Flanders

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Vlaanderen Flanders
Flag
Anthem: De Vlaamse Leeuw (The Flemish Lion)
Location of Belgian Flanders in Europe
The Flemish Region
Capital		Brussels 50°54′N, 4°32′E
Official languages		Dutch (Brussels: French and Dutch)
Government		Parliamentary Democracy
-	President	Kris Peeters
Area
-	Total	13,522 km² (161) 5,221 sq mi
Population
-	2007 [1] census	6,117,440
-	Density	448/km² (23) 1,160.3/sq mi
The Flemish Community

Flanders (Dutch: Vlaanderen) has historically been a region overlapping parts of northern Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. Today, Flanders designates either the Flemish Community, which includes Flemish-speaking residents of the Brussels-Capital Region, or the Flemish Region, which does not. The parliament and government govern both the Community and the Region, even though they are not co-extensive.^[2]

West Flanders and East Flanders are two of the five provinces of the Flemish Region, both located in its western part. French Flanders may designate the departement called Nord ("North") or the larger Nord-Pas de Calais region in which Nord is located. Zeelandic Flanders, in Dutch Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, refers to a part of the Netherlands located in Zeeland.

Contents 1 The term "Flanders" 1.1 In Belgium 1.2 In France 1.3 In the Netherlands 1.4 Evolution of the term 2 History 2.1 Early history 2.2 Historical Flanders: County of Flanders 2.3 Flanders in the Low Countries 2.3.1 The Reformation 2.3.2 The Eighty Years' War and its consequences 2.3.3 1581–1795: The Southern Netherlands 2.3.4 1795–1815: French Revolution and Napoleonic France 2.3.5 1815–1830: United Kingdom of the Netherlands 2.4 Kingdom of Belgium 2.4.1 Rise of the Flemish Movement 2.4.2 World War I and its consequences 2.4.3 Right-Wing Nationalism in the interbellum and World War II 2.4.4 Communautary quibbles and the Egmont pact 2.4.5 Recent events 2.4.5.1 Fake revolution 2.4.5.2 Belgian federal elections 3 Government and politics 3.1 Politics 3.2 Flemish nation 4 Administrative divisions 5 Geography and climate 6 Economy 7 Demographics 8 Language and culture 9 The Family Name "Fleming" 10 Science and technology in Flanders 11 See also 12 External links 13 References

[edit] The term "Flanders"

[edit] In Belgium

The term "Flanders" has several main meanings:

• the social, cultural and linguistic, scientific and educational, economical and political community of the Flemings; generally called the "Flemish community" (small "c") (others refer to this as the "Flemish nation") which is, with over 6 million inhabitants, the majority of all Belgians;
• the constituent governing institution of the federal Belgian state through the institutions named the Flemish Community (capital "C"), exercising the powers on most of those domains for aforementioned community, and the officially Dutch-speaking Flemish Region which has powers mainly on economical matters. The Community absorbed the Region, leading to a single operative body as the Flemish government and a legislative one as the Flemish parliament;
• the geographical region in the north of Belgium coinciding with the federal Belgian state's constituent part of the Flemish Region that unlike the Community excludes the bilingual Capital Region; historically there had been no distinction between Brussels and the surrounding geographical area;
• the geographical area comprising the two westernmost provinces of the Flemish Region, West Flanders and East Flanders, parts of a former countship named Flanders.

[edit] In France

Main articles: French Flanders and Nord (department)

[edit] In the Netherlands

Main article: Zeelandic Flanders

[edit] Evolution of the term

Vlaanderen literally means Flooded Land^{[citation needed]} or Lowland. The name appeared first around the 8th century. The precise geographical area denominated by "Flanders" has evolved a great deal over the centuries.

In the Middle Ages, the term Flanders was applied to an area in western Europe, the County of Flanders, spread over:

• Belgium :
  • the area that is now approximately the Flemish provinces of East Flanders and West Flanders
  • the French-speaking area at the west of the Scheldt river, called Tournaisis (from the now Wallonian town Tournai in the province of Hainaut)
• France (French Flanders):
  • in French language: La Flandre Lilloise comprising the arrondissements of Lille and Douai, in the north of France, to which it was ceded in the 14th century. Because of French being spoken, the area was also called la Flandre romane (Romance Flanders) or la Flandre gallicante (Gallic Flanders), or incorrectly Flandre-wallonne (Walloon Flanders) though its language was not Walloon but Picard. The city of Lille manifests itself as "Flemish", for instance by the large TGV station Lille-Flandres.
  • the originally Dutch-speaking remainder of what is now the département Nord (Nord-Pas de Calais), called Westhoek or Maritime Flanders, ceded to France in the 17th and early 18th century, during most of which latter century the area was the province of Flanders and that of Artois.

• The Netherlands :
  • a part of what is now Zeeland in south-western Netherlands, called Zeelandic Flanders (Zeeuws-Vlaanderen)

The significance of the County and its counts eroded through time, but the designation remained in a very broad sense. In the Early Modern, the term Flanders was associated to the southern part of the Low Countries, the Southern Netherlands. During the 19th and 20th centuries, it became increasingly commonplace to refer to the area from De Panne to Maasmechelen, including the Belgian parts of the Duchy of Brabant and Limburg, as "Flanders".

The ambiguity between this eastwardly much wider area and that of the Countship (or the Belgian parts thereof), still remains. In most present-day contexts however, the term Flanders is generally 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.

