1.
Dalhem, Gotland
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Dalhem, is a settlement on the island of Gotland, Sweden. Formerly a socken, on 1 January 2016, it was reconstituted into the administrative area Dalhem District, Dalhem is the name of the socken, now district. It is also the name of the village surrounding the medieval Dalhem Church. It is situated in central Gotland, the area is rural with farms, tourism and equestrian facilities as the main sources of income. The Dunbodi General Store Museum in Dalhem, is a shop from the early 1900s, the narrow-gauge railway on Gotland was decommissioned in the beginning of the 1960s. However, short parts of the tracks are still preserved. The most well-kept of these is the railway at Dalhem, built in 1900–1902, it was originally 33 km, with the latest restoration finished in 2015, the preserved part is 6.6 km. The railway is maintained by the Gotland Train Association, objects from Dalhem at the Digital Museum by Nordic Museum Gotland Train Association
2.
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
3.
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
4.
Rugby union
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Rugby union, known in some parts of the world simply as rugby, is a contact team sport which originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is between two teams of 15 players using a ball on a rectangular field with H-shaped goalposts on each try line. Historically an amateur sport, in 1995 restrictions on payments to players were removed, World Rugby, originally the International Rugby Football Board and from 1998 to 2014 the International Rugby Board, has been the governing body for rugby union since 1886. Rugby union spread from the Home Nations of Great Britain and Ireland, early exponents of the sport included Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France. Countries that have adopted rugby union as their de facto national sport include Fiji, Georgia, Madagascar, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Rugby union is played in over 100 countries across six continents, there are 101 full members and 18 associate members of World Rugby. The Rugby World Cup, first held in 1987, takes place four years with the winner of the tournament receiving the Webb Ellis Cup. The Six Nations Championship in Europe and The Rugby Championship in the Southern Hemisphere are major annual competitions. The origin of football is reputed to be an incident during a game of English school football at Rugby School in 1823. Although the evidence for the story is doubtful, it was immortalised at the school with a plaque unveiled in 1895, despite the doubtful evidence, the Rugby World Cup trophy is named after Webb Ellis. Rugby football stems from the form of game played at Rugby School, Old Rugbeian Albert Pell, a student at Cambridge, is credited with having formed the first football team. During this early period different schools used different rules, with pupils from Rugby. Other important events include the Blackheath Clubs decision to leave the Football Association in 1863, despite the sports full name of rugby union, it is known simply as rugby throughout most of the world. The first rugby football international was played on 27 March 1871 between Scotland and England, by 1881 both Ireland and Wales had representative teams, and in 1883 the first international competition, the Home Nations Championship had begun. 1883 is also the year of the first rugby tournament, the Melrose Sevens. During the early history of union, a time before commercial air travel. The first two notable tours both took place in 1888—the British Isles team touring New Zealand and Australia, followed by the New Zealand team touring Europe, All three teams brought new styles of play, fitness levels and tactics, and were far more successful than critics had expected. After Morgan began singing, the crowd joined in, the first time a national anthem was sung at the start of a sporting event, in 1905 France played England in its first international match
5.
Voeren
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Voeren is a Flemish municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. Bordering the Netherlands to the north and the Walloon province of Liège to the south, it is detached from the rest of Flanders. Voerens name is derived from that of a small tributary of the Meuse, the Voer. The current municipality of Voeren was established by the reform of 1977. On 1 January 2008, Voeren had a population of 4,207. Its total area is 50.63 km², giving a density of 83 people per km². About 25% of the population is made up of foreign nationals, the municipality consists of the six villages of s-Gravenvoeren, Sint-Pieters-Voeren, Sint-Martens-Voeren, Moelingen, Teuven and Remersdaal. S-Gravenvoeren is the most important and most populous village of the municipality, both of these Duchies were part of the Holy Roman Empire but they developed a relatively independent regime ruled by powerful dynasties. They successively became part of the Burgundian Netherlands, the Habsburg Netherlands, during the French occupation, the old boundaries of the ancien regime were rejected and the French départemente of Ourthe was created. Most native people in Voeren speak a variant of Limburgish, a language related to Dutch. Voeren is economically dependent on the provinces of Liège and Dutch Limburg. Until the beginning of the 20th century language use in the area was mixed, people spoke the local dialect in daily life. The government institutions used French, while church and school used German or Dutch, however, some influential inhabitants such as the local priest, Hendrik Veltmans, argued that Voeren was culturally Flemish and actively tried to bring Voeren into Flanders. In 1932, with the introduction of new laws, the linguistic alignment of Voeren was determined on the basis of the results of the census of 1930. According to this census 81. 2% of the population of the six villages that now make up Voeren spoke Dutch and 18. 8% declared that they spoke French, administrative changes were made as a result. The results of the census, held in 1947, were only made public in 1954 and gave a totally different outcome. After fierce debate in parliament this proposal was approved but subject to the amendment that Voeren would become part of the Dutch-speaking province of Limburg and this switch from Liège to Limburg was received badly by many local people because of the regions dependence on Liège. Francophones in particular campaigned for the region to be returned to the province of Liège, on January 1,1977, the six small municipalities were merged into the present-day Voeren municipality
6.
