Most Flemings live within theFlemish Region, which is a federal state within Belgium with its own elected government. However, like Belgium itself, the official capital of Flanders is theCity of Brussels,[4] which lies within theBrussels-Capital Region, not the Flemish Region, and the majority of residents there are French speaking. The powers of the Flemish Government in Brussels are limited mainly to Flemish culture and education.[5]
Geographically, Flanders is mainly flat, and incorporates the whole coast of Belgium on theNorth Sea. It borders theFrench department ofNord to the south-west near the coast, the Dutch provinces ofZeeland,North Brabant andLimburg to the north and east, and theWalloon provinces ofHainaut,Walloon Brabant andLiège to the south. Despite accounting for only 45% of Belgium's territory, more than half the population lives there – 6,821,770 (or 58%) out of 11,763,650 Belgian inhabitants, as of January 2024. Much of Flanders is agriculturally fertile and densely populated at 501/km2 (1,300/sq mi). The Brussels Region is an officially bilingualenclave within the Flemish Region.[d] Flanders also has exclaves of its own:Voeren in the east is between Wallonia and the Netherlands andBaarle-Hertog in the north consists of 22 exclaves surrounded by the Netherlands. Not including Brussels, there are five present-dayFlemish provinces:Antwerp,East Flanders,Flemish Brabant,Limburg andWest Flanders. The official language is Dutch.
The area of today's Flanders has figured prominently in European history since theMiddle Ages. The originalCounty of Flanders stretched around AD 900 from theStrait of Dover to theScheldtestuary and expanded from there. This county also still corresponds roughly with the modern-day Belgian provinces of West Flanders and East Flanders, along with neighbouring parts of France and the Netherlands.[e] In this period, cities such asGhent andBruges of the historic County of Flanders, and laterAntwerp of theDuchy of Brabant made it one of the richest and most urbanised parts of Europe, trading, and weaving thewool 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 ofnorthern Italy.
Belgium was one of the centres of the 19th-centuryIndustrial Revolution, but this occurred mainly in French-speaking Wallonia. In the second half of the 20th century, and due to massive national investments in port infrastructure, Flanders' economy modernised rapidly, and today Flanders and Brussels are much wealthier than Wallonia, being among the wealthiest regions in Europe and the world.[8] In accordance with late 20th centuryBelgian state reforms, Flanders was made into two political entities: the Flemish Region (Dutch:Vlaams Gewest) and theFlemish Community (Dutch:Vlaamse Gemeenschap). These entities were merged, although geographically the Flemish Community, which has a broader cultural mandate, covers Brussels, whereas the Flemish Region does not.
The term "Flanders" has several main modern meanings:
The "Flemish community" or "Flemish nation", i.e. the social, cultural and linguistic, scientific and educational, economical and political community of theFlemings. For most purposes this is considered to include the 6.5 million Belgians (approximately 60%) who consider Dutch to be their mother tongue, including many people living in theBrussels-Capital Region.
In the context of the political subdivisions of Belgium there are theFlemish Region (competent in mainly economic matters) and theFlemish Community (competent in mainly cultural matters). The first does not comprise Brussels (which forms aRegion by itself), whereas the latter does comprise the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Brussels.
The political institutions that govern both subdivisions: the operative body or "Flemish Government", and the legislative organ or "Flemish Parliament".
Within Belgian discussions, the two westernmost provinces of the Flemish Region,West Flanders andEast Flanders, forming the central portion of the historicCounty of Flanders are also still collectively referred to as Flanders.
The name originally applied to theancien régime territory called theCounty of Flanders, that existed from the 8th century (LatinFlandria) until its absorption by theFrench First Republic. Until the 1600s, this county also extended over parts of what are now France and the Netherlands.
In France, one of the historically Flemish regions is now in theNord department. This is referred to asFrench Flanders, and can be divided into two smaller regions:Walloon Flanders andMaritime Flanders (Westhoek). The first region was predominantly French-speaking already in the 1600s, the latter became so in the 20th century. Thecity of Lille identifies itself as "Flemish", and this is reflected, for instance, in the name of its local railway stationTGVLille Flandres.
