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Flanders 1

Flanders Flandre and Flandern redirect here. For the ships, see SS Flandre and SS Flandern.

Flanders

Vlaanderen (Dutch) Region and community of Belgium

Flag Coat of arms

Anthem: De Vlaamse Leeuw

("The Flemish Lion")

Present-day Belgian Flanders (dark green) shown within Belgium and Europe. Brussels is in some contexts considered part of Flanders and in other

contexts separate.

County of Flanders 862 1795

Community in Belgium since 1970

Region in Belgium since 1980

Seat Brussels

Government

Body Flemish Government

Minister-President Kris Peeters

Legislature Flemish Parliament

Area

Land 13,522 km 2 (5,221 sq mi)

Population (1 January 2012)

Total 6,350,765 (Flemish Region only)

Density 470/km 2 (1,200/sq mi)

Official language Dutch

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Flanders 2

Demonym Flemish (adjective), Fleming (person)

Vlaams (adjective), Vlaming (person)

Time zone CET (UTC+1)

Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)

ISO 3166 code BE-VLG

Website http:/ / www. vlaanderen. be/

The area and population figures are given for the Flemish Region, not the Community.

Flanders (Dutch: Vlaanderen Wikipedia:Media helpFile:Nl-Vlaanderen.ogg, French: Flandre ) today normally

refers to the Dutch-speaking northern part of Belgium, but it can also refer to two specific provinces within Flanders,

West and East Flanders. It is one of the regions and communities of Belgium. Historically, the name referred to a

region located in the north-western part of present-day Belgium and adjacent parts of France and the Netherlands.

Both in the historical and the contemporary meaning, the demonym associated with Flanders is Fleming , while the

corresponding adjective is Flemish. Brussels is the capital of Flanders, though not fully under its jurisdiction.

Over the course of history, the geographical territory that was called "Flanders" has varied. From around 1000 AD,

Flanders historically meant to English-speaking peoples the land situated along the North Sea from the Strait of

Dover to the Scheldt estuary with ill-defined southern borders. [1] It came to refer specifically to the County of

Flanders, lasting from 862 to 1795, whose territory was situated in the northwestern part of what is now Belgium

(approximately the modern Belgian provinces of East and West Flanders), and what are now parts of northern France

(French Flanders), and the Netherlands (Zeelandic Flanders). Through marriage, the County of Flanders was joined

with most of the rest of the Low Countries around 1400 AD, and it lost its independence. Most of the county's

territory became part of an independent Belgium in 1830, and during the 19th and 20th centuries, it became

increasingly commonplace to refer to the entire Dutch-speaking and northern part of Belgium as "Flanders",

including the Belgian parts of the Duchy of Brabant and Limburg. In the late 20th century, Belgium became a federal

state in which the Dutch-speaking part was given autonomy as the Flemish Community (Dutch:Vlaamse

Gemeenschap ) and the Flemish Region (Dutch: Vlaams Gewest ); these two entities were effectively merged, except

that the Flemish Community only has partial jurisdiction over Brussels, its capital.

Flanders has figured prominently in European history. During the late Middle Ages, Flanders' trading towns (notably

Ghent, Bruges and Ypres) made it one of the richest and most urbanized parts of Europe, weaving the wool of

neighbouring lands into cloth for both domestic use and export. As a consequence, a very sophisticated culture

developed, with impressive achievements in the arts and architecture, rivaling those of northern Italy. As part of

Belgium, Flanders was initially the poorer half of the country to industrialized Wallonia. In the second half of the

twentieth century, however, there has been a gradual shift of political and economic power to Flanders, which,

having modernized its economy, is now more wealthy and prosperous than its southern counterpart. [2]

Geographically, Flanders is generally flat, and has a small section of coast on the North Sea. Flanders borders Franceto the west, the Netherlands to the north and east, and Wallonia to the south. The Brussels Capital Region is enclaved

within the Flemish Region, while Voeren is an exclave of Flanders between Wallonia and the Netherlands. Flanders

is agriculturally fertile and densely populated, with a population density of almost 500 people per square kilometer

(1200 per square mile).

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Terminology

Northern part of Belgium

The term "Flanders" has several main meanings:

the social, cultural and linguistic, scientific and educational, economical and political community of the Flemings,

in general called the "Flemish community" (small "c") (others refer to this as the "Flemish nation"). It has over 6million inhabitants, or about 60% of the population of Belgium.

the constituent governing institution of the federal Belgian state through the institutions named the Flemish

Community (capital "C") , exercising the powers in most of those domains for the aforementioned community,

and the officially Dutch-speaking Flemish Region, which has powers mainly on economic matters. The

Community absorbed the Region, leading to a single operative body: the Flemish Government and a single

legislative organ: the Flemish Parliament;

the geographical region in the north of Belgium coinciding with the federal Belgian state's Flemish Region.

Depending on the use including or excluding the bilingual Capital Region;

the geographical area comprising the two westernmost provinces of the Flemish Region, West Flanders and East

Flanders, forming the central portion of the historic County of Flanders.

Historical parts of the County of Flanders

When Flandria appeared in the 8th century, it was a Frankish fief centred on Bruges. The re gion's name is

thought to derive from an Ingvaeonic stem flm- meaning "flooded land" (from Proto-Germanic * flauma- ).[3]

Originally this name referred to the polders surrounding Bruges and dates from a period before the counts of

Flanders expanded their territory. In the 14th century, the county of Flanders reached its maximum size, and

became the wealthiest part of the Seventeen Provinces. It extended over the modern-day Belgian provinces of

East Flanders, West Flanders, and Hainaut.

In the 14th century, the French kings conquered Picardy, where French was spoken. In the 16th centu ry, Artoiswas also conquered by the French. In 17th and 18th century, king Louis XIV of France captu red more

French-speaking areas in southern Flanders around Lille, referred to as Lilloise Flanders or la Flandre Lilloise ,

but also Maritime Flanders, where originally Dutch was spoken, and to this day, a Flemish dialect persists in

some rural areas near Dunkirk. Both areas together are now referred to as French Flanders. The city of Lille

identifies itself as a part of historic Flanders, and thus as "Flemish" in the geographical and historical sense, and

this is reflected, for instance, in the name of its local railway station TGV Lille-Flandres .

