TheSillon industriel (French:[sijɔ̃ɛ̃dystʁijɛl],lit. 'industrial furrow') describes acoal-rich region running throughBelgium which emerged as the core of the country'sheavy industry during theIndustrial Revolution.
The region itself runs across the region ofWallonia, passing fromDour, the region ofBorinage, in the west, toVerviers in the east, passing along the way throughMons,La Louvière (theCentre),Charleroi (thePays Noir),Namur,Huy, andLiège. It follows a continuous stretch of valleys of the riversHaine,Sambre,Meuse andVesdre, and has an area of roughly 1000 km2.
The strip is also known as theSambre and Meuse valley, as those are the main rivers, or theHaine-Sambre-Meuse-Vesdre valley, which includes two smaller rivers. (French:sillon Sambre-et-Meuse orsillon Haine-Sambre-Meuse-Vesdre). It is also called theDorsale wallonne, meaning "Walloon [industrial] backbone".
It is less defined byphysical geography, and is more a description ofhuman geography andresources. As heavy industry is no longer the prevailing feature of theBelgian economy, it is now more common to refer to the area as aformer industrial belt.[1]
Around two-thirds of the population ofWallonia lives in the area – over two million people. Its main stretch is sometimes called the Charleroi-Liège valley, which connects Charleroi and Liège. Some see it as a Walloonmetropolis, although it is linear rather than multi-directional sprawl.
The sillon industriel was the first fullyindustrialized area incontinental Europe,[2] experiencing its first industrialisation wave from 1800 to 1820.[3] Its industry brought much wealth to Belgium, and it was the economic core of the country. This continued until afterWorld War II, when the importance of Belgian steel, coal and industry began to diminish. The region's economy shifted towards extraction of non-metallic raw materials such asglass andsoda, which lasted until the 1970s.[2] The days of prosperity were gone, however, and a trend of unemployment and partial economic dependence on the formerly poorerFlemish Region began, and continues to this day.
The region has seennumerous general strikes, some with social aims, some with political aims. In 1886, due to economic crisis, lowering of salaries and unemployment; in 1893, 1902 and 1913, as a struggle foruniversal suffrage. More strikes occurred in 1932 and 1936, with a strike in 1950 on thequestion of the return of Leopold III to the Belgian throne.[citation needed] The region was at the heart of thegeneral strike of winter 1960-1961, which helped Wallonia to gain autonomy. It was also the site of the firstdechristianisation in Belgium, and the most ferocious opposition toLeopold III's return to the throne.[citation needed]
The region is the base of the Belgianfrancophone Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste) in Wallonia. Some of the region qualifies for Objective 1 or Objective 2 status under theRegional policy of the European Union because of its low GDP per capita. This is to encourage growth in the area.[4] This is rare inWestern Europe.[5]
Four former industrial sites in the region had been recognized by theUNESCO commission as aUNESCO World Heritage Site,the Major Mining Sites of Wallonia, in 2012.[6]