However, the term came to be used for a bigger territory, and this is critical to the evolution of modern terminology. Once the Counts of Flanders (who were also Dukes of Burgundy) expanded their regional power to create the bigger entity, now referred to by historians as theBurgundian Netherlands, "Flanders", along with Latin "Belgium", were the first two common names to describe this regional block.[9] With the breakaway of the northern Netherlands in theearly modern period, the term Flanders continued to be associated with the whole southern part of theLow Countries—theSouthern,Spanish orAustrian Netherlands, which were the successors of the Burgundian state, and also predecessors of modern Belgium. The restriction of the term Flanders to the Germanic speaking part of the population occurred later.
The term "Flemish" came to be a term for the language Dutch, and during the 19th and 20th centuries, it became increasingly common to refer exclusively to the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium as "Flanders". Belgium divided itself into official French- and Dutch-speaking parts starting in the early 1960s. Today Flanders extends over the northern part of Belgium, including not only the Dutch-speaking Belgian parts of the medievalDuchy of Brabant, which was united with Flanders since the Middle Ages, but alsoBelgian Limburg, which corresponds closely to the medievalCounty of Loon, and was never under Burgundian control.
The ambiguity between this wider cultural area and that of the county or province still remains in discussions about the region. In most present-day contexts however, the term Flanders is taken to refer to either the political, social, cultural, and linguistic community (and the corresponding official institution, theFlemish Community), or the geographical area, one of the three institutional regions in Belgium, namely theFlemish Region.
In thehistory of art and other fields, the adjectives Flemish andNetherlandish are commonly used to designate all the artistic production in this area before about 1580, after which it refers specifically to the southern Netherlands. For example, the term "Flemish Primitives", now outdated in English but used in French, Dutch and other languages, is a synonym for "Early Netherlandish painting", and it is not uncommon to seeMosan art categorized as Flemish art. In music theFranco-Flemish School is also known as theDutch School.
Within this Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, French has never ceased to be spoken by some citizens, and Jewish groups have been speakingYiddish in Antwerp for centuries. Regardless of nationality or linguistic background, according to Belgian Law education in schools located in the Flemish Region must be mainly in the Dutch language. In Brussels, teaching is also done in French.
WhenJulius Caesar conquered the area he described it as the less economically developed and more warlike part ofGallia Belgica. His informants told him that especially in the east, the tribes claimed ancestral connections and kinship with the"Germanic" peoples then east of theRhine. Under theRoman Empire the whole ofGallia Belgica became an administrative province. The future counties of Flanders and Brabant remained part of this province connected to what is now France, but in the east modern Limburg became part of the Rhine frontier province ofGermania Inferior connected to what is now the Netherlands and Germany.Gallia Belgica andGermania Inferior were the two most northerly continental provinces of theRoman Empire.
In the future county of Flanders, the mainBelgic tribe in early Roman times was theMenapii, but also on the coast were theMarsacii andMorini. In the central part of modern Belgium were theNervii, whose territory corresponded to medieval Brabant as well as French-speaking Hainaut. In the east was the large district of theTungri which covered both French- and Dutch-speaking parts of eastern Belgium. The Tungri were understood to have links to Germanic tribes east of the Rhine. Another notable group were theToxandrians who appear to have lived in theKempen region, in the northern parts of both the Nervian and Tungrian districts, probably stretching into the modern Netherlands. The Roman administrative districts (civitates) of the Menapii, Nervii and Tungri therefore corresponded roughly with the medieval counties of Flanders, Brabant andLoon, and the modern Flemish provinces of East and West Flanders (Menapii), Brabant and Antwerp (the northern Nervii), and Belgian Limburg (part of the Tungri). Brabant appears to have been separated from the Tungri by a relatively unpopulated forest area, theSilva Carbonaria, forming a natural boundary between northeast and southwest Belgium.
Linguistically, the tribes in this area were underCeltic influence in the south, andGermanic influence in the east, but there is disagreement about what languages were spoken locally (apart fromVulgar Latin), and there may even have been an intermediate "Nordwestblock" language related to both. By the first century AD,Germanic languages appear to have become prevalent in the area of the Tungri.
As Roman influence waned, Frankish populations settled in the Tungiran area east of the Silva Carbonaria, and eventually pushed through it underChlodio. They had kings in each Roman district (civitas). In the meantime, the Franks contributed to the Roman military. The first Merovingian kingChilderic I was king of the Franks within the military of Gaul. He became leader of the administration ofBelgica Secunda, which included thecivitas of the Menapii (the future county of Flanders). From there, his sonClovis I managed to conquer both the Roman populations of northern France and the Frankish populations beyond the forest areas.