During this period of French encroachment on the region, the United Provinces also took some areas of northern

Flanders. These areas now form Zeelandic Flanders ( Zeeuws-Vlaanderen ), a part of the Netherlands province of

Zeeland.

Dutch-speaking part of Belgium

The significance of the County of Flanders and its counts eroded through time, but the desi gnation remaine d in a

very broad sense. In the Early modern period, the term Flanders was associated with the southern part of the Low

Countries: the Southern Netherlands. During the 19th and 20th centuries, it became increasingly commonplace to

refer to the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium as "Flanders". The linguistic limit between French and Dutch was

recorded in the early '60's, from Kortrijk to Maastricht. Now, Flanders extends over the northern part of Belgium,

including the Belgian parts of the Duchy of Brabant and Limburg.

The ambiguity between this eastwardly much wider area and that of the County (or the Belgian parts thereof), still

remains. In most present-day contexts however, in general the term Flanders is taken to refer to either the political,

social, cultural, and linguistic community (and the corresponding official institution, the Flemish Community), or the

geographical area, one of the three institutional regions in Belgium, namely the Flemish Region.

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Low Countries

Beeldenstorm

In 1500, Charles V was born in Ghent. He inherited the Seventeen Provinces (1506), Spain (1516) with its colonies

and in 1519 was elected Holy Roman Emperor. [6] The Pragmatic Sanction of 1549, issued by Charles V, established

the Low Countries as the Seventeen Provinces (or Spanish Netherlands in its broad sense) as an entity separate from

the Holy Roman Empire and from France. In 1556 Charles V abdicated due to ill health (he suffered from cripplinggout). [7] Spain and the Seventeen Provinces went to his son, king Philip II of Spain.

Over the first half of the 16th century Antwerp grew to become the second-largest European city north of the Alps

by 1560. Antwerp was the richest city in Europe at this time. [8] According to Luc-Normand Tellier "It is estimated

that the port of Antwerp was earning the Spanish crown seven times more revenues than the Americas." [9]

The Sack of Antwerp in 1576, in which about 7,000

people died.

Meanwhile, Protestantism had reached the Low Countries.

Among the wealthy traders of Antwerp, the Lutheran beliefs of

the German Hanseatic traders found appeal, perhaps partly for

economic reasons. The spread of Protestantism in this city was

aided by the presence of an Augustinian cloister (founded 1514)

in the St. Andries quarter. Luther, an Augustinian himself, had

taught some of the monks, and his works were in print by 1518.

The first Lutheran martyrs came from Antwerp. The

Reformation resulted in consecutive but overlapping waves of

reform: a Lutheran, followed by a militant Anabaptist, then a

Mennonite, and finally a Calvinistic movement. These

movements existed independently of each other.

Philip II, a devout Catholic and self-proclaimed protector of the

Counter-Reformation, suppressed Calvinism in Flanders, Brabant and Holland (what is now approximately Belgian

Limburg was part of the Bishopric of Lige and was Catholic de facto ). In 1566, the wave of iconoclasm known asthe Beeldenstorm was a prelude to religious war between Catholics and Protestants, especially the Anabaptists. The

Beeldenstorm started in what is now French Flanders, with open-air sermons (Dutch: hagepreken ) that spread

through the Low Countries, first to Antwerp and Ghent, and from there further east and north. In total it lasted not

even a month.

The Eighty Years' War and its consequences

Subsequently, Philip II sent the Duke of Alba to the Provinces to repress the revolt. Alba recaptured the southern part

of the Provinces, who signed the Union of Atrecht, which meant that they would accept the Spanish government on

condition of more freedom. But the northern part of the provinces signed the Union of Utrecht and settled in 1581

the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. Spanish troops quickly started fighting the rebels, but before therevolt could be completely defeated, a war between England and Spain had broken out, forcing Philip's Spanish

troops to halt their advance. Meanwhile, the Spanish armies had already conquered the important trading cities of

Bruges and Ghent. Antwerp, which was then the most important port in the world, also had to be conquered. On 17

August 1585, Antwerp fell. This ended the Eighty Years' War for the (from now on) Southern Netherlands. The

United Provinces (the Northern Netherlands) fought on until 1648 the Peace of Westphalia.

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Flanders 6

Winter scene by Sebastian Vrancx, 1622

While Spain was at war with England, the rebels from

the north, strengthened by refugees from the south,

started a campaign to reclaim areas lost to Philip II's

Spanish troops. They managed to conquer a

considerable part of Brabant (the later Noord-Brabant

of the Netherlands), and the south bank of the Scheldtestuary (Zeeuws-Vlaanderen), before being stopped by

Spanish troops. The front line at the end of this war

stabilized and became the current border between

present-day Belgium and the Netherlands. The Dutch

(as they later became known) had managed to reclaim enough of Spanish-controlled Flanders to close off the river

Scheldt, effectively cutting Antwerp off from its trade routes.

First the fall of Antwerp to the Spanish and later also the closin g of the Scheldt were causes of a considerable

emigration of Antverpians. [10] Many of the Calvinist merchants of Antwerp and also of other Flemish cities left

Flanders and emigrated to the north. A large number of them settled in Amsterdam, which was at the time a smaller

port, of significance only in the Baltic trade. In the following years Amsterdam was rapidly transformed into one of

the world's most important ports. Because of the contribution of the Flemish exiles to this transformation, the exodus

is sometimes described as " creating a new Antwerp ".

Flanders and Brabant, due to these events, went into a period of relative decline from the time of the Thirty Years

War. [11] In the Northern Netherlands however, the mass emigration from Flanders and Brabant became an important

driving force behind the Dutch Golden Age.

Southern Netherlands (1581 1795)

1609 map of the county of Flanders

Although arts remained at a relatively impressive level for another

century with Peter Paul Rubens (1577 1640) and Anthony van Dyck,

Flanders experienced a loss of its former economic and intellectualpower under Spanish, Austrian, and French rule, with heavy taxation

and rigid imperial political control compounding the effects of

industrial stagnation and Spanish-Dutch and Franco-Austrian conflict.

