Panamarenko". Flammarion (Paris), quoted at presentation of the XXIII Bienal Internacional de São Paulo. Archived from the original on 7 February 2007. Retrieved 10 May 2007.
^"Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta (Brussels)". UNESCO's World Heritage List. UNESCO. Archived from the original on 9 June 2007. Retrieved 16 May 2007. "The appearance of Art Nouveau in the closing years of the 19th century marked a decisive stage in the evolution of architecture, making possible subsequent developments, and the Town Houses of Victor Horta in Brussels bear exceptional witness to its radical new approach."
^"Western music, the Franco-Flemish school". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Retrieved 15 May 2007. "Most significant musically was the pervasive influence of musicians from the Low Countries, whose domination of the musical scene during the last half of the 15th century is reflected in the period designations the Netherlands school and the Franco-Flemish school."
^Two comprehensive discussions of rock and pop music in Belgium since the 1950s: "The Timeline—A brief history of Belgian Pop Music". The Belgian Pop & Rock Archives. Flanders Music Centre, Brussels. March 2007. Archived from the original on 12 July 2007. Retrieved 7 June 2007. "Belgian Culture—Rock". Vanberg & DeWulf Importing. 2006. Archived from the original on 7 June 2007. Retrieved 11 May 2007.[dead link]
^Laurence Grove (2010). Comics in French: the European bande dessinée in context. Berghahn Books. ISBN1-84545-588-6.
^A review of the Belgian cinema till about 2000 can be found at"History of Cinema in Belgium". Film Birth. 2007. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
^"Steak-frites". Epicurious. Archived from the original on 8 August 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2007. Republished fromVan Waerebeek, Ruth; Robbins, Maria (October 1996). Everybody Eats Well in Belgium Cookbook. Workman Publishing. ISBN1-56305-411-6.
^"Belgium". Global Gourmet. Retrieved 12 August 2007. Republished fromVan Waerebeek, Ruth; Robbins, Maria (October 1996). Everybody Eats Well in Belgium Cookbook. Workman Publishing. ISBN1-56305-411-6.
^"Mussels". Visit Belgium. Official Site of the Belgian Tourist Office in the Americas. 2005. Archived from the original on 10 February 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2007.—Note: Contrarily to what the text suggests, the season starts as early as July and lasts through April.
^Mark Elliott, Geert Cole (2000). Belgium and Luxembourg. Lonely Planet. p. 53.
^Marijke Task; Roland Renson; Bart van Reusel (1999). "Organised sport in transition: development, structures and trends of sports clubs in Belgium". In Klaus Heinemann. Sport clubs in various European countries (Schattauer Verlag). pp. 183–229. ISBN3-7945-2038-6.
^George Wingfield (2008). Charles F. Gritzner, ed. Belgium. Infobase Publishing. pp. 94–95. ISBN978-0-7910-9670-3.
^"Goalkeeping Greats" Goalkeepersaredifferent.com. Retrieved on 29 June 2008
^Bob Woods (2008). Motocross History: From Local Scrambling to World Championship MX to Freestyle. Crabtree Publishing Company. p. 19. ISBN978-0-7787-3987-6.
"Boordtabel" (in Dutch). Centre for Information, Documentation and Research on Brussels (BRIO). 2007. Archived from the original on 29 May 2007. Retrieved 2 June 2007.[dead link] (mentioning other original sources)
"The Constitution". Federal Parliament Belgium. 21 January 1997. Archived from the original on 7 June 2007. Retrieved 7 June 2007.[dead link]
"Country Portal – Europe—Belgium". Belgian Federal Government Service (ministry) of Economy—Directorate-general Statistics Belgium. Archived from the original on 1 July 2007. Retrieved 7 June 2007.
"History of Belgium". World History at KMLA. Korean Minjok Leadership Academy (KMLA). Last revised 30 May 2007. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007. Retrieved 2 June 2007.
Leclerc, Jacques, membre associé du TLFQ (2006). "Belgique • België • Belgien". L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde (in French). Host: Trésor de la langue française au Québec (TLFQ), Université Laval, Quebec. Archived from the original on 8 June 2007. Retrieved 2 June 2007.
Mnookin, Robert, Professor at HLS; Verbeke, Alain (20 December 2006). "Bye bye Belgium?". International Herald Tribune, republished by Harvard Law School. Archived from the original on 21 March 2007. Retrieved 1 June 2007.—Reflections on nations and nation-state developments regarding Belgium
Bibliography
Arblaster, Paul (23 December 2005). A History of the Low Countries. Palgrave Essential Histories (Hardcover 312pp ed.). Palgrave Macmillan, New York. ISBN1-4039-4827-5.
Blom, J. C. H., Dutch State Institute for War Documentation, ed.; Lamberts, Emiel, Professor in Modern History KULeuven, ed.; Kennedy, James C., translator (May 1999). History of the Low Countries (Hardcover 503pp ed.). Berghahn Books, Oxford/New York. ISBN1-57181-084-6.
Cammaerts, Émile L. (1921) [1913]. A History of Belgium from the Roman Invasion to the Present Day (357pp ed.). D. Appleton and Co, New York. ASINB00085PM0A. OCLC1525559.
[Also editions [1913], London, OCLC29072911; (1921) D. Unwin and Co., New York OCLC9625246 also published (1921) as Belgium from the Roman invasion to the present day, The Story of the nations, 67, T. Fisher Unwin, London, OCLC2986704]
de Kavanagh Boulger, Demetrius C. (28 June 2001) [1902]. The History of Belgium: Part 1. Cæsar to Waterloo. Elibron Classics (Paperback 493pp ed.). Adamant Media (Delaware corporation), Boston, Massachusetts, United States. ISBN1-4021-6714-8. Facsimile reprint of a 1902 edition by the author, London Ib. (June 2001) [1909]. Ib. Part 2. 1815–1865. Waterloo to the Death of Leopold I. Ib. (Paperback 462pp ed.). Ib. ISBN1-4021-6713-X. Facsimile reprint of a 1909 edition by the author, London
Fitzmaurice, John (March 1996). The Politics of Belgium: A Unique Federalism. Nations of the modern world (Paperback 284pp ed.). Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, USA. ISBN0-8133-2386-X. OCLC30112536.
Kossmann-Putto, Johanna A.; Kossmann Ernst H.; Deleu Jozef H. M., ed.; Fenoulhet Jane, translator [from: (1987). De Lage Landen: geschiedenis van de Noordelijke en Zuidelijke Nederlanden. Vlaams-Nederlandse Stichting Ons Erfdeel, Rekkem (January 1993) [1987]. The Low Countries: History of the Northern and Southern Netherlands (3rd Rev. edition Paperback 64pp ed.). Flemish-Netherlands Foundation "Stichting Ons Erfdeel", Rekkem, Belgium. ISBN90-70831-20-1. (Several editions in English, incl. (1997) 7th ed.)
![Location of Belgium (dark green)– in Europe (green & dark grey)– in the European Union (green) — [Legend]](http://akarinohon.com/text/taketori.cgi/web.archive.org/web/20130613004642/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EU-Belgium.svg)
0.897[5]
i/ˈbɛldʒəm/ BEL-jəm), officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal stateinWestern Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters as well as those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.[nb 1] Belgium covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres (11,787 sq mi), and it has a population of about 11 million people.
BelgiumatWikipedia books
Wikimedia Atlas of Belgium