A Flemish lady and gentleman in the year 1400, illustrated in the manuscript "Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre avec leurs habits et ornemens divers, tant anciens que modernes, diligemment depeints au naturel". Painted byLucas d'Heere in the 2nd half of the 16th century. Preserved in theGhent University Library.[10]
The County of Flanders was afeudalfief inWest Francia. The first certain Count in the comital family,Baldwin I of Flanders, is first reported in a document of 862, when he eloped with a daughter of his kingCharles the Bald. The region developed as a medieval economic power with a large degree of political autonomy. While its trading cities remained strong, it was weakened and divided when districts fell under direct French royal rule in the late 12th century. The remaining parts of Flanders came under the rule of the counts of neighbouring imperialHainaut underBaldwin V of Hainaut in 1191.
During the lateMiddle Ages, Flanders's trading towns (notablyGhent,Bruges andYpres) made it one of the richest and most urbanized parts of Europe, weaving thewool of neighbouring lands into cloth for both domestic use and export. As a consequence, a sophisticated culture developed, with impressive art and architecture, rivaling those of northern Italy. Ghent, Bruges, Ypres and theFranc of Bruges formed theFour Members, a form of parliament that exercised considerable power in Flanders.[11]
Increasingly powerful from the 12th century, the territory's autonomous urbancommunes were instrumental in defeating a French attempt at annexation (1300–1302), finally defeating the French in theBattle of the Golden Spurs (11 July 1302), nearKortrijk. Two years later, theuprising was defeated and Flanders indirectly remained part of the French Crown. Flemish prosperity waned in the following century, due to widespread European population decline following theBlack Death of 1348, the disruption of trade during the Anglo-FrenchHundred Years' War (1337–1453), and increased English cloth production. Flemish weavers had gone over toWorstead andNorth Walsham in Norfolk in the 12th century and established the woolen industry.
The entire area, straddling the ancient boundary of France and the Holy Roman Empire, later passed toPhilip the Bold in 1384, theDuke of Burgundy, with his capital inBrussels. The titles were eventually more clearly united under his grandsonPhilip the Good (1396 – 1467). This large Duchy passed in1477 to theHabsburg dynasty, and in1556 to the kings of Spain. Western and southern districts of Flanders were confirmed under French rule under successive treaties of1659 (Artois),1668 and1678.
The County of Loon, approximately the modern Flemish province of Limburg, remained independent of France, forming a part of thePrince-Bishopric of Liège until the French Revolution, but surrounded by the Burgundians, and under their influence.
Over the first half of the 16th centuryAntwerp grew to become the second-largest European city north of theAlps by 1560. Antwerp was the richest city in Europe at this time.[14] According to Luc-Normand Tellier "It is estimated that the port of Antwerp was earning the Spanish crown seven times more revenues than theAmericas."[15]
TheSack of Antwerp in 1576, in which about 7,000 people died
Meanwhile, Protestantism had reached the Low Countries. Among the wealthy traders of Antwerp, theLutheran beliefs of the GermanHanseatic traders found appeal, perhaps partly for economic reasons. The spread of Protestantism in this city was aided by the presence of anAugustinian 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. TheReformation resulted in consecutive but overlapping waves of reform: a Lutheran, followed by a militantAnabaptist, then aMennonite, and finally aCalvinistic movement. These movements existed independently of each other.
Philip II, a devout Catholic and self-proclaimed protector of theCounter-Reformation,suppressed Calvinism in Flanders,Brabant and Holland (what is now approximatelyBelgian Limburg was part of thePrince-Bishopric of Liège and was Catholicde facto). In 1566, the wave oficonoclasm known as theBeeldenstorm was a prelude to religious war between Catholics and Protestants, especially the Anabaptists. TheBeeldenstorm started in what is nowFrench 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.
Subsequently, Philip II of Spain sentthe Duke ofAlba to the Provinces to repress the revolt. Alba recaptured the southern part of the Provinces, who signed theUnion of Atrecht, which meant that they would accept the Spanish government on condition of more freedom. But the northern part of the provinces signed theUnion of Utrecht and settled in 1581 theRepublic of the Seven United Netherlands. Spanish troops quickly started fighting the rebels, and the Spanish armies 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. But before the revolt was defeated, a war between Spain and England broke out, forcing Spanish troops to halt their advance. On 17 August 1585, Antwerp fell. This ended the Eighty Years' War for the (from now on)Southern Netherlands. TheUnited Provinces (the Northern Netherlands) fought on until 1648 – thePeace of Westphalia.