The Southern Netherlands suffered severely under the War of the

Spanish Succession, but under the reign of empress Maria-Theresia

these lands economically flourished again. Influenced by the

Enlightenment, the Austrian emperor Joseph II was the first sovereign

who has been in the Southern Netherlands since king Philip II of Spain

left them in 1559.

French Revolution and Napoleonic France (1795 1815)

In 1794 the French Republican Army started using Antwerp as the northernmost naval port of France, [11] which

country officially annexed Flanders the following year as the dpartements of Lys, Escaut, Deux-Nthes,

Meuse-Infrieure and Dyle. Obligatory (French) army service for all men aged 16 25 was one of the main reasons

for the people's uprising against the French in 1798, known as the Boerenkrijg ( Peasants' War ), with the heaviest

fighting in the Campine area.

United Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815 1830)

After the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the 1815 Battle of Waterloo in Waterloo, Brabant, sovereignty over the

Austrian Netherlands Belgium minus the East Cantons and Luxembourg was given by the Congress of Vienna

(1815) to the United Netherlands (Dutch: Verenigde Nederlanden ), the state that briefly existed under Sovereign

Prince William I of Orange Nassau, the latter King William I of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, after the

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Flanders 7

French Empire was driven out of the Dutch territories. The United Kingdom of the Netherlands was born. The

Protestant King of the Netherlands, William I rapidly started the industrialisation of the southern parts of the

Kingdom. The political system that was set up however, slowly but surely failed to forge a true union between the

northern and the southern parts of the Kingdom. The southern bourgeoisie mainly was Roman Catholic, in contrast

to the mainly Protestant north; large parts of the southern bourgeoisie also primarily spoke French rather than Dutch.

In 1815 the Dutch Senate was reinstated (Dutch: Eerste Kamer der Staaten Generaal ). The nobility, mainly comingfrom the south, became more and more estranged from their northern colleagues. Resentment grew both among the

Roman Catholics from the south and the Protestants from the north and among the powerful liberal bourgeoisie from

the south and their more moderate colleagues from the north. On 25 August 1830 (after the showing of the opera 'La

Muette de Portici' of Daniel Auber in Brussels) the Belgian Revolution sparked off and became a fact. On 4 October

1830, the Provisional Government (Dutch: Voorlopig Bewind ) proclaimed the independence, which was later

confirmed by the National Congress that issued a new Liberal Constitution and declared the new state a

Constitutional Monarchy, under the House of Saxe-Coburg. Flanders now became part of the Kingdom of Belgium,

which was recognized by the major European Powers on 20 January 1831. The de facto dissidence was finally

recognized by the United Kingdom of the Netherlands on 19 April 1839.

Kingdom of Belgium

In 1830, the Belgian Revolution led to the splitting up of the two countries. Belgium was confirmed as an

independent state by the Treaty of London of 1839, but deprived of the eastern half of Limburg (now Dutch

Limburg), and the Eastern half of Luxembourg (now the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg). Sovereignty over Zeeuws

Vlaanderen, south of the Westerscheldt river delta, was left with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which was

allowed to levy a toll on all traffic to Antwerp harbour until 1863. [11]

Rise of the Flemish Movement

The Belgian Revolution was not well supported in Flanders and even on the 4th of October 1830, when the Belgian

independence was eventually declared, Flemish authorities refused to take orders from the new Belgian government

in Brussels. Only after Flanders was subdued with the aid of a large French military force one month later, under the

leadership of the Count de Pontcoulant, did Flanders become a true part of Belgium.

The French-speaking bourgeoisie showed very little respect for the Dutch-speaking part of the population. French

became the only official language in Belgium and all secondary and higher education in the Dutch language was

abolished.

In 1834, all people even remotely suspected of being "Flemish minded" or calling for the reunification of the

Netherlands were prosecuted and their houses looted and burnt. Flanders, until then a very prosperous European

region, was not considered worthwhile for investment and scholarship. A study in 1918 demonstrated that in the first

88 years of its existence, 80% of the Belgian GNP was invested in Wallonia. This led to a widespread poverty in

Flanders, forcing roughly 300.000 Flemish to emigrate to Wallonia to start working there in the heavy industry.

All of these events led to a silent uprising in Flanders against the French-speaking domination. But it was not until

1878 that Dutch was allowed to be used for official purposes in Flanders (see language legislation in Belgium),

although French remained the only official language in Belgium.

In 1873, Dutch became the official language in public secondary schools. In 1898 Dutch and French were declared

equal languages in laws and Royal orders. In 1930 the first Flemish university was opened.

The first official translation of the Belgian constitution in Dutch was not published until 1967.

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Flanders 8

A memorial to soldiers killed in World

War I.

World War I and its consequences

Flanders (and Belgium as a whole) saw some of the greatest loss of life on the

Western Front of the First World War, in particular from the three battles of

Ypres. Due to the hundreds of thousands of casualties at Ypres, the poppies that

sprang up from the battlefield afterwards, later immortalised in the Canadian

poem "In Flanders Fields", written by John McCrae, have become a symbol forlives lost in war.

Flemish feeling of identity and consciousness grew through the events and

experiences of war. The occupying German authorities took several

Flemish-friendly measures. More importantly, the experiences of many

Dutch-speaking soldiers on the front led by French-speaking officers catalysed

Flemish emancipation. The French-speaking officers often gave orders in

French only, followed by "et pour les Flamands, la mme chose!", meaning

"and for the Flemish, the same thing!" (which did not help the Flemish

conscripts, who were mostly uneducated farmers and workers unable to have

understood what had been said in French). [12] The resulting suffering is still remembered by Flemish organizations

during the yearly Yser pilgrimage in Diksmuide at the monument of the Yser Tower.

