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Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
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Wallonia
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Wallonia is a region of Belgium. Wallonia is primarily French-speaking, and accounts for 55% of the territory of Belgium, unlike Flanders, the Walloon Region was not merged with the French Community of Belgium which is the political entity that is responsible for matters related mainly to culture and education. The German-speaking minority in the east forms the German-speaking Community of Belgium, during the industrial revolution, Wallonia was second only to the United Kingdom in industrialization, capitalizing on its extensive deposits of coal and iron. This brought the wealth, and, from the beginning of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century. Since World War II the importance of industry has greatly diminished. Wallonia now suffers high unemployment and has a significantly lower GDP per capita than Flanders. The economic inequalities and linguistic divide between the two are major sources of conflict in Belgium and is a major factor in Flemish separatism. The capital of Wallonia is Namur but the city with the greatest population is Charleroi, most of Wallonias major cities and two-thirds of its population lie along the Sambre and Meuse valley, the former industrial backbone of Belgium. To the north lies the Central Belgian Plateau, which, like Flanders, is relatively flat, in the south-east lie the Ardennes, hilly and sparsely populated. Wallonia borders Flanders and the Netherlands in the north, France to the south and west, Wallonia has been a member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie since 1980. The term Wallonia can mean different things in different contexts. One of the three regions of Belgium is still constitutionally defined as the Walloon Region, but the regions government has renamed it Wallonia. In practice, the difference between the two terms is small and what is meant is usually clear, based on context, the root of the word Wallonia, like the words Wales, Cornwall and Wallachia, is the Germanic word Walha, meaning the strangers. Wallonia is named after the Walloons, the population of the Burgundian Netherlands speaking Romance languages, in Middle Dutch, the term Walloons also included the French-speaking population of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège or the whole population of the Romanic sprachraum within the medieval Low Countries. Julius Caesar conquered Gaul in 57 BC, the Low Countries became part of the larger Gallia Belgica province which originally stretched from southwestern Germany to Normandy and the southern part of the Netherlands. The population of territory was Celtic with a Germanic influence which was stronger in the north than in the south of the province. The ancestors of the Walloons became Gallo-Romans and were called the Walha by their Germanic neighbours, the Walha abandoned their Celtic dialects and started to speak Vulgar Latin. The Merovingian Franks gradually gained control of the region during the 5th century, the language border began to crystallize between 700 under the reign of the Merovingians and Carolingians and around 1000 after the Ottonian Renaissance
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Huy
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Huy is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the countrys Walloon Region and Province of Liege, Huy lies along the river Meuse, at the mouth of the small river Hoyoux. It is in the sillon industriel, the industrial backbone of Wallonia. The Huy municipality includes the sub-municipalities of Ben-Ahin, Neuville-sous-Huy, the first village originated around the Roman castrum, an early fortress located on the right bank of the River Meuse. The village was evangelized by Saint Domitian, bishop of Tongeren in the 6th century and the town is mentioned for the first time in a 7th-century testament. In the early Middle Ages, Huy was one of the most prosperous cities on the Meuse, with an economy based mostly on metallurgy, but also on tanning, sculpting, woodworking. In the 10th century, Huy was promoted to county status, Huy was the recipient of the first historically known charter north of the Alps, confirming it as a city in 1066. It is around that time that Peter the Hermit harangued the locals, in the 13th and 14th centuries, the economy boomed thanks to the cloth industry. The castle on a right in the middle of town, was used in times of war. By the 15th century, it had become the symbol of the city, the following two centuries, however, witnessed a gradual decline in the city’s fortunes, due in large part to the strategic value of its location on the Meuse. A new fortress was built by the Dutch in 1818 at the strategic location above the town. The 19th century was a period of relative prosperity based on the paper and other industries, the decline of heavy industry in the 20th century was felt here, as in other parts of Wallonia. Today, the city has started to again, thanks in part to its tin products. In 1970 the Tihange Nuclear Power Station was built, every seven years, a religious procession takes place in the so-called septennial festivities in commemoration of the end of a drought in 1656. The last one took place on August 15,2012, the race traverses, and finishes, at the summit of the Mur de Huy, a climb of about 1 kilometer with an average gradient of 10%, with sections of 20%. Huy has also used in the Tour de France four times,1995,2001,2006 and 2015. Huy was used as the location for the 2014 BBC television drama series The Missing, cavalry commander of Jacobite forces at the Siege of Limerick, Ireland, General in French Army following Flight of the Wild Geese is buried here, in the graveyard of St. Martins Church. Léon Lhoist, businessman Huy Trinh, Definer of the Huy Curve, Nutty Movement Legend Huy is twinned with, Official web site
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Awans
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Awans is a Belgian municipality located in the Walloon province of Liège. On January 1,2006, Awans had a population of 8,696. The total area is 27.16 km² which gives a density of 320 inhabitants per km². The municipality consists of the following sub-municipalities, Awans proper, Fooz, Hognoul, Othée, list of protected heritage sites in Awans Media related to Awans at Wikimedia Commons
Media related to Baelen at Wikimedia Commons
Baelen