Winter scene at the Scheldt river in Antwerp bySebastian Vrancx, 1622
During the war with England, the rebels from the north, strengthened by refugees from the south, started a campaign to reclaim areas lost toPhilip II's Spanish troops. They conquered a considerable part of Brabant (the laterNorth Brabant of the Netherlands), and the south bank of the Scheldt estuary (Zeelandic Flanders), before being stopped by Spanish troops. The front at the end of this war stabilized and became the 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 riverScheldt, effectively cutting Antwerp off from its trade routes.
Thefall of Antwerp to the Spanish and the closing of theScheldt caused considerable emigration.[f] Many Calvinist merchants of Antwerp and other Flemish cities left Flanders and migrated north. Many of them settled inAmsterdam, which was a smaller port, important only in theBaltic trade. The Flemish exiles helped to rapidly transform Amsterdam into one of the world's most important ports. This is why the exodus is sometimes described as "creating a new Antwerp".
Flanders and Brabant, went into a period of relative decline from the time of theThirty Years' War.[16] In the Northern Netherlands, the mass emigration from Flanders and Brabant became an important driving force behind theDutch Golden Age.
Although arts remained relatively impressive for another century withPeter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) andAnthony van Dyck, Flanders lost its former economic and intellectual power under Spanish, Austrian, and French rule. Heavy taxation and rigid imperial political control compounded the effects of industrial stagnation and Spanish-Dutch and Franco-Austrian conflict. The Southern Netherlands suffered severely under theFranco-Dutch War,Nine Years' War andWar of the Spanish Succession. But under the reign of Empress Maria-Theresia, these lands again flourished economically. Influenced bythe Enlightenment, the Austrian EmperorJoseph II was the first sovereign who had been in the Southern Netherlands since King Philip II of Spain left them in 1559.
French Revolution and Napoleonic France (1795–1815)
In 1794, theFrench Republican Army started using Antwerp as the northernmost naval port of France.[16] The following year, France officially annexed Flanders as thedépartements ofLys,Escaut,Deux-Nèthes,Meuse-Inférieure andDyle. Obligatory (French) army service for all men aged 16–25 years was a main reason for the uprising against the French in 1798, known as theBoerenkrijg (Peasants' War), with the heaviest fighting in theCampine area.
In 1815, the Dutch Senate was reinstated (Dutch:Eerste Kamer der Staaten Generaal). The nobility, mainly coming from the south, became increasingly estranged from their northern colleagues. Resentment grew between the Roman Catholics from the south and the Protestants from the north, and also between 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' ofDaniel Auber in Brussels) theBelgian Revolution sparked. On 4 October 1830, theProvisional Government (Dutch:Voorlopig Bewind) proclaimed its independence, which was later confirmed by theNational Congress that issued a new Liberal Constitution and declared the new state aConstitutional Monarchy, under the House ofSaxe-Coburg. Flanders now became part of the Kingdom of Belgium, which was recognized by the major European Powers on 20 January 1831. The cessation was recognized by theUnited Kingdom of the Netherlands on 19 April 1839.
In 1830, theBelgian Revolution led to the splitting up of the two countries. Belgium was confirmed as an independent state by theTreaty 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 overZeelandic Flanders, south of theWesterscheldt 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.[16][17]
In 1873, Dutch became an 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.[18]
The first official translation of the Belgian constitution in Dutch was not published until 1967.
Flanders (and Belgium as a whole) saw some of the greatest loss of life on theWestern Front of theFirst World War, in particular from the three battles ofYpres.
The war strengthened Flemish identity and consciousness. The occupying German authorities took several Flemish-friendly measures. The resulting suffering of the war is remembered by Flemish organizations during the yearlyYser pilgrimage inDiksmuide at the monument of theYser Tower.
