Belgium
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 and is one of the founding and core members of the
European Union. Belgium has a population of over ten million people, in an area of around 30,000
square kilometres (11,700 square miles).
Straddling the cultural boundary between
Germanic and
Romance Europe, it is linguistically divided. Mainly two languages are spoken in Belgium:
Dutch is spoken by the 6 million people in
Flanders to the north,
French by the 3.5 million
Walloons in the south. The capital,
Brussels, is officially bilingual, while the majority of its residents speak French. Around 70.000 people live in the
German-speaking Community in the east of the country. This linguistic diversity often leads to political and cultural conflict and is reflected in Belgium's complex
system of government and
political history.
Belgium derives its name from the
Latin name of the most northern part of
Gaul,
Gallia Belgica, named after a group of mostly
Celtic tribes,
Belgae. Historically, Belgium has been a part of the
Low Countries, which also include the Netherlands and Luxembourg and were covering a somewhat larger region than the current
Benelux group of states. From the end of the
Middle Ages until the seventeenth century, it was a prosperous centre of commerce and culture. From the sixteenth century until the Belgian revolution in 1830, Belgium, at that time called the
Southern Netherlands, was the site of many battles between the European powers, and has been dubbed "the
cockpit of Europe".
[Nuttall encyclopedia] More recently, Belgium was a founding member of the
European Union, hosting its headquarters, as well as those of many other major
international organisations, such as
NATO.
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 history of Belgium can be distinguished from that of the Low Countries from the 16th century. 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 Countriesâ€"including territories that were never under Habsburg rule, such the
Bishopric of Liègeâ€"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.
European exploration and administration of the Congo took place from the 1870s until the 1920s. First by Stanley who undertook his explorations mainly under the sponsorship of King
Leopold II of Belgium, who desired what was to become the Congo as a colony. In a succession of negotiations Leopold, professing humanitarian objectives in his capacity as chairman of the Association Internationale Africaine, played one European rival against the other. The Congo territory was acquired formally by Leopold at the
Conference of Berlin in 1885. He made the land his private, personal property and named it the Congo Free State. Leopold's regime began undertaking various development projects, such as the railway that ran from the coast to Leopoldville (now Kinshasa) which took years to complete. Nearly all of these projects were aimed at increasing the capital Leopold and his cohorts could extract from the colony, leading to atrocious exploitation of Africans. In the Free State, the local population was brutalized in exchange for rubber, a growing market with the development of rubber tires. The selling of the rubber made a fortune for Leopold, who built several buildings in Brussels and Ostend to honour himself and his country. During the period between 1885 and 1908, between five and fifteen (the commonly accepted figure is about ten) million Congolese died as a consequence of exploitation and diseases. To enforce the rubber quotas, the Force Publique (FP) was called in. The FP was an army, but its aim was not to defend the country, but to terrorize the local population The Force Publique made the practice of cutting off the limbs of the natives as a means of enforcing rubber quotas a matter of policy; this practice was disturbingly widespread. However, there were international protests spearheaded mainly by
Edmund Dene Morel and British diplomat/Irish patriot
Roger Casement, whose 1904 report on the Congo condemned the practice, as well as famous writers such as
Mark Twain (who wrote
King Leopold's Soliloquy) and Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle.
Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness also takes place in Congo Free State. In 1908, the Belgian parliament bowed to international pressure in order to save their last bit of prestige in Europe, forcibly adopting the Free State as a Belgian colony from the king. From then on, it became the
Belgian Congo.
During
World War I Belgium's neutrality was violated in 1914, when Germany invaded Belgium as part of the
Schlieffen Plan. For much of World War I, the west end of "The Western Front" trench warfare stalemate was roughly the border of Belgium and France at the North Sea. The former
German colonies Ruanda-Urundiâ€"now called
Rwanda and
Burundiâ€"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 as part of the invasion of France. Belgium was occupied until the winter of 1944-45 when liberated by Allied troops of several nations, including a small contingent of Belgian nationals. The port of
Antwerp was a hotly contested locality, being the focus of the
Battle of the Scheldt in October 1944, and the main objective of German forces in the
Battle of the Bulge in December..