Right-Wing Nationalism in the interbellum and World War II

During the interbellum and World War II, several right-wing fas cist and/or national-so cialistic parties e merged in

Belgium, the Fl emish ones being energize d by the anti-Flemish di scrimination of the Wallonians. Since these parties

were promised more rights for the Flemings by the German government during World War II, many of them

collaborated with the Nazi regime. After the war, collaborators (or people who were Zwart , "Black" during the war)

were prosecuted and punished, among them many Flemish Nationalists whose main political goal had been the

emancipation of Flanders. As a result, up until this day Flemish Nationalism is often associated with right-wing and

sometimes fascist ideologies.

Flemish autonomy

After World War II, the differences between Dutch-speaking a nd French-speaking B elgians became clear in a

number of conf licts, such as the Royal Q uestion, the question wh ether King Leopold III should return (which most

Flemings supported but not the Walloons) and the use of Dutch in the Catholic University of Leuven. As a result,

several state reforms took place in the second half of the 20th century, which transformed the unitary Belgium into a

federal state with communities, regions and language areas. This resulted also in the establishment of a Flemish

Parliament and Government. During the 1970s, all major political parties split into a Flemish and French-speaking

party.

Several Flemish parties still advocate for more Flemish autonomy, some even for Flemish independence (seePartition of Belgium), whereas the French-speakers would like to keep the current state as it is. Recent governments

(such as Verhofstadt I Government) have transferred certain federal competences to the regional governments.

On 13 December 2006, a spoof news broadcast by the Belgian Francophone public broadcasting station RTBF

declared that Flanders had decided to declare independence from Belgium.

The 2007 federal elections showed more support for Flemish auto nomy, marking the star t of the 2007 201 1 Belgian

political crisis. All the po litical parties th at advocated a significa nt increase of Flemish autonomy gained votes as

well as seats in the Belgian federal parliament. This was especially the case for Christian Democratic and Flemish

and New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) (who had participated on a shared electoral list). The trend continued during the

2009 regional elections, where CD&V and N-VA were the clear winners in Flanders, and N-VA became even the

largest party in Flanders and Belgium during the 2010 federal elections, followed by the longest-ever government

formation after which the Di Rupo I Government was formed excluding N-VA. Eight parties agreed on a sixth state

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Flanders 9

reform which aim to solve the disputes between Flemings and French-speakers. The 2012 provincial and municipal

elections however continued the trend of N-VA becoming the biggest party in Flanders.

These victories for the advocates of much more Flemish autonomy are very much in parallel with opinion polls that

show a structural increase in popular support for their agenda. Since 2006, certain polls have started showing a

majority in favour of Flemish independence. Those polls are not yet representative, but they point to a significant

long-term trend.

Government and politics

Kris Peeters, Minister-President of Flanders,

promoting Flanders in Action

Both the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region are

constitutional institutions of the Kingdom of Belgium, exercising

certain powers within their jurisdiction, granted following a series of

state reforms. In practice, the Flemish Community and Region together

form a single body, with its own parliament and government, as the

Community legally absorbed the competences of the Region. The

parliament is a directly elected legislative body composed of 124

representatives. The government consists of up to a maximum of

eleven members and is presided by a Minister-President, currently Kris

Peeters (Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams) leading a coalition of his

party (CD&V) with New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) and Socialistische

Partij Anders (sp.a).

The area of the Flemish Community is represented on the maps above,

including the area of the Brussels-Capital Region (hatched on the

relevant map). Roughly, the Flemish Community exercises

competences originally oriented towards the individuals of the

Community's language: culture (including audiovisual media),education, and the use of the language. Extensions to personal matters

less directly associated with language comprise sports, health policy

(curative and preventive medicine), and assistance to individuals (protection of youth, social welfare, aid to families,

immigrant assistance services, etc.) []

The area of the Flemish Region is represented on the maps above. It has a population of around 6 million (excluding

the Dutch-speaking community in the Brussels Region, grey on the map for it is not a part of the Flemish Region).

Roughly, the Flemish Region is responsible for territorial issues in a broad sense, including economy, employment,

agriculture, water policy, housing, public works, energy, transport, the environment, town and country planning,

nature conservation, credit, and foreign trade. It supervises the provinces, municipalities, and intercommunal utilitycompanies. []

The number of Dutch-speaking Flemish people in the Capital Region is estimated to be between 11% and 15%

(official figures do not exist as there is no language census and no official subnationality). According to a survey

conducted by the Universit catholique de Louvain in Louvain-la-Neuve and published in June 2006, 51% of

respondents from Brussels claimed to be bilingual, even if they do not have Dutch as their first language. [13][14] They

are governed by the Brussels Region for economics affairs and by the Flemish Community for educational and

cultural issues.

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Flanders 10

The Flemish Parliament

As mentioned above, Flemish institutions such as the Flemish

Parliament and Government, represent the Flemish Community and the

Flemish Region. The region and the community thus de facto share the

same parliament and the same government. All these institutions are

based in Brussels. Nevertheless, both types of subdivisions (the

Community and the Region) still exist legally and the distinctionbetween both is important for the people living in Brussels. Members

of the Flemish Parliament who were elected in the Brussels Region

cannot vote on affairs belonging to the competences of the Flemish

Region.

The official language for all Flemish institutions is Dutch. French enjoys a limited official recognition in a dozen

municipalities along the borders with French-speaking Wallonia, and a large recognition in the bilingual Brussels

Region. French is widely known in Flanders, with 59% claiming to know French according to a survey conducted by

the Universit catholique de Louvain in Louvain-la-Neuve and published in June 2006. [15][16]

Politics

Historically, the political parties reflected the pillarisation ( verzuiling ) in Flemish society. The traditional political

parties of the three pillars are Christian-Democratic and Flemish (CD&V), the Open Flemish Liberals and

Democrats (Open Vld) and the Socialist Party Differently (sp.a).

However, during the last half century, many new political parties were founded in Flanders. One of the first was the

nationalist People's Union, of which the right nationalist Flemish Block (now Flemish Interest) split off, and which

later dissolved into the now-defunct Spirit or Social Liberal Party, moderate nationalism rather left of the spectrum,

on the one hand, and the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), more conservative but independentist, on the other hand.

Other parties are the leftist alternative/ecological Green party; the short-lived anarchistic libertarian spark ROSSEM

and more recently the conservative-right liberal List Dedecker, founded by Jean-Marie Dedecker, and the socialistWorkers' Party.