Right-wing nationalism in the interbellum and World War II
During the interbellum andWorld War II, several right-wingfascist and/or national-socialistic parties emerged in Belgium. 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 wereZwart, "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, until todayFlemish nationalism is often associated withright-wing politics. Flemish nationalism is however a direct consequence of the events of the years prior to the first World War, in which many were oppressed by the French speaking majority. This ultimately gave way to a rising feeling of cultural autonomy and even a sense of a nationalism.
After World War II, the differences between Dutch-speaking and French-speaking Belgians became clear in a number of conflicts, such as theRoyal Question, the question whether King Leopold III should return (which most Flemings supported but Walloons did not) and the use of Dutch in theCatholic University of Leuven. As a result, severalstate reforms took place in the second half of the 20th century, which transformed the unitary Belgium into a federal state withcommunities, regions and language areas. This resulted also in the establishment of aFlemish Parliament andGovernment. During the 1970s, all major political parties split into a Dutch 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 asVerhofstadt I Government) have transferred certain federal competences to the regional governments.
On 13 December 2006, aspoof news broadcast by the Belgian Francophone public broadcasting stationRTBF announced that Flanders had decided to declare independence from Belgium.
However, sociological studies show no parallel between the rise of nationalist parties and popular support for their agenda. Instead, a recent study revealed a majority in favour of returning regional competences to the federal level.[19]
The area of the Flemish Community is represented on the maps above, including the area of theBrussels-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.)[20]
The area of the Flemish Region is represented on the maps above. It has a population of more than 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 utility companies.[21]
The number of Dutch-speakingFlemish 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 theUniversity of Louvain (UCLouvain) inLouvain-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.[22][23] They are governed by the Brussels Region for economics affairs and by the Flemish Community for educational and cultural issues.
As mentioned above, Flemish institutions such as theFlemish Parliament andGovernment, represent the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region. The region and the community thusde 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 distinction between 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.
Theofficial language for all Flemish institutions isDutch. French enjoys a limited official recognition ina 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 byUCLouvain inLouvain-la-Neuve and published in June 2006.[24][25]
However, during the last half century, many new political parties were founded in Flanders. One of the first was the nationalistPeople's Union, of which the right nationalistFlemish Block (nowFlemish Interest) split off, and which later dissolved into the now-defunct Spirit orSocial Liberal Party, moderate nationalism rather left of the spectrum, on the one hand, and theNew Flemish Alliance (N-VA), more conservative but independentist, on the other hand. Other parties are the leftist alternative/ecologicalGreen party; the short-lived anarchistic libertarian sparkROSSEM and more recently the conservative-right liberalList Dedecker, founded byJean-Marie Dedecker, and the socialistWorkers' Party.
For some inhabitants, 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. 20% is evenvery proud, while some 25% are not proud and 8% isvery not proud. Mostly students claim to be proud of their nationality, with 90% of them saying so. Of the people older than 55, 31% claim to be proud of being a Belgian. Particular opposition to secession comes from women, people employed inservices, the highest social classes and people from big families. Strongest of all opposing the notion are housekeepers—both housewives and house husbands.[26]
In 2012, the Flemish government drafted a "Charter for Flanders" (Handvest voor Vlaanderen)[27] of which the first article says"Vlaanderen is een deelstaat van de federale Staat België en maakt deel uit van de Europese Unie." ("Flanders is acomponent state of the federal State of Belgium and is part of the European Union"). In 2025, Prime Minister De Wever expressed his desire to reunite with The Netherlands, calling the Belgian separation "a disaster".[28]
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 theNetherlands (Zeelandic Flanders inZeeland,North Brabant andLimburg) in the north and east, and with France (French Flanders inHauts-de-France) and theNorth Sea in the west.Voeren is anexclave of Flanders between Wallonia and the Netherlands, whileBaarle-Hertog in Flanders forms a complicated series of enclaves and exclaves withBaarle-Nassau in the Netherlands. Germany, although bordering Wallonia and close toVoeren in Limburg, does not share a border with Flanders. TheGerman-speaking Community of Belgium, also close to Voeren, does not border Flanders either. (The commune ofPlombières, majority French speaking, lies between them.)
