Kingdom of Belgium

Hey! Looking for information about Belgium then this the place my friend. This article is about Belgium and will further add on to your knowledge about the European country. So lets begin!

Officially known as Kingdom of Belgium, it is a country located in Europe. Belgium shares borders with France, Luxemburg, Germany and Netherlands. Belgium is a small country but is heavily populated. Belgium is a home to mainly three linguistic factions which include the Dutch speaking which comprises 59% of the total population, French speaking who comprise of 40% of the total population and German speaking comprising approximately 1% of the population. Belgium is a federal constitutional kingdom which follows a parliamentary system of governance. It consists of three independent regions along with three societies. The Dutch speaking region of Flanders and French speaking region in the Wallonia are the two largest regions along with a small region of German speaking group of people.

Belgium is also a country which participated in the industrial revolution. In simple words, industrial revolution was the shift from hand manufacturing to machine manufacturing. Industrial revolution ignited in Great Britain and completely changed the way businesses were conducted. Belgium was also part of this revolution. Apart from this, Belgium is one of the founding members of European Union. Not only this, Belgium is also the founding member of World Trade Organization (WTO), Euro zone, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) etc. NATO headquarters are located in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. Brussels is also home to the headquarters of European Union (EU). Belgium is a member of such important unions in the world from which everyone understands how active player Belgium is in the international arena.

Now let’s have a look at the brief history of Belgium.

The name Belgium originated from Gallia Belgica, which was a Roman province in Gaul prior to Roman offensive in 100 BC. Germanic Frankish tribes migrated to the area in the 5^th century and the area was under the rule of Merovingian emperors. In the 8^th century, shift of power led to the Carolingian realm. The Eighty Year’s War which lasted from 1568 to 1648 divided the Low Countries into Northern United provinces and Southern Netherlands. Southern Netherlands was successfully ruled by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and it also consisted much of modern Belgium. During the French Revolutionary Wars in 1794, the Low Countries were seized by the French First Republic which ended the ruling of the Austrians in the expanse. In 1815, after the defeat of Napoleon the reunification of Low Countries as the United Kingdom of Netherlands took place with the disbanding of the First French Empire.

The Belgian Revolution of 1830 showed the way to the partition of Southern Provinces from the Netherlands to the founding of a Catholic and bourgeois. On 21^st July 1831 Leopold I was put in as the king. 21^st July is also celebrated as the national day of Belgium. Since then, the country has been a constitutional kingdom and parliamentary form of democratic state. During the 19^th century main political parties consisted of the Catholic Party and Liberal Party and Belgian Labor Party which came forward at the end of the century. Earlier French was the only official language which was espoused by upper class but later Dutch was also accepted the official language in 1898. In 1885, the Berlin Conference gave control of the Congo Free State to then emperor Leopold II as his personal ownership. From the 1900 the extreme concerns over the treatment of Congolese people started to rise. Numerous Congolese were murdered for not meeting the desired levels of ivory and rubber production. During the Leopold time it is estimated that almost 10 million were killed.

During the World War I (WWI) Germany occupied Belgium in August 1914. The initial few months of German occupation were known as the “Rape of Belgium” because of German overindulgence. In the outcome of World War I, Belgium took control of the Prussian regions of Eupen and Malmedy in 1925 and a chunk of German speaking minority were also taken.  In the World War II, Germany attacked Belgium again in 1940. It is estimated that over 40,000 Belgians were killed in this phase of occupation. Belgium was liberated with the help of Allied forces from September 1944 to February. In 1951, King Leopold III was abandoned as many Belgians believed that he helped Germany in the war.  Due to the Congo Crisis, Belgium Congo got independence.

Now when we look at Belgium, it is a developed country with a stable economy. Belgium has a nominal GDP per capita of $50,510. Its GDP is ranked 25^th in the world. Painter profession is quite popular in that area. Some of the famous painters include Anna Boch and Luc-peter Crombé. Belgium is one of the developed countries in the world and it is also part of some major economic and military unions.  We hope you liked the article. Comment below and let us know.