Particularly the Flemish Block/Flemish Interest has seen electoral success roughly around the turn of the century,

and the New Flemish Alliance during the last few elections, becoming even the largest party in the 2010 federal

elections.

Flemish nation

Border crossing sign near Menen.

For some Flemings, Flanders is more than just a geographical area or the federal

institutions (Flemish Community and Region). Supporters of the Flemish

Movement even call it a nation and pursue Flemish independence, but most people(approximately 75%) living in Flanders say they are proud to be Belgian and

opposed to the dissolution of Belgium. [17]

In 2012, the Flemish government drafted a "Charter for Flanders" ( Handvest voor

Vlaanderen )[18] of which the first article says "Vlaanderen is een deelstaat van de

federale Staat Belgi en maakt deel uit van de Europese Unie." ("Flanders is a

federated state [19] of the federal State of Belgium and is part of the European

Union"). Though interpreted by many Flemish nationalists as a statement, this

phrase is merely a quotation from the Belgian constitution and has no further legal

value whatsoever.

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Flanders 11

Administrative divisions

The present-day Flemish Region covers 13,522 km 2 (5,221 sq mi) and

is divided into five provinces, 22 arrondissemements and 308 cities or

municipalities.

Province Capital city Administrative arrondissements Municipalities Area Population

(density)

(1 January

2012)

1 Antwerp ( Antwerpen ) Antwerp

( Antwerpen )

Antwerp, Mechelen, Turnhout 70 2,867 km 1,781,904

(622/km)

2 Limburg ( Limburg ) Hasselt Hasselt, Maaseik, Tongeren 44 2,414 km 849,404

(351/km)

3 East Flanders

(Oost-Vlaanderen )

Ghent ( Gent ) Aalst , Dendermonde, Eeklo, Ghent,

Oudenaarde, Sint-Niklaas

65 2,991 km 1,454,716

(488/km)

4 Flemish Brabant

(Vlaams-Brabant )

Leuven Halle-Vilvoorde, Leuven 65 2,106 km 1,094,751

(520/km)

5 West Flanders

(West-Vlaanderen )

Bruges ( Brugge ) Bruges, Diksmuide, Ypres, Kortrijk, Ostend,

Roeselare, Tielt, Veurne

64 3,125 km 1,169,990

(372/km)

The province of Flemish Brabant is the most recent one, being formed in 1995 after the splitting of the province of

Brabant.Most municipalities are made up of several former municipalities, now called deelgemeenten . The largest

municipality (both in terms of population and area) is Antwerp, having more than half a million inhabitants. Its nine

deelgemeenten have a special status and are called districts, which have an elected council and a college. While any

municipality with more than 100,000 inhabitants can establish districts, only Antwerp did this so far. The smallest

municipality (also both in terms of population and area) is Herstappe (Limburg).

Brussels-Capital Region with the City of Brussels

(one of 19 municipalities) in red

The Flemish Community covers both the Flemish Region and,

together with the French Community, the Brussels-Capital Region.

Brussels, an enclave within the province of Flemish Brabant, is not

divided into any province nor is it part of any. It coincides with the

Arrondissement of Brussels-Capital and includes 19 municipalities.

The Flemish Government has its own local institutions in the

Brussels-Capital Region, being the Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie

(VGC), and its municipal antennae ( Gemeenschapscentra , community

centres for the Flemish community in Brussels). These institutions are

independent from the educational, cultural and social institutions that

depend directly on the Flemish Government. They exert, among others,

all those cultural competences that outside Brussels fall under the provinces.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flemish_Community_Commissionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flemish_Governmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_municipalities_of_the_Brussels-Capital_Regionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Brussels-Capitalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brusselshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flemish_Regionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flemish_Communityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ABrusselLocatie.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=City_of_Brusselshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Herstappehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Districts_of_Antwerphttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Antwerphttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Deelgemeentehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Province_of_Brabanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Province_of_Brabanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Veurnehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Tielthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Roeselarehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Ostendhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Kortrijkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Ypreshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Diksmuidehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Brugeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brugeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=West_Flandershttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_West_Flanders.svghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leuven_administrative_Arrondissementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Halle-Vilvoorde_administrative_Arrondissementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leuvenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flemish_Brabanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flemish_Brabant_Flag.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Sint-Niklaashttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Oudenaardehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Ghenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Eeklohttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Dendermondehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Aalsthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ghenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=East_Flandershttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Oost-Vlaanderen.svghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Tongerenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Maaseikhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Hasselthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hasselthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Limburg_%28Belgium%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Vlaams-limburg.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Turnhouthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Mechelenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissement_of_Antwerphttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Antwerphttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Antwerp_%28province%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Antwerp.svghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_municipalities_of_the_Flemish_Regionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_municipalities_of_the_Flemish_Regionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arrondissements_of_Belgiumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Provinces_of_Belgiumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flemish_Regionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AVlaanderenProvincies.png

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Flanders 12

Geography and climate

The Sonian Forest

Flanders shares its borders with Wallonia in the south, Brussels being

an enclave within the Flemish Region. The rest of the border is shared

with the Netherlands (Zeelandic Flanders, North Brabant and Limburg)

in the north and east, and with France (French Flanders) and the North

Sea in the west. Voeren is an exclave of Flanders between Wallonia

and the Netherlands, while Baarle-Hertog in Flanders forms a

complicated series of enclaves and exclaves with Baarle-Nassau in the

Netherlands. Germany, although bordering Wallonia and close to

Voeren in Limburg, does not share a border with Flanders. The

German-speaking Community of Belgium, also close to Voeren, does

not border Flanders either. (The commune of Plombires, majority

French speaking, lies between them.)

Flanders is a highly urbanised area, lying completely within the Blue Banana. Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges and Leuven

are the largest cities of the Flemish Region. Antwerp has a population of more than 500,000 citizens and is thelargest city, Ghent has a population of 250,000 citizens, followed by Bruges with 120,000 citizens and Leuven

counts almost 100,000 citizens. Brussels is a part of Flanders as far as community matters are concerned, but does

not belong to the Flemish Region.