Flanders is a highly urbanised area, lying completely within theBlue Banana.Antwerp,Ghent,Bruges andLeuven are the largest cities of theFlemish Region.Antwerp has a population of more than 500,000 citizens and is the largest city,Ghent has a population of 250,000 citizens, followed byBruges with 120,000 citizens andLeuven counts almost 100,000 citizens.[29]
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 coastalYser basin plain in the north-west and a central plain. The first consists mainly of sand dunes andclayeyalluvial soils in thepolders. Polders are areas of land, close to or below sea level that have been reclaimed from the sea, from which they are protected bydikes or, a little further inland, by fields that have been drained with canals. With similar soils along the lowermostScheldt 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 feet) above sea level with wide valleys of its rivers upstream as well as theCampine region to the east having sandy soils at altitudes around thirty metres.[g] Near its southern edges close to Wallonia one can find slightly rougher land, richer incalcium, with low hills reaching up to 150 m (490 ft) and small valleys, and at the eastern border with the Netherlands, in theMeuse basin, there aremarl caves (mergelgrotten). Itsexclave aroundVoeren between the Dutch border and Wallonia'sLiège Province attains a maximum altitude of 288 m (945 ft) above sea level.[30][31]
The province of Flemish Brabant is the most recently created, being formed in 1995 after the splitting of theprovince of Brabant on a linguistic basis.
Most municipalities are made up of several former municipalities, now calleddeelgemeenten. The largest municipality (both in terms of population and area) isAntwerp, having more than half a million inhabitants. Its ninedeelgemeenten have a special status and are calleddistricts, 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) isHerstappe (Limburg).[citation needed]
Brussels-Capital Region with theCity of Brussels (one of 19 municipalities) in red
TheFlemish Government has its own local institutions in the Brussels-Capital Region, being theVlaamse 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.
The climate is maritimetemperate, with significant precipitation in all seasons (Köppen climate classification:Cfb; the average temperature is 3 °C (37 °F) in January, and 21 °C (70 °F) in July; the average precipitation is 65 millimetres (2.6 inches) in January, and 78 millimetres (3.1 inches) in July).
The Port of Antwerp is the second-largest in Europe.TheA12 with a railway in the centre.
Totalgross regional product (GRP) of Flanders in 2021 was €296 billion (excluding Brussels).[33] Per capita GDP atpurchasing power parity was 20% above the EU average.[34] Flemish productivity per capita is about 13% higher than that in Wallonia, and wages are about 7% higher than in Wallonia.[35]
Flanders was one of the first continental European areas to undergo theIndustrial 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 famine in Flanders (1846–50). After World War II,Antwerp andGhent experienced a rapid expansion of the chemical and petroleum industries. Flanders also attracted a large majority of foreign investments in Belgium. The1973 and1979 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 Belgium continued to shift further to Flanders and is now concentrated in the populousFlemish Diamond area.[36] Nowadays, the Flemish economy is mainly service-oriented.
The Flemish economy is strongly export-oriented, in particular of high value-added goods.[37] 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 acustoms andcurrency union—theBelgium–Luxembourg Economic Union. Its main trading partners are Germany, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the United States, and Spain.[38]
Antwerp is the number one diamond market in the world, diamond exports account for roughly 1/10 of Belgian exports. The Antwerp-basedBASF 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, and photographic products.
Flanders is home to several science and technology institutes, such asIMEC, VITO, Flanders DC, andFlanders Make.
Flanders has developed an extensive transportation infrastructure of ports, canals, railways and highways. ThePort of Antwerp is the second-largest in Europe, afterRotterdam.[39] Other ports areBruges-Zeebrugge,Ghent andOstend, of which Zeebrugge and Ostend are located at theBelgian coast [nl].
The highest population density is found in the area circumscribed by theBrussels-Antwerp-Ghent-Leuven agglomerations that surround Mechelen and is known as theFlemish Diamond, in other important urban centres asBruges,Roeselare andKortrijk to the west, and notable centresTurnhout andHasselt to the east. On 1 January 2015, the Flemish Region had a population of 6,444,127 and about 20% of the 1,175,173 people in the Brussels Region are also considered Flemish.[h][40][citation needed]
A church inHouthalen. A typical church, similar to those in many villages in Flanders
The Belgian constitution provides forfreedom of religion, and the various governments in general respect this right in practice. Since independence,Catholicism, counterbalanced by strongfreethought movements, has had an important role in Belgium's politics, since the 20th century in Flanders mainly via the Christian trade unionACV and theChristian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V). According to the2001 Survey and Study of Religion, 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.[41] A 2006 inquiry in Flanders, considered more religious than Wallonia, showed that 55% considered themselves religious, and 36% believed that God created the world.[42]
Jewshave been present in Flanders for a long time, in particularin Antwerp. 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.[43] The largest Muslim group is Moroccan in origin, while the second-largest is Turkish in origin.
