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Belgium, [A] officially the Kingdom of Belgium, [B] is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the south, and the North Sea to the west.
- Luxembourg (Belgium)
Luxembourg (French: Luxembourg [lyksɑ̃buʁ] ⓘ; Dutch:...
- Monarchy
Belgium is a constitutional, hereditary and popular...
- Philippe
Philippe (born 15 April 1960) is King of the Belgians.He is...
- Flag
The national flag of Belgium (Dutch: vlag van België,...
- Chamber of Representatives
Members and elections. Article 62 of the Belgian...
- Outline of Belgium
The location of Belgium Flag-map of Belgium An enlargeable...
- City of Brussels
The City of Brussels is the largest municipality and...
- Coat of Arms
The coat of arms of Belgium bears a lion or, known as Leo...
- Luxembourg (Belgium)
- Overview
- Land
- Relief, drainage, and soils
Belgium, country of northwestern Europe. It is one of the smallest and most densely populated European countries, and it has been, since its independence in 1830, a representative democracy headed by a hereditary constitutional monarch. Initially, Belgium had a unitary form of government. In the 1980s and ’90s, however, steps were taken to turn Belgium into a federal state with powers shared among the regions of Flanders, Wallonia, and the Brussels-Capital Region.
Culturally, Belgium is a heterogeneous country straddling the border between the Romance and Germanic language families of western Europe. With the exception of a small German-speaking population in the eastern part of the country, Belgium is divided between a French-speaking people, collectively called Walloons (approximately one-third of the total population), who are concentrated in the five southern provinces (Hainaut, Namur, Liège, Walloon Brabant, and Luxembourg), and Flemings, a Flemish- (Dutch-) speaking people (more than one-half of the total population), who are concentrated in the five northern and northeastern provinces (West Flanders, East Flanders [West-Vlaanderen, Oost-Vlaanderen], Flemish Brabant, Antwerp, and Limburg). Just north of the boundary between Walloon Brabant (Brabant Walloon) and Flemish (Vlaams) Brabant lies the officially bilingual but majority French-speaking Brussels-Capital Region, with approximately one-tenth of the total population. (See also Fleming and Walloon.)
The country has a total of 860 miles (1,385 km) of land boundaries with neighbours; it is bounded by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, and France to the south. Belgium also has some 40 miles (60 km) of shoreline on the North Sea.
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Belgium generally is a low-lying country, with a broad coastal plain extending in a southeasterly direction from the North Sea and the Netherlands and rising gradually into the Ardennes hills and forests of the southeast, where a maximum elevation of 2,277 feet (694 metres) is reached at Botrange.
The main physical regions are the Ardennes and the Ardennes foothills; Côtes Lorraines (Belgian Lorraine), the intrusion of the Paris Basin in the south; and the Anglo-Belgian Basin in the north, comprising the Central Plateaus, the plain of Flanders, and the Kempenland (French: Campine).
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The Ardennes region is part of the Hercynian orogenic belt of mountain ranges, which reaches from western Ireland into Germany and was formed roughly 300 to 400 million years ago, during the Paleozoic Era. The Ardennes is a plateau cut deeply by the Meuse River and its tributaries. Its higher points contain peat bogs and have poor drainage; these uplands are unsuitable as cropland.
A large depression, known east of the Meuse River as the Famenne and west of it as the Fagne, separates the Ardennes from the geologically and topographically complex foothills to the north. The principal feature of the area is the Condroz, a plateau more than 1,100 feet (335 metres) in elevation comprising a succession of valleys hollowed out of the limestone between sandstone crests. Its northern boundary is the Sambre-Meuse valley, which traverses Belgium from south-southwest to northeast.
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the south, and the North Sea to the west. It covers an area of 30,689 km2 (11,849 sq mi) and has a population of more than 11.5 million, making it the 22nd most densely populated country in the ...
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May 1, 2024 · Belgium is a Western European country that borders the North Sea, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. It is a constitutional monarchy with three official languages: Dutch, French, and German.
Feb 24, 2021 · Belgium is a Western European country occupying an area of 30,689 km2 (11,849 sq mi) with three main regions: Flemish, Walloon and Brussels. It is bordered by the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and France. The capital city is Brussels, the largest and the most populous city of Belgium.
Belgium has minimal natural resources, so the manufacture of goods from imported raw materials plays a major role in the economy, and the country is highly industrialized. It is a federal constitutional monarchy with two legislative bodies; the head of state is the monarch, and the head of government is the prime minister.
Belgium (officially the Kingdom of Belgium; Dutch: Koninkrijk België, German: Königreich Belgien, French: Royaume de Belgique) is a country in Western Europe.Its capital, Brussels, is the home of many organizations including the European Union and NATO.