Flanders has two main geographical regions: the coastal Yser basin plain in the north-wes t and a central plain. The

first consists m ainly of sand dunes and clayey alluvial soils in the polders. Polders are areas of land, close to or

below sea level that have been reclaimed from the sea, from which they are protected b y dikes or, a little further

inland, by fields that have been drained with canals. With similar soils along the lowermost Scheldt basin starts the

central plain, a smooth, slowly rising fertile area irrigated by many waterways that reaches an average height of

about five metres (16.4 ft) above sea level with wide valleys of its rivers upstream as well as the Campine region to

the east having sandy soils at altitudes around thirty metres [20] Near its southern edges close to Wallonia one can findslightly rougher land richer of calcium with low hills reaching up to 150 m (492 ft) and small valleys, and at the

eastern border with the Netherlands, in the Meuse basin, there are marl caves ( mergelgrotten ). Its exclave around

Voeren between the Dutch border and the Walloon province of Lige attains a maximum altitude of 288 m (945 ft)

above sea level. [21][]

The climate is maritime temperate, with significant precipitation in all seasons (Kppen climate classification: Cfb ;

the average temperature is 3 C (37 F) in January, and 21 C (69.8 F) in July; the average precipitation is

65 millimetres (2.6 in) in January, and 78 millimetres (3.1 in) in July).

Economy

The Port of Antwerp is the second largest in

Europe.

Total GDP of the Flemish Region in 2004 was 165,847 million

(Eurostat figures). Per capita GDP at purchasing power parity was 23%

above the EU average. Flemish productivity per capita is about 13%

higher than that in Wallonia, and wages are about 7% higher than in

Wallonia. [22]

Flanders was one of the first continental European areas to undergo the

Industrial Revolution, in the 19th century. Initially, the modernization

relied heavily on food processing and textile. However, by the 1840s

the textile industry of Flanders was in severe crisis and there was

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Flanders 13

The A12 with a railway in the centre.

famine in Flanders (1846 50). After World War II, Antwerp and

Ghent experienced a fast expansion of the chemical and petroleum

industries. Flanders also attracted a large majority of foreign

investments in Belgium. The 1973 and 1979 oil crises sent the

economy into a recession. The steel industry remained in relatively

good shape. In the 1980s and 90s, the economic centre of Belgiumcontinued to shift further to Flanders and is now concentrated in the

populous Flemish Diamond area. [23] Nowadays, the Flemish economy

is mainly service-oriented.

Belgium is a founding member of the European Coal and Steel

Community in 1951, which evolved into the present-day European Union. In 1999, the euro, the single European

currency, was introduced in Flanders. It replaced the Belgian franc in 2002.

The Flemish economy is strongly export-oriented, in particular of high value-added goods. [citation needed ] 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 non-ferrous metals. Since 1922, Belgium and Luxembourg have

been a single trade market within a customs and currency union the Belgium Luxembourg Economic Union. Its

main trading partners are Germany, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the United States, and

Spain. [citation needed ]

Antwerp is the number one diamond market in the world, diamond exports account for roughly 1/10 of Belgian

exports. The Antwerp-based BASF plant is the largest BASF-base outside Germany, and accounts on its own for

about 2% of Belgian exports. Other industrial and service activities in Antwerp include car manufacturing,

telecommunications, photographic products.

Flanders is home to several science and technology institutes, such as IMEC, Flanders DC and Flanders DRIVE.

Infrastructure

Flanders has developed an extensive transportation infrastructure of ports, canals, railways and highways. The Port

of Antwerp is the second-largest in Europe, after Rotterdam. [24] Other, much smaller ports are Ghent,

Bruges-Zeebrugge and Ostend, the last two being located at the Belgian coast.

Whereas railways are managed by the federal National Railway Company of Belgium, other public transport (De

Lijn) and roads are managed by the Flemish region.

The main airport is Brussels Airport, the only other civilian airport with scheduled services in Flanders is Antwerp

International Airport, but there are two other ones with cargo or charter flights: Ostend-Bruges International Airport

and Kortrijk-Wevelgem International Airport, both in West Flanders.

DemographicsThe highest population density is found in the area circumscribed by the Brussels-Antwerp-Ghent-Leuven

agglomerations that surround Mechelen and is known as the Flemish Diamond, in other important urban centres as

Bruges and Kortrijk to the west, and notable centres Turnhout and Hasselt to the east. On 1 January 2012, the

Flemish Region had a population of 6,350,765 and about 15% of the 1,138,854 people in the Brussels Region are

also considered Flemish. [4][]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hasselthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Turnhouthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kortrijkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brugeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flemish_Diamondhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leuvenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ghenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Antwerphttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brusselshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kortrijk-Wevelgem_International_Airporthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ostend-Bruges_International_Airporthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Antwerp_International_Airporthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Antwerp_International_Airporthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brussels_Airporthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=De_Lijnhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=De_Lijnhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=National_Railway_Company_of_Belgiumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Belgian_coasthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Port_of_Ostendhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Port_of_Bruges-Zeebruggehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Port_of_Ghenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Port_of_Rotterdamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Port_of_Antwerphttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Port_of_Antwerphttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flanders_DRIVEhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flanders_DChttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=IMEChttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BASFhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Belgium%E2%80%93Luxembourg_Economic_Unionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Currency_unionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Customs_unionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Belgian_franchttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eurohttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=European_Unionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=European_Coal_and_Steel_Communityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=European_Coal_and_Steel_Communityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flemish_Diamondhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1979_oil_crisishttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1973_oil_crisishttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chemicalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ghenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Antwerphttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ALijn11_a12.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A12_road_%28Belgium%29

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Flanders 14

A typical church, present in all villages in

Flanders

Religion

The (Belgian) laicist , or secularist, constitution provides for freedom of

religion, and the various governments in general respect this right in

practice. Since independence, Catholicism, counterbalanced by strong

freethought movements, has had an important role in Belgium'spolitics, since the 20th century in Flanders mainly via the Christian

trade union ACV and the Christian Democratic and Flemish party

(CD&V). According to the 2001 Survey and Study of Religion ,[25]

about 47 percent of the Belgian population identify themselves as

belonging to the Catholic Church, while Islam is the second-largest

religion at 3.5 percent. A 2006 inquiry in Flanders, considered more

religious than Wallonia, showed that 55% considered themselves

religious, and 36% believed that God created the world. [26]

Jews have been present in Flanders for a long time, in particular inAntwerp. More recently, Muslims have immigrated to Flanders, now

forming the largest minority religion with about 3.9% in the Flemish

Region and 25% in Brussels. [27] The largest Muslim group is the

Moroccans, while the second largest is the Turks.