Education is compulsory from the ages of six to 18, but mostFlemings continue to study until around 23. Among theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries in 1999, Flanders had the third-highest proportion of 18- to 21-year-olds enrolled inpostsecondary 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.[h]
Mirroring the historical political conflicts between the secular 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 asubsidised religious—mostly Catholic—branch. For the subsidised schools, the main costs such as the teacher's wages and building maintenance completely borne by the Flemish government. Subsidised schools are also free to determine their own teaching and examination methods, but in exchange, they must be able to prove that certain minimal terms are achieved by keeping records of the given lessons and exams. It should however be noted that—at least for the Catholic schools—the religious authorities have very limited power over these schools, neither do the schools have a lot of power on their own. Instead, the Catholic schools are a member of the Catholic umbrella organisationVSKO [nl]. The VSKO determines most practicalities for schools, like the advised schedules per study field. However, there's freedom of education in Flanders, which doesn't only mean that every pupil can choose his/her preferred school, but also that every organisation can found a school, and even be subsidised when abiding the different rules. This resulted also in some smaller school systems follow 'methodical pedagogies' (e.g.Steiner,Montessori, orFreinet) 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).[44]
The big freedom given to schools results in a constant competition to be the "best" school. The schools get certain reputations amongst parents and employers. So it's important for schools to be the best school since the subsidies depend on the number of pupils. This competition has been pinpointed as one of the main reasons for the high overall quality of the Flemish education. However, the importance of a school's reputation also makes schools more eager to expel pupils that don't perform well. Resulting in the ethnic differences and the well-known waterfall system: pupils start high in the perceived hierarchy, and then drop towards more professional oriented directions or "easier" schools when they can't handle the pressure any longer.
The standard language in Flanders isDutch; spelling and grammar are regulated by a single authority, theDutch 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.[45][46] The termFlemish can be applied to the Dutch spoken in Flanders; it shows many regional and local variations.[47]
The earliest example of literature in non-standardized dialects in the current area of Flanders isHendrik van Veldeke'sEneas Romance, the first courtly romance in aGermanic language (12th century). With a writer ofHendrik Conscience's stature,Flemish literature rose ahead of French literature in Belgium's early history.[48][49]Guido Gezelle not only explicitly referred to his writings as Flemish but used it in many of his poems, and strongly defended it:
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!
The distinction betweenDutch and Flemish literature, often perceived politically, is also made on intrinsic grounds by some experts such as Kris Humbeeck, professor of literature at theUniversity of Antwerp.[52][53] Nevertheless, mostDutch-language literature read (and appreciated to varying degrees) in Flanders is the same as that in the Netherlands.[54]
At the creation of the Belgian state, French was the only official language. Historically Flanders was a Dutch-speaking region. For a long period, French was used as asecond language and, like elsewhere in Europe, commonly spoken among the aristocracy. There is still a French-speaking minority in Flanders, especially in themunicipalities with language facilities, along the language border and theBrussels periphery (Vlaamse Rand), though many of them are French-speakers that migrated to Flanders in recent decades.
InFrench Flanders, French is the only official language and now the native language of the majority of the population, but there is still a minority of Dutch-speakers living there. French is also the primary language in the officially bilingualBrussels Capital Region (seeFrancization of Brussels).
Many Flemings are also able to speak French, children in Flanders generally get their first French lessons in the 5th primary year (normally around 10 years). But the current lack of French outside the educational context makes it hard to maintain a decent level of French. As such, the proficiency of French is declining. Flemish pupils are also obligated to follow English lessons as their third language. Normally from the second secondary year (around 14 years old), but the ubiquity of English in movies, music, IT and even advertisements makes it easier to learn and maintain the English language.
The public radio and television broadcaster in Flanders isVRT, which operates the TV channelsVRT 1,VRT Canvas,Ketnet, and (together with the Netherlands)BVN. Flemish provinces each have up to two TV channels as well. Commercial television broadcasters includevtm andVier (VT4). Popular TV series are for exampleThuis andF.C. De Kampioenen.