After
World War II, Belgium joined NATO and, together with the Netherlands and Luxembourg, formed the
Benelux group of nations. Belgium is also one of the six founding members of the 1951 established
European Coal and Steel Community, and the 1957 established
European Economic Community and
European Atomic Energy 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 the extraordinary and committee sessions of the
European Parliament, as well as parts of its administration.
The Belgian Congo gained its independence on
30 July 1960 during the
Congo Crisis, and Ruanda-Urundi became independent in 1962.
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 communities. This period saw a rise in intercommunal tensions, and the unity of the Belgian state has come under scrutiny.
[Language dispute divides Belgium, BBC News, 13 May, 2005] Through constitutional reforms in the 1970s and 1980s,
regionalisation of the unitary state had led to the establishment of a three-tiered system of
federalism, linguistic-community and regional governments, a compromise designed to minimise linguistic tensions. Nowadays, these federal entities uphold more legislative power than the national bicameral parliament.
Belgium is a
constitutional popular monarchy and
parliamentary democracy that evolved after World War II from a
unitary state to a
federation. The
bicameral parliament is composed of a
Senate and a
Chamber of Representatives. The former is a mix of directly elected senior politicians and representatives of the communities and regions; while the latter represents all Belgians over the age of eighteen in a
proportional voting system. Belgium is one of the few countries that has
compulsory voting, thus having one of the highest rates of
voter turnout in the world.
[Election turnout in national lower house elections from 1960 to 1995, numbers from Mark N. Franklin's "Electoral Participation".]The federal government, formally nominated by the king, must have the confidence of the Chamber of Representatives. It is led by the
Prime Minister. The numbers of Dutch- and French-speaking ministers are equal as prescribed by the Constitution.
[Constitution of Belgium Art. 99] The King or Queen is the
head of state, though he has limited
prerogatives. Actual power is vested in the Prime Minister and the
different governments, who govern the country. The judicial system is based on
civil law and originates from the
Napoleonic code. The
Court of Appeals is one level below the
Court of Cassation, an institution based on the
French Court of Cassation.
Belgium's political institutions are complex; most political power is organised around the need to represent the main language communities. Since around 1970, the significant national Belgian
political parties has split into distinct components that mainly represent the interests of these communities. The major parties in each community belong to three main political families: the
right-wing Liberals, the
centrist Christian Democrats, and the
left-wing Social Democrats. Other important younger parties are the
Green parties and, especially in Flanders, the
nationalist and
far-right parties. Politics is influenced by lobby groups, such as
trade unions and business interests in the form of the
Federation of Enterprises in Belgium.
The current king,
Albert II, succeeded King
Baudouin in 1993. Since 1999, Prime Minister
Guy Verhofstadt from the
VLD has led a six-party Liberal-Social Democrat-Greens
coalition, often referred to as 'the rainbow government'. This was the first government without the Christian Democrats since 1958.
[Belgium's "rainbow" coalition sworn in, BBC News, 12 July, 1999] In the
2003 elections, Verhofstadt won a second term in office and has led a Liberal-Social Democrat coalition of four parties.
[Composition of the Chamber of Representatives, on the official homepage of the Chamber, in French] In recent years, there has also been a steady rise of the Flemish far right nationalist
separatist party
Vlaams Blok, meanwhile superseded by
Vlaams Belang amidst allegations of racism promoted by the party.
[Court rules Vlaams Blok is racist, BBC News, 9 November, 2004] A significant achievement of the two successive Verhofstadt governments has been the achievement of a balanced budget; Belgium is one of the few member-states of the EU to have done so. This policy was applied by the successive governments during the 1990s under pressure from the
European Council. The fall of the previous government was mainly due to the
dioxin crisis,
[Dioxin contamination scandal hits Belgium: Effects spread through European Union and beyond, World Socialist Web Site, 8 June, 1999] a major food intoxication scandal in 1999 that led to the establishment of the Belgian Food Agency.