Arenberg Chteau, part of the Katholieke

Universiteit Leuven, the oldest university in

Belgium and the Low Countries.

Education

Education is compulsory from the ages of six to 18, but most Flemings

continue to study until around 23. Among the Organisation for

Economic Co-operation and Development countries in 1999, Flanders

had the third-highest proportion of 18 21-year-olds enrolled in

postsecondary education. Flanders also scores very high in

international comparative studies on education. Its secondary school

students consistently rank among the top three for mathematics and

science. However, the success is not evenly spread: ethnic minority

youth score consistently lower, and the difference is larger than in most

comparable countries. [4]

Mirroring the historical political conflicts between the freethought and Catholic segments of the population, the

Flemish educational system is split into a secular branch controlled by the communities, the provinces, or the

municipalities, and a subsidised religious mostly Catholic branch controlled by both the communities and thereligious authorities usually the dioceses. It should however be noted that at least for the Catholic schools the

religious authorities have very limited power over these schools. Smaller school systems follow 'methodical

pedagogies' (e.g. Steiner, Montessori, or Freinet) or serve the Jewish and Protestant minorities. During the school

year 2003 2004, 68.30% of the total population of children between the ages of six and 18 went to subsidized

private schools (both religious schools or 'methodical pedagogies' schools). [28]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Freinethttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Montessorihttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Waldorf_educationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Catholic_schoolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Diocesehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Subsidyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Postsecondary_educationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Organisation_for_Economic_Co-operation_and_Developmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Organisation_for_Economic_Co-operation_and_Developmenthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flemish_peoplehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ACastle_Arenberg%2C_Katholieke_Universiteit_Leuven_adj.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Katholieke_Universiteit_Leuvenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Katholieke_Universiteit_Leuvenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arenberg_Ch%C3%A2teauhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_the_Jews_in_Antwerphttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_the_Jews_in_Antwerphttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_the_Jews_in_Belgiumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christen-Democratisch_en_Vlaamshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Confederation_of_Christian_Trade_Unionshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Freethoughthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=La%C3%AFcit%C3%A9http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3ABinderveld_-_Sint-Jan_de_Doperkerk.jpg

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Flanders 15

Healthcare

Healthcare is a federal matter, but the Flemish Government is responsible for care, health education and preventive

care.

CultureAt first sight, Flemish culture is defined by its language and its gourmandic mentality, as compared to the more

Calvinistic Dutch culture. Dutch and Flemish paintings enjoyed more equal international admiration.

Language and literature

statue of Gezelle in Bruges, Jules Lagae, sculptor

The standard language in Flanders is Dutch; spelling and

grammar are regulated by a single authority, the Dutch Language

Union ( Nederlandse Taalunie ), comprising a committee of

ministers of the Flemish and Dutch governments, their advisory

council of appointed experts, a controlling commission of 22

parliamentarians, and a secretariate. [][] The term Flemish can beapplied to the Dutch spoken in Flanders; it shows many regional

and local variations. [29]

Literature in non-standardized dialects of the current area of

Flanders originated with Hendrik van Veldeke's Eneas Romance ,

the first courtly romance in a Germanic language (12th century).

With a writer of Hendrik Conscience's stature, Flemish literature

rose ahead of French literature in Belgium's early history. [][]

Guido Gezelle not only explicitly referred to his writings as

Flemish but actually used it in many of his poems, and strongly

defended it:

Original from kleengedichtjes (1860?)[][]

Gij zegt dat

t vlaamsch te niet zal gaan:

t en zal!

dat t waalsch gezwets zal boven slaan:'

t en zal!

Dat hopen, dat begeren wij:

dat zeggen en dat zweren wij:

zoo lange als wij ons weren, wij: t en zal, t en zal,

t en zal!

Translation

You say Flemish will fade away:

It shan't!

that Walloon twaddle will have its way:

It shan't!

This we hope, for this we hanker:

this we say and this we vow:

as long as we fight back, we:

It shan't, It shan't,

It shan't!

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Guido_Gezellehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flemish_literaturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hendrik_Consciencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Germanic_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hendrik_van_Veldekehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Standardized_dialecthttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flemishhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dutch_Language_Unionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dutch_Language_Unionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dutch_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AGuidogezelle.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jules_Lagaehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flemish_paintinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dutch_paintingshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Preventive_carehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Preventive_carehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flemish_Government

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Flanders 16

The distinction between Dutch and Flemish literature, often perceived politically, is also made on intrinsic grounds

by some experts such as Kris Humbeeck, professor of Literature at the University of Antwerp. [][30] Nevertheless,

nearly all [citation needed ] Dutch-language literature read (and appreciated to varying degrees) in Flanders is the same as

that in the Netherlands.

Influential Flemish writers include Ernest Claes, Stijn Streuvels and Felix Timmermans. Their novels mostly

describe rural life in Flanders in the 19th century and at beginning of the 20th. Widely read by the older generations,they are considered somewhat old-fashioned by present-day critics. Some famous Flemish writers of the early 20th

century wrote in French, including Nobel Prize winners (1911) Maurice Maeterlinck and Emile Verhaeren. They

were followed by a younger generation, including Paul van Ostaijen and Gaston Burssens, who activated the

Flemish Movement. [] Still widely read and translated into other languages (including English) are the novels of

authors such as Willem Elsschot, Louis Paul Boon and Hugo Claus. The recent crop of writers includes the novelists

Tom Lanoye and Herman Brusselmans, and poets such as the married couple Herman de Coninck and Kristien

Hemmerechts.