The five most successful Flemish films wereLoft (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) andDe Zaak Alzheimer (2003; 750,000 tickets sold). The first and last ones were directed byErik Van Looy, and an American remake is being made of both of them, respectivelyThe Loft (2012) andThe Memory of a Killer. The other three ones were directed byStijn Coninx.
The weekly charts of best-selling singles is theUltratop 50. "Kvraagetaan" by theFixkes holds the current record for longest time at No. 1 on the chart.
^Only about 8% of Brussels inhabitants identify as Flemish, while the rest identify as French-speaking or non-Belgian.[6][7]
^Although this original meaning is still relevant, in modern times the term "Flanders" came to refer to a larger area, and is used to refer to the entire Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, stretching all the way to theMeuse, as well as cultural movements such asFlemish art.
^AnAntverpian, derived fromAntverpia, the Latin name ofAntwerp, is an inhabitant of this city; the term is also theadjective expressing that its substantive is from or in that city or belongs to it.
^The altitude of Mechelen, approximately in the middle of the central plain forming the large part of Flanders, is 7 m (23 ft) above sea level. Already closer to the higher southern Wallonia, the more eastern Leuven and Hasselt reach altitudes up to about 40 m (130 ft)
^abThe 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 thestandard language with Flemish locals but their accent is enough to immediately distinguish them. The majority 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 of nationality, according to Belgian Law, obligatory education in schools located in the Flemish Region are in the Dutch language. In Brussels, teaching is also done in French. The determination of statistical samples and interpretation of publicized figures can easily lead to false assumptions or conclusions.
^abc"Antwerp – History".Find it in Flanders. Tourism Flanders & Brussels, Flanders House, London, UK.Archived from the original on 29 September 2006. Retrieved2 January 2007.
^Ir. Jan Strubbe in collaboration with Frank Mostaert and Ir. Koen Maeghe."Flood management in Flanders with special focus on navigable waterways"(PDF). Ministry of the Flemish Community, department Environment and Infrastructure (Waterbouwkundig Laboratorium, Flanders Hydraulics Research, Administratie Waterwegen en Zeewezen). Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 14 June 2007. Retrieved15 May 2007.Flanders is covered by the three major catchment basins (Yser, Scheldt and Meuse). This rather lowlying nearly flat region (2 to 150 m (6.6 to 492.1 ft)altitude above sea-level) ...
^Myriam Dumortier; Luc De Bruyn; Maarten Hens; Johan Peymen; Anik Schneiders; Toon Van Daele; Wouter Van Reeth; Gisèle Weyembergh; Eckhart Kuijken (2006).Biodiversity Indicators 2006 – State of Nature in Flanders (Belgium)(PDF). Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), Brussels.ISBN90-403-0251-0. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 14 June 2007. Retrieved15 May 2007.The altitude ranges from a few meters above sea-level in the Polders to 288 m (945 ft) above sea-level in the south eastern exclave.
^Inquiry by 'Vepec', 'Vereniging voor Promotie en Communicatie' (Organisation for Promotion and Communication), published in Knack magazine 22 November 2006 p. 14 The Dutch language term 'gelovig' is in the text translated as 'religious', more precisely it is a very common word for believing in particular in any kind of God in amonotheistic sense, and/or in someafterlife.
^"Education in Flanders"(PDF).A broad view of the Flemish educational landscape. Ministry of the Flemish Community. 2005.Archived(PDF) from the original on 19 March 2009. Retrieved2 November 2009.
^Gezelle, Guido."Driemaal XXXIII Kleengedichtjes – Gij zegt dat 't vlaamsch te niet zal gaan" [Three times XXXIII Little Poems – Thou sayst Flemish will fade away](PDF).Dichtwerken (deel 1 en 2) [Poems (Part 1 and 2)] (ed. Baur, Frank) (in Dutch).Veen, Amsterdam (1949, 3rd print – online bydbnl). Part 2, p. 505.Archived(PDF) from the original on 14 June 2011. Retrieved19 February 2011.
De Vries, André.Flanders: a cultural history (Oxford University Press, 2007).excerpt
Demets, Lisa, Jan Dumolyn, and Els De Paermentier. "Political ideology and the rewriting of history in fifteenth-century Flanders."BMGN-THE LOW COUNTRIES HISTORICAL REVIEW 134.1 (2019): 73–95.online
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