[History of the Federal Food Agency, at its official homepage] This event resulted in an atypically large representation by the Greens in parliament, and a greater emphasis on environmental politics during the first Verhofstadt government. One Green policy, for example, resulted in
nuclear phase-out legislation, which has been modified by the current government. The absence of Christian Democrats from the ranks of the government has enabled Verhofstadt to tackle social issues from a more
liberal point of view and to develop new legislation on the use of
soft drugs,
same-sex marriage and
euthanasia. During the two most recent parliaments, the government has promoted active diplomacy in Africa,
[The Rwanda article at Tiscali.References shows an example of Belgium's recent African policies.] opposed a military intervention during the
Iraq disarmament crisis, and has passed legislation concerning
war crimes. Both of Verhofstadt's terms have been marked by disputes between the Belgian communities. The major points of contention are the nocturnal air traffic routes at
Brussels Airport and the status of the electoral district of
Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde.
The country's
constitution was revised on
14 July 1993 to create a unique federal state, based on three levels:#The federal government, based in Brussels.#The three language communities:#* the
Flemish (i.e., Dutch-speaking) Community;#* the
French (i.e., French-speaking) Community;#* the
German-speaking Community.# The three regions (which differ from the language communities with respect to the German-speaking community and the Brussels region):#* the
Flemish region;#* the
Walloon Region; and#* the
Brussels-Capital Region.Conflicts between the bodies are resolved by the
Court of Arbitration. The setup allows a compromise so distinctly different cultures can live together peacefully.
The Flemish Community absorbed the Flemish Region in 1980 to form the government of
Flanders[The official homepage of Flanders (Community and Region)]. The overlapping boundaries of the Regions and Communities have created two notable peculiarities: the territory of the Brussels-Capital Region is included in both Flemish and French Communities, and the territory of the German-speaking Community lies wholly within the Walloon Region. Flemish and Walloon regions are furthermore subdivided in administrative entities, the provinces.
At the highest level of this three-tiered setup is the
federal government which manages
foreign affairs,
development aid,
defence,
military, police, economic management,
social welfare,
social security transport, energy, telecommunications, and scientific research, limited competencies in education and culture, and the supervision of taxation by regional authorities. The federal government controls more than 90 per cent of all taxation. The community governments are responsible for the promotion of language, culture and education in mostly schools, libraries and theatres. The third tier is the Regional governments, who manage mostly land and property based issues such as housing, transportation etc. For example, the building permit for a school building in Brussels belonging to the public school system would be regulated by the regional government of Brussels. However, the school as an institution would fall under the regulations of the Flemish government if the primary language of teaching is Dutch, but under the French Community government if the primary language is French.
Belgium, with an area of 30 528
square kilometres (11,787
sq. mi), has three main geographical regions: the coastal plain in the north-west, the central plateau, and the
Ardennes uplands in the south-east. 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, by fields that have been drained with canals. The second geographical region, the central plateau, lies further inland. This is a smooth, slowly rising area that has many fertile valleys and is irrigated by many waterways. Here one can also find rougher land, including caves and small
gorges.
The third geographical region, called the Ardennes, is 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. Belgium's highest point, the
Signal de Botrange is located in this region at only 694
metres (2,277
ft).
The climate is maritime
temperate, with significant precipitation in all seasons (
Köppen climate classification:
Cfb; the average temperature is 3 °C (37°F) in January, and 18°
C (64 °
F) in July; the average precipitation is 65
millimetres (2.6
in) in January, and 78 millimetres (3.1 in) in July).
[Eurometeo: The meteo at Brussels]Because of its high population density and location in the centre of Western Europe, Belgium faces serious
environmental problems. A 2003 report
suggested that the water in Belgium's rivers was of the lowest quality in Europe, and bottom of the 122 countries studied.
Densely populated, Belgium is located at the heart of one of the world's most highly industrialised regions. Currently, the Belgium economy is heavily service-oriented and shows a dual nature with a dynamic
Flemish part with
Brussels as its main multilingual and multi-ethnic centre and a GNP/person which is one of the highest from the
European union, and a
Walloon economy that lags roughly one quarter behind (in GNP/person).
