Belgium
Belgium is located in Western Europe, bordered by the Netherlands,
Germany, Luxembourg, France, and the North Sea. Although generally
flat, the terrain becomes increasingly hilly and forested in the
southeast (Ardennes) region. Climate is cool, temperate, and rainy;
summer temperatures average 77°F, winters average 45°F. Annual
extremes (rarely attained) are 10°F and 100°F.
Geographically and culturally, Belgium is at a crossroads of Europe,
and during the past 2,000 years has witnessed a constant ebb and
flow of different races and cultures. Consequently, Belgium is one
of Europe's true melting pots with Celtic, Roman, Germanic, French,
Dutch, Spanish, and Austrian cultures having made an imprint.
Belgium is divided ethnically into the Dutch-speaking Flemings and
French-speaking Walloons, the 70,000 residents of the eastern German
cantons, and the bilingual capital of Brussels. The population
density is the second highest in Europe, after the Netherlands. |
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Belgium derives its name from the Belgae, a Celtic tribe. The Belgae
were forced to yield to Roman legions during the first century B.C.
For some 300 years thereafter, what is now Belgium flourished as a
province of Rome. But Rome's power gradually lessened. In about A.D.
300, Attila the Hun invaded what is now Germany and pushed Germanic
tribes into northern Belgium. About 100 years later, the Germanic
tribe of the Franks invaded and took possession of Belgium. The
northern part of present-day Belgium became an overwhelmingly
Germanized and Germanic-Frankish-speaking area, whereas in the
southern part people continued to be Roman and spoke derivatives of
Latin. After coming under the rule of the Dukes of Burgundy and,
through marriage, passing into the possession of the Hapsburgs,
Belgium was occupied by the Spanish (1519-1713) and the Austrians
(1713-1794).
Under these various rulers, and especially during the 500 years from
the 12th to the 17th century, the great cities of Ghent, Bruges,
Brussels, and Antwerp took turns at being major European centers for
commerce, industry (especially textiles), and art. Flemish
painting--from Van Eyck and Breugel to Rubens and Van Dyck--became
the most prized in Europe. Flemish tapestries hung on castle walls
throughout Europe.
Following the French Revolution, Belgium was invaded and annexed by
Napoleonic France in 1795. Following the defeat of Napoleon's army
at the Battle of Waterloo, fought just a few miles south of
Brussels, Belgium was separated from France and made part of the
Netherlands by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
In 1830, Belgium won its independence from the Dutch as a result of
an uprising of the Belgian people. A constitutional monarchy was
established in 1831, with a monarch invited in from the House of
Saxe-Coburg Gotha in Germany.
Belgium was invaded by Germany in 1914 and again in 1940. Those
invasions, plus disillusionment over postwar Soviet behavior, made
Belgium one of the foremost advocates of collective security within
the framework of European integration and the Atlantic partnership.
Since 1944, when British, Canadian, and American armies liberated
Belgium, the country has lived in security and at a level of
increased well-being.
Language, economic, and political differences between Dutch-speaking
Flanders and Francophone Wallonia have led to increased divisions in
Belgian society. The Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and the
19th century accentuated the linguistic North-South division.
Francophone Wallonia became an early industrial boom area, affluent
and politically dominant. Dutch-speaking Flanders remained
agricultural and was economically and politically outdistanced by
Brussels and Wallonia. The last 50 years have marked the rapid
economic development of Flanders while the coal and steel industries
of Wallonia went into sharp decline, resulting in a corresponding
shift of political and economic power to the Flemish, who now
constitute an absolute majority (58%) of the population.
Demonstrations in the early 1960s led to the establishment of a
formal linguistic border in 1962, and elaborate rules made to
protect minorities in linguistically mixed border areas. In 1970,
Flemish and Francophone cultural councils were established with
authority in matters of language and culture for the two-language
groups. Each of the three economic regions--Flanders, Wallonia, and
Brussels--was granted a significant measure of political autonomy.
Since 1984, the German language community of Belgium (in the eastern
part of Liege Province) has had its own legislative assembly and
executive, which have authority in cultural, language, and
subsequently educational affairs.
In 1988-89, the Constitution was again amended to give additional
responsibilities to the regions and communities. The most sweeping
change was the devolution of educational responsibilities to the
community level. As a result, the regions and communities were
provided additional revenue, and Brussels was given its own
legislative assembly and executive.
Another important constitutional reform occurred in the summer of
1993, changing Belgium from a unitary to a federal state. It also
reformed the bicameral parliamentary system and provided for the
direct election of the members of community and regional legislative
councils. The bilingual Brabant province, which contained the
Brussels region, was split into separate Flemish and Walloon Brabant
provinces. The revised Constitution came into force in 1994.
A parliamentary democracy, Belgium has been governed by successive
coalitions of two or more political parties. The centrist Christian
Democratic Party often provided the Prime Minister. In the 1999
general election, Belgian voters rejected Jean Luc Dehaene's
longstanding coalition government of Christian Democrats and
Socialists and voted into power a coalition led by Flemish Liberal
Leader Guy Verhofstadt. The first Verhofstadt government (1999-2003)
was a six-party coalition between the Flemish and Francophone
Liberals, Socialists, and Greens. It was the first Liberal-led
coalition in generations and the first six-party coalition in 20
years. It also was the first time the Greens had participated in
Belgium's federal government. In the general election of 2003, the
Greens suffered significant losses, while the Socialists posted
strong gains and the Liberals also had modest growth in electoral
support. Liberal Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt reconstituted the
coalition as a four-party government in July 2003, with only the
Liberals and Socialists in power.
In the 2007 general elections, the Flemish Christian Democratic CD&V
recouped the lost ground, becoming the country's largest party. The
two Socialist parties and Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's Open VLD
lost support. The Francophone Liberal MR became the largest party of
Wallonia and Brussels. Following the election, the King tasked CD&V
leader Yves Leterme with forming a new government. The ruling
coalition is composed of Flemish Christian Democrats (CD&V),
Francophone Christian Democrats (CDH), Flemish Liberals (Open VLD),
Francophone Liberals (MR), and the Francophone Socialists (PS).
However, it took over nine months to form a government, which
remained subject to intense strains. Leterme stepped down in
December 2008 and was replaced as Prime Minister and head of the
same coalition by the CD&V's Herman Van Rompuy. |
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