Limburg (Belgium)
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Limburg is a province in Belgium. It is the easternmost of the five Dutch-speaking provinces that form the Region of Flanders. Limburg is located west of the river Meuse, upon which it borders the similarly named Dutch province Limburg and it also borders on the Wallonian province of Liège to the south, with which it also has historical ties. To the north and west are the old territories of the Duchy of Brabant, the Flemish provinces of Flemish Brabant and Antwerp to the west, the province of Limburg takes up an area of 2,414 km² which comprises three arrondissements containing 44 municipalities. The municipality of Voeren is geographically detached from Limburg and the rest of Flanders, with the Netherlands to the north and this municipality was established by the municipal reform of 1977 and on 1 January 2008 with its six villages had a total population of 4,207. Its total area is 50.63 km², Belgian Limburg was not called Limburg until the 19th century, when this province, like the rest of Belgium, was part of the Netherlands for some decades, after the fall of Napoleon. Like the name Belgium itself, the name Limburg was chosen from the regions history, in fact the historical name for the territory of Belgian Limburg was Loon. The medieval Duchy of Limburg, although it was nearby, did not contain any part of the county of Loon, a later wave from central Europe, the Michelsburg culture arrived about 3500 BC and shared a similar fate. Pottery technology had however apparently been taken up by local tribes of the Swifterbant culture, the area became permanently agricultural only with the Urnfield culture, followed by the possibly related Halstatt and La Tène material cultures, which are generally associated with Celts. Under these cultures the population increased in the region, and it is also during this period that Indo European languages are thought to have arrived. Caesar gave the first surviving description of the area and described its people as the Germani cisrhenani. Amongst these Germani, Belgian Limburg contained at least part of the country of the Eburones who fought against Julius Caesar under their leaders Ambiorix, under the Romans, the area was home to the Tungri. Notably, the Tungri participated on the Roman side in the Revolt of the Batavi against Roman rule, in the north of Limburg during Roman times lived the Toxandri. The site of the fort which the Romans encamped in was called Aduatuca and this was possibly a general word for a fort, associated not only with the Eburones, but also the Aduatuci, and the Tungri. The Roman city established in Belgian Limburg was referred to as Aduatuca Tungrorum meaning Aduatuca of the Tungri, today this has become Tongeren, in the southeast of Belgian Limburg, and it was the capital of a Roman administrative region called the Civitas Tungrorum. In late Roman and early times, the northern or Kempen part of Belgian Limburg became virtually empty because of Germanic plundering. This area, still known then by its Roman name as Toxandria, was settled by incoming Salian Franks from the north. The southern or Haspengouw part of Belgian Limburg remained more heavily Romanised, by the 9th century, the Frankish Carolingian dynasty, based in and around Belgian Limburg, had turned Gaul in to Francia and ruled an empire that included much of Western Europe
7.
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
8.
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
9.
Aubel
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Aubel is a Belgian municipality located in the Walloon province of Liège. On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 4,082 inhabitants, the total area is 18.83 km², giving a population density of 217 inhabitants per km². Aubel is famous for its butchers, cheesemakers, and cider and beer breweries, an open-air market is held in the centre of Aubel every Tuesday and Sunday morning. A weekly market has been in existence since 1630. The Val-Dieu Abbey is located in the municipality, as is the Siroperie Meurens maker of sirop de Liège, vernantes, France List of protected heritage sites in Aubel Media related to Aubel at Wikimedia Commons Official website
Media related to Dalhem at Wikimedia Commons
Dalhem