Belgium was the first continental European country to undergo the
Industrial Revolution, in the early 1800s.
Liège and
Charleroi rapidly developed mining and steelmaking, which flourished until the mid-20th century. However, by the 1840s the textile industry of Flanders was in severe crisis and there was famine in Flanders (1846–50). After World War II,
Ghent and
Antwerp experienced a fast expansion of the
chemical and
petroleum industries. The
1973 and
1979 oil crises sent the economy into a prolonged recession. The Belgian steel industry has since experienced serious decline. This has been responsible for inhibiting the economic development of
Wallonia.
[US Department of State's report] In the 1980s and 90s, the economic centre of the country continued to shift northwards to Flanders. Nowadays, industry is concentrated in the populous Flemish area in the north.
By the end of the 1980s, Belgian macroeconomic policies had resulted in a cumulative government debt of about 120% of
GDP. Currently, budget is in balance and public debt is equal to 94.3 % of GDP (end 2005)
PDF. In 2004, the real growth rate of GDP was estimated at 2.7%
[National Bank of Belgium] but is expected to fall to 1.3% in 2005.
[Economic forecast of the Economist, 30 September, 2005] Belgium has a particularly
open economy. It has developed an excellent
transportation infrastructure of ports, canals,
railways and highways to integrate its industry with that of its neighbours. Antwerp is the second-largest European port. One of the founding members of the European Union, Belgium strongly supports the extension of the powers of EU institutions to integrate the member economies. In 1999, Belgium adopted the
euro, the single European currency, which replaced the
Belgian franc in 2002. The Belgian economy is strongly oriented towards foreign trade, in particular of high value-added goods. The main imports are food products, machinery, rough diamonds, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, clothing and accessories, and textiles. The main exports are automobiles, food and food products, iron and steel, finished diamonds, textiles, plastics, petroleum products, and nonferrous metals. Since 1922, Belgium and
Luxembourg have been a single trade market within a
customs and
currency unionâ€"the
Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union. Its main trading partners are Germany, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the United States and Spain. Belgium ranks ninth on the 2005
United Nations Human Development Index.
The
population density (342 per km² or 886 per sq. mi) of Belgium is one of the highest in Europe, after that of the Netherlands and some smaller countries such as
Monaco. The areas with the highest population density are around the Brussels-
Antwerp-
Ghent-
Leuven agglomerations, also known as the
Flemish Diamond, as well as other important urban centres as
Liège,
Charleroi,
Kortrijk,
Bruges,
Hasselt and
Namur. The Ardennes have the lowest density. As of 2005, the Flemish Region has a population of about 6,043,161, Wallonia 3,395,942 and Brussels 1,006,749.
[Official statistics of Belgium] Almost all of the population is urban (97.3% in 1999
[United Nation Development Programme]). The main cities and their populations are Brussels (1,006,749), Antwerp (457,749), Ghent (230,951), Charleroi (201,373), and Liège (185,574).
About 60 percent of the country is Dutch-speaking, 39 percent French-speaking, and 1 percent German-speaking. Brussels, with 8% of the country's population, is officially bilingual (French-Dutch). Brussels evolved from a mainly Dutch-speaking city when the Belgian state became independent in 1830, with at that time only French as an official language. A large majority of its population (estimated at 85 ) is registered as Francophone; this includes a large amount of Brussels residents of foreign stock.
Both the
Dutch spoken in Belgium and the
Belgian French have minor differences in
vocabulary and
semantic nuances from the varieties spoken in the Netherlands and France. Many people can still speak
dialects of
Dutch but concerning the
Walloon it is only understood and spoken occasionally, mostly by elderly people. These dialects, along with some other ones like
Picard or
Limburgish,
[Ethnologue.com published by SIL International] are not used in public life.