At the creation of the Belgian state, French was the only official language. French was during a long period used as a

second language in Flanders and, like elsewhere in Europe, commonly spoken among the aristocracy. There is still a

French-speaking minority in Flanders, especially in the municipalities with language facilities, along the languageborder and the Brussels periphery (Vlaamse Rand), though many of them are French-speakers that migrated to

Flanders in recent decades. Many Flemings are also able to speak French, but proficiency has been on the decline.

French is the primary language in the officially bilingual Brussels Capital Region, (see Francization of Brussels). In

French Flanders, French is now the native language of the majority of the population and the only official language.

Historically it was a Dutch-speaking region and there's still a minority of Dutch-speakers living there.

Media

The public radio and television broadcaster in Flanders is VRT, which operates the TV channels n, Canvas,

Ketnet, OP12 and (together with the Netherlands) BVN. Flemish provinces each have up to two TV channels as

well. Commercial television broadcasters include vtm and Vier (VT4). Popular TV series are for example Thuis and

F.C. De Kampioenen .

The five most successful Flemish films were Loft (2008; 1,186,071 visitors), Koko Flanel (1990; 1,082,000 tickets

sold), Hector (1987; 933,000 tickets sold), Daens (1993; 848,000 tickets sold) and De Zaak Alzheimer (2003;

750,000 tickets sold). The first and last ones were directed by Erik Van Looy, and an American remake is being

made of both of them, respectively The Loft (2012) and The Memory of a Killer . The other three ones were directed

by Stijn Coninx.

Newspapers are grouped under three main publishers: De Persgroep with Het Laatste Nieuws, the most popular

newspaper in Flanders, De Morgen and De Tijd. Then Corelio with De Gentenaar, the oldest extant Flemish

newspaper, Het Nieuwsblad and De Standaard. Lastly, Concentra publishes Gazet van Antwerpen and Het Belangvan Limburg.

Magazines include Knack and HUMO.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HUMOhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Knack_%28magazine%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Het_Belang_van_Limburghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Het_Belang_van_Limburghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gazet_van_Antwerpenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Concentrahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=De_Standaardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Het_Nieuwsbladhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=De_Gentenaarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Coreliohttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=De_Tijdhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=De_Morgenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Het_Laatste_Nieuwshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=De_Persgroephttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stijn_Coninxhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Memory_of_a_Killerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Loft_%282012_film%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Erik_Van_Looyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Alzheimer_Casehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Daens_%28film%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hector_%28film%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Koko_Flanelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Loft_%282008_film%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=F.C._De_Kampioenenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thuishttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vierhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vtmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BVNhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=OP12http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ketnethttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Canvas_%28Belgium%29http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%C3%89%C3%A9nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vlaamse_Radio-_en_Televisieomroeporganisatiehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=French_Flandershttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Francization_of_Brusselshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brussels_Capital_Regionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Municipalities_with_language_facilities%23Rim_municipalitieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Municipalities_with_language_facilitieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Second_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kristien_Hemmerechtshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kristien_Hemmerechtshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Herman_de_Coninckhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Herman_Brusselmanshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tom_Lanoyehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hugo_Claushttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Louis_Paul_Boonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Willem_Elsschothttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flemish_Movementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Activismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gaston_Burssenshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_van_Ostaijenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Emile_Verhaerenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maurice_Maeterlinckhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Felix_Timmermanshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stijn_Streuvelshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ernest_Claeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dutch_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_neededhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=University_of_Antwerphttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dutch_literature

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Sports

Kim Clijsters was WTA Player of the Year in

2005 and 2010

Association football (soccer) is one of the most popular sports in both

parts of Belgium, together with cycling, tennis, swimming and judo. [31]

In cycling, the Tour of Flanders is considered one of the five

"Monuments". Other "Flanders Classics" races include Dwars door

Vlaanderen and Gent Wevelgem. Eddy Merckx is regarded as one of

the greatest cyclists of all time, with five victories in the Tour de

France and numerous other cycling records. [32] His hour speed record

(set in 1972) stood for 12 years.

Jean-Marie Pfaff, a former Belgian goalkeeper, is considered one of the

greatest in the history of football (soccer). [33]

Kim Clijsters (as well as the French-speaking Belgian Justine Henin)

was Player of the Year twice in the Women's Tennis Association as she

was ranked the number one female tennis player.

Kim Gevaert and Tia Hellebaut are notable track and field stars from Flanders.

The 1920 Summer Olympics were held in Antwerp. Jacques Rogge has been president of the International Olympic

Committee since 2001.

The Flemish government agency for sports is Bloso.

Music

Flanders is known for its music festivals, like the annual Rock Werchter, Tomorrowland and Pukkelpop. The Gentse

Feesten are another very large yearly event.

The best-selling Flemish group or artist is the (Flemish-Dutch) group 2 Unlimited, followed by (Italian-born) Rocco

Granata, Technotronic, Helmut Lotti and Vaya Con Dios.

The weekly charts of best-selling singles is the Ultratop 50. Kvraagetaan by the Fixkes holds the current record for

longest time at #1 on the chart.

References[1] The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, the Unabridged Edition , NY, 1966

[2] "Belgium." U.S. Department of State. Web. 26 July 2011. .

[3] Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, entry VLAMING (http:/ / gtb. inl. nl/ )

[4] Note: The relation between nationality, genetic ethnicity, native and mainly spoken language(s) (within a group of same ethnicity and age, in

presence of elders, in ethnically mixed groups), and minority group identification, can be complex: Dutch nationals constituting one of the

largest groups of foreigners, share the standard language with Flemish locals but their accent is enough to immediately distinguish them. Themajority of immigrants from certain other countries, had belonged to a minority or disadvantaged group there. Children born in Belgium from

residents of foreign nationality, very often acquired Belgian citizenship. Regardless nationality, according to Belgian Law, if for obligatory

education inscribed to a school located in the Flemish Region, the lessons will be in Dutch language; among schools in Brussels, one may as

well opt for one teaching in French. The determining of statistical samples and interpretation of publicized figures can easil