Belgium
Edited by:
Massimo Martini
Access
Belgium can be reached from Italy mainly by motorway via France. The most direct corridor is via the motorway (Milan-Genoa), then through southern France to Lyon, from where you take the motorway towards Paris and then the motorway towards Brussels; an alternative route uses Mont Blanc and the French motorway corridor. Belgian motorways are free for light vehicles and do not require a vignette. The Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Belges (SNCB/NMBS) operates the national rail network, with Thalys (now Eurostar) high-speed trains connecting Brussels with Paris, Amsterdam and London in less than two hours. Eurostar trains connect Brussels with London via the Channel Tunnel. Brussels-Zaventem International Airport (BRU) is the country's main airport; Brussels-Charleroi Airport (CRL) serves mainly low-cost carriers. Further stopovers can be found in Liège, Antwerp and Ostend. The port of Antwerp is one of the largest in Europe by volume of container traffic. The internal railway network is extensive and well served: most Belgian cities can be reached by train from Brussels in less than an hour. The country has no alpine relief and has no seasonal snow-related problems except in exceptional cases in the Ardennes.
.Introduction
Belgium is a monarchical federal state in western Europe, bordering the North Sea to the northwest, the Netherlands to the north, Germany and Luxembourg to the east and France to the south. The territory covers 30,528 km² and is divided into three geographically and culturally distinct areas: flat Flanders in the north, the Ardennes Plateau in the south and the central plain that separates them. The country is criss-crossed by a clear linguistic and cultural divide - the border between the Flemish (Dutch-speaking) and Walloon (French-speaking) communities - which led to the transformation of the unitary state into a federation of three regions (Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels-Capital) and three language communities in 1993. Brussels is the capital and hosts the main institutions of the European Union and NATO. The country is among the founders of the European Economic Community (1957) and is considered the institutional centre of European integration. The coastal plain in the north, the Brabant hills in the centre and the Ardennes mountains - with Signal de Botrange (694m) as the highest point - define an overall low and highly humanised landscape, with one of the highest population densities in Europe.
.Description
The Belgian territory is predominantly flat in the northern half, where coastal Flanders was wrested from the sea by a system of polders and dykes that protects the areas below sea level. The central plain, with fertile, well-drained soils, is the most productive agricultural area. To the south, the Ardennes plateau gradually rises to just under 700 m, with an undulating morphology covered with coniferous (Picea abies, Pinus sylvestris) and beech (Fagus sylvatica) forests. The main rivers - Scheldt, Meuse and Sambre - cross the country in an east-west direction before flowing into the North Sea or joining the Dutch system. The maritime border runs for 67 km along the coast of the Noordzee, with sandy beaches and coastal dunes.
Belgian history has Celtic roots: the Belgic tribes mentioned by Julius Caesar in De Bello Gallico inhabited this region before the Roman conquest. The territory was Romanised, then invaded by Frankish Germanic peoples in the 5th century, and became part of the Carolingian Empire. In the late Middle Ages, the Flemish cities - Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp - became some of the richest trade and manufacturing centres in Europe, with a flourishing production of woollen textiles and intense mercantile activity. From the 15th to the 17th century, the territory came under the rule of first the Habsburgs of Spain and then Austria, only to be invaded by Napoleonic France at the end of the 18th century. Independence was proclaimed in 1830, after the Brussels revolt against Dutch rule. Belgium suffered the German occupations of both world wars and, in its colonial history, administered the Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) from 1908 to 1960 under conditions widely documented as brutal.
The Belgian economy is among the most developed in the European Union, with a GDP per capita of around EUR 44,800 (2023), well above the EU average. Flanders and the port of Antwerp - one of the world's largest in terms of traffic volume - drive the industrial and commercial sector, with specialisations in diamonds (Antwerp is the world's largest market for cut diamonds), the chemical industry, metallurgy and technological production. Wallonia, historically industrial with coal and steel, has been going through a long conversion crisis since the end of the 20th century. Brussels is the de facto headquarters of the main EU institutions and the NATO headquarters, with a significant economic and employment spin-off. Belgian food production has an international reputation: Belgian beers, with more than 1,500 varieties produced by hundreds of craft breweries, were inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Heritage List in 2016; chocolate, moules-frites and Chips gastronomy (Belgium claims the invention) are recognisable identity elements.
Belgian cultural heritage is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List with eight sites: the Grand-Place in Brussels, the Flemish Béguinages, the Canal du Centre with its four historic hydraulic lifts, the belfry and the Grand-Place in Bruges, the mining Neolithic in Spiennes, the Ghent village architecture plan, the 56 beffroi in Flanders and Wallonia and the Bois du Cazier complex in Marcinelle. The Flemish Renaissance, the Baroque painting of Rubens and Van Dyck, the symbolism of Magritte and surrealism are the best known expressions of Belgian painting, which developed in an area where Latin and Germanic influences have been intertwined for centuries. Art Nouveau, designed by Victor Horta and Henry van de Velde in Brussels in the early 20th century, has left a building heritage of great quality.
Belgium has no alpine relief; hiking is concentrated in the Ardennes plateau, with marked trails through the forests and deep valleys of the Ourthe, Amblève and Semois rivers. The GR-5 (Grande Randonnée 5), which links the North Sea to the Alps by crossing the country, is the best known long-distance hiking route. The RAVeL network in Wallonia (over 1,300 km) and the LF network in Flanders offer cycling and walking routes on old, disused railways. In winter, the Ardennes offer snowshoe routes during snowy periods, although the permanence of snow is irregular and limited.
Mountaineering is not part of the Belgian tradition in the strict sense, due to the absence of significant relief in the country. The Belgian mountaineering tradition developed in the Alps and, during the 20th century, in non-European expeditions: [Claude Barbier] and other Belgian mountaineers contributed to the exploration of the great walls of the Western Alps. The limestone crags of the Ardennes - in particular those of Freyr on the Meuse and Comblain-au-Pont - were home to pioneers of European climbing, with André Buziau and the Belgian climbing school of the second half of the 20th century.
Belgian trail running is progressively growing, with widespread events in the Ardennes. The Liège-Bastogne-Liège Trail (approx. 65 km, 1,800 m D+) is one of the best-known races, which follows part of the route of the classic bike race of the same name on the white roads and trails of the Pays de Liège. The Ardennes Trail and several regional series round out the calendar, with terrain characterised by mud, forest and continuous ups and downs that make it a technical setting that differs from Alpine settings.
.Information
General Data
Capital: Brussels
Area: 30.528 km²
Minimum elevation: -2.5m (coastal polders)
Maximum elevation: 694m - Signal de Botrange
Number of inhabitants: 11,754,004 (as of 01.01.2024)
Official name: Koninkrijk België / Royaume de Belgique / Königreich Belgien
Name of inhabitants: Belgians
Regions: Flanders - Wallonia - Brussels-Capital
Border countries: France - Germany - Luxembourg - Netherlands
Institutional website: https://www.belgium.be