The
laicist constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally respects this right in practice. According to the
2001 Survey and Study of Religion,
[International Religious Freedom Report 2004 at the US Department of State] about 47 percent of the population identify themselves as belonging to the Catholic Church. According to these figures, the Muslim population is the second-largest religious community, at 3.5 percent (see
Religion in Belgium). Since independence, Catholicism, counterbalanced by strong
freethought and especially
freemason movements, has had an important role in Belgium's politics, in particular via the Christian trade union (
CSC/ACV) and the Christian Democrat parties (
CD&V,
CDH).
The vast majority of Belgians are
Flemish and
Walloon. Together, they constitute a little over 85 percent. Other ethnic groups from Western Europe, including
Italian,
French, and
German people, number 11.1 percent.
North African immigrants, mostly
Arabs from
Morocco,
Algeria, and
Turks, number over 3 percent of the total population.
An estimated 98 percent of the adult population is
literate.
Education is compulsory from the ages of six to 18, but many Belgians continue to study until the age of about 23. Among the
OECD countries in 1999, Belgium had the third-highest proportion of 18â€"21-year-olds enrolled in
postsecondary education, at 42 percent.
[Digest of Education Statistics 2003, US National Education Statistics] Nevertheless, in recent years, concern is rising over
functional illiteracy. In the period 1994â€"1998, 18.4 percent of the population lacks functional literacy skills.
[United Nation Development Programme] Mirroring the historical political conflicts between the freethought and Catholic segments of the population, the Belgian educational system in each communities is split into a
laïque branch controlled by the communities, the provinces, or the municipalities, and a
subsidised religious â€" mostly Catholic â€" branch controlled by both the communities and the religious authorities â€" usually the
dioceses. It should however be noted that â€" at least for the
Catholic schools â€" the religious authorities have very limited power over these schools.
Belgian cultural life has tended to concentrate within each community. The shared element is less important, because there are no bilingual universities, except the royal military academy, no common media, and no single, common large cultural or scientific organisation where both main communities are represented. Aside from these differences, Belgium is well-known for its fine art and architecture.
The region corresponding to today's Belgium has seen the flourishing of major artistic movements that have had tremendous influence over European art. The
Mosan art, the
Early Netherlandish, the Flemish
Renaissance and
Baroque painting, and major examples of
Romanesque,
Gothic,
Renaissance and
Baroque architecture, and the Renaissance
vocal music of the
Franco-Flemish School developed in the southern part of the Low Countries, are milestones in the history of art. Famous names in this classic tradition are
Jan van Eyck,
Pieter Brueghel the Elder,
Peter Paul Rubens and
Anthony van Dyck.
This rich artistic production, often referred to as a whole as
Flemish art, gradually declined during the second half of the 17th century. However, in the 19th and 20th centuries, many original artists appeared. In music,
Adolphe Sax invented the
saxophone in 1846.
Henri Vieuxtemps,
Eugène Ysaÿe and
Arthur Grumiaux were major 19th- and 20th-century violinists (See also
Music of Belgium). Perhaps the most famous Belgian composer of this time was
César Franck but Vieuxtemps and
Guillaume Lekeu are also noteworthy. Jazzmusicans
Django Reinhardt and
Toots Thielemans are world famous. The most famous and important singer is
Jacques Brel, whose songs have been covered by names as diverse as
Frank Sinatra and
David Bowie. In rock
Plastic Bertrand,
Front 242,
dEUS,
K's Choice,
Hooverphonic,
Lords Of Acid (
Praga Khan) are well known. In architecture,
Victor Horta was a major initiator of the
Art Nouveau style. Belgium has produced famous
romantic,
expressionist and
surrealist painters; these include
Egide Wappers,
James Ensor,
Constant Permeke and
René Magritte. In literature, Belgium has produced several well-known authors, such as the poets
Emile Verhaeren,
Henri Michaux and novelists
Hendrik Conscience and
Georges Simenon (author of the bestselling
Inspector Maigret novels). The poet and playwright
Maurice Maeterlinck won the
Nobel Prize in literature in 1911.
Michel de Ghelderode was another major Belgian playwright. The best known
Franco-Belgian comics are
The Adventures of Tintin by
Hergé but many other major authors of comics have been Belgian, including
Edgar P. Jacobs (
Blake and Mortimer),
Morris (
Lucky Luke),
Peyo (
The Smurfs),
Willy Vandersteen (
Suske en Wiske) and
André Franquin (
Gaston,
Spirou).
More recently, notable
Belgian cinema directors have emerged, most of them strongly influenced by
French cinema. The absence of a major Belgian cinema company has forced them to emigrate or participate in low-budget productions. Belgian directors include
Stijn Coninx,
Luc and
Jean-Pierre Dardenne; actors include
Jan Decleir,
Marie Gillain; and films include
Man Bites Dog (film) and
The Alzheimer Affair. In the 1980s, Antwerp's
Royal Academy of Fine Arts has produced the important fashion trendsetters, the
Antwerp Six.
Belgium has also contributed to the development of science and technology. The
mathematician Simon Stevin, the
anatomist Andreas Vesalius and the
cartographer Gerardus Mercator are among the most influential scientists from the beginning of
Early Modern in the Low Countries. More recently, at the end of the 19th century, in
applied science, the
chemist Ernest Solvay and the
engineer Zenobe Gramme have given their names to the
Solvay process and the
Gramme dynamo.
Georges Lemaître is a famous Belgian
cosmologist credited with proposing the
Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe in 1927. Three
Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine have been awarded to Belgians:
Jules Bordet in 1919,
Corneille Heymans in 1938, and
Albert Claude and
Christian De Duve in 1974.
Ilya Prigogine was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1977.
On
December 1,
2005,
Father Damien was chosen as the Greatest Belgian of all time by the Flemish
VRT, whereas the
Walloons chose
Jacques Brel.
One could not understand Belgian cultural life without considering the folk festivals, which play a major role in the country's cultural life. Examples are the Carnival of
Binche and
Aalst, the Ducasse of
Ath, the procession of the Holy Blood in Bruges, the 15th-of-August festival in Liège, and the Walloon festival in Namur. A major non-official holiday is the
Saint Nicholas Day, which commemorates the festival of the children and, in Liège, of the students.
Belgium is well represented in the world of sport
cycling is especially popular. Among the well known cyclists,
Eddy Merckx won five
Tours de France and is considered the best cyclist who ever existed, due to his numerous victories in other bicycle tours, besides the Tour de France. Belgium also has two current female tennis champions:
Kim Clijsters and
Justine Henin-Hardenne.
Many highly ranked restaurants can be found in the high-impact gastronomic guides, such as the
Michelin Guide. Brands of Belgian chocolate, like
Neuhaus and
Côte d'Or, are world renowned and widely sold; even the cheapest and most popular brand,
Leonidas, has earned a reputation for its quality. Belgium produces over 500 varieties of beer (
ales,
pils,
Stella Artois,
Jupiler) (see
Belgian beer). Belgians have a reputation for loving
waffles and
French fries, actually both originally from Belgium; the national food is
steak (or
mussels) with French fries and
lettuce.
*
Belgian colonial empire*
Constitution of Belgium*
Communications in Belgium*
Education in Belgium*
Football in Belgium*
Foreign relations of Belgium*
Guidisme et Scoutisme en Belgique/Gidsen- en Scoutsbeweging in België*
List of Belgian municipalities by population*
List of Belgians*
List of Belgium-related topics*
Military of Belgium*
Political parties in Belgium*
Public holidays in Belgium*
Crime in Belgium *
Tourism in Belgium*
Transportation in Belgium*
Images from Belgium*
Picture gallery of Belgium Top Sites to See*
Official site of the Belgian federal government*
History of Belgium: Primary Documents*
Official site of Belgian tourist office*
USC Center on Public Diplomacy Nation Profile*
World history at KMLA*
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Belgium Country Page*
L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde in French by Jacques Leclerc,
University of Laval,
Canada*
Portal of the INS to statistical publications about Belgium*
Constitution of Belgium
nds-nl:Belgiëfiu-vro:Belgiä