In history of art, the adjectives Flemish, Dutch and Netherlandish are commonly used to designate all the artistic production in this area. For examples, Flemish Primitives is synonym for early Netherlandish painting, Franco-Flemish School for Dutch School, and it is not uncommon to see Mosan art categorized as Flemish art.

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

Main article: Belgae#Origins of the Belgae

The area roughly encompassing the later geographical meanings of Flanders, had been inhabited by Celts till a Germanic people had been immigrating by crossing the Rhine either gradually driving them south- or westwards, or rather merging with them. By the first century BCE Germanic languages had become prevalent, and the inhabitants were called Belgæ while the area was the coastal district of Gallia Belgica, the most northeastern province of the Roman Empire at its height. The boundaries were the Marne and Seine in the West, with Brittany, and the Rhine in the East, with Frisia. This changed upon the Count of Rouen's settlement with the King of France, which made a cession of western Flanders and eastern Brittany to the Normans.

[edit] Historical Flanders: County of Flanders

Main article: County of Flanders

Created in the year 862, the County of Flanders was divided when its western districts fell under French rule in the late 12th century. The remaining parts of Flanders came under the rule of the counts of neighbouring Hainaut in 1191. The entire area passed in 1384 to the dukes of Burgundy, in 1477 to the Habsburg dynasty, and in 1556 to the kings of Spain. The western districts of Flanders came finally under French rule under successive treaties of 1659 (Artois), 1668, and 1678.

During the late Middle Ages Flanders' trading towns (notably Ghent, Bruges and Ypres) made it one of the most urbanised parts of Europe, weaving the wool of neighbouring lands into cloth for both domestic use and export.

Increasingly powerful from the 12th century, the territory's autonomous urban communes were instrumental in defeating a French attempt at annexation (1300–1302), finally defeating the French in the Battle of the Golden Spurs (July 11, 1302), near Kortrijk. Two years later, the uprising was defeated and Flanders remained part of the French Crown. Flemish prosperity waned in the following century, however, owing to widespread European population decline following the Black Death of 1348, the disruption of trade during the Anglo-French Hundred Years' War (1338–1453), and increased English cloth production. Flemish weavers had gone over to Worstead and North Walsham in Norfolk in the 12th century and established the woollen industry.

[edit] Flanders in the Low Countries

Main article: Low Countries

[edit] The Reformation

Martin Luther's 95 Theses, published in 1517, had a profound effect on the Low Countries. Among the wealthy traders of Antwerp, the Lutheran beliefs of the German Hanseatic traders found appeal, perhaps partly for economic reasons in Dutch. 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. Charles V ordered the closing of this cloister around 1525. 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.

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.

The schism between the southern Roman Catholics and northern Calvinists resulted in the Union of Atrecht and the Union of Utrecht, respectively.

It was the iconoclasm of 1566 (the Beeldenstorm) – the demolition of statues and paintings depicting saints – that led to religious war between Catholics and Protestants. The Beeldenstorm started in what is now the arrondissement of Dunkirk in French Flanders, with open-air sermons (hagepreken) in Dutch. The first took place on the Cloostervelt near Hondschoote. The first large sermon was held near Boeschepe on July 12, 1562. These open-air sermons, mostly of Anabaptist or Mennonite signature, spread through the country. On August 10, 1566 at the end of the pilgrimage from Hondschoote to Steenvoorde, the chapel of the Sint-Laurensklooster (Cloister of Saint Lawrence) was defaced by Protestants. The iconoclasm resulted not only in the destruction of Catholic art, but also cost the lives of many priests. It next spread to Antwerp, and on August 22, to Ghent. One cathedral, eight churches, twenty-five cloisters, ten hospitals and seven chapels were attacked. From there, it further spread east and north, but in total lasted not even a month.

Charles' son, King Philip II of Spain, a devout Catholic and self-proclaimed protector of the Counter-Reformation who was also the duke or earl of each of the Seventeen Provinces, started to crack down on the rising Calvinists in Flanders, Brabant and Holland. What is now approximately Belgian Limburg was part of the Bishopric of Liège and was Catholic de facto. Part of what is now Dutch Limburg supported the Union of Atrecht, but did not sign it.

[edit] The Eighty Years' War and its consequences

In 1568 the Seventeen Provinces that signed the Union of Utrecht started a (counter)rebellion against Philip II: the Eighty Years' War. Before the Low Countries could be completely reconquered, war between England and Spain broke out, forcing the Spanish troops under Philip II to halt their advance. Meanwhile, Philip's Spanish troops had conquered the important trading cities of Bruges and Ghent. Antwerp, which was then arguably the most important port in the world, had to be conquered. On August 17, 1585, Antwerp fell. This ended the Eighty Years' War for the (from now on) Southern Netherlands. The United Provinces (the Netherlands proper) fought on until 1648 – the Peace of Westphalia. The definite loss of the southern Low Countries caused the rich Calvinist merchants of these cities to flee to the north. Many migrated to Amsterdam, which was at the time a tiny port, but was quickly transformed into one of the most important ports in the world in the 17th century. The exodus can be described as 'creating a new Antwerp'.

This mass emigration from Flanders and Brabant (especially Antwerp) was an important driving force behind the Dutch Golden Age. 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 Philips 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 Scheldt estuary (Zeeuws-Vlaanderen), before being stopped by Spanish troops. The frontline 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 king-controlled Flanders to close off the river Scheldt, effectively closing Antwerp off from a significant trade route and causing a considerable emigration of Antverpians^[3] towards the port of Amsterdam. Due to these events, Flanders and Brabant went into a relative decline in the 17th century.^[4]

[edit] 1581–1795: The Southern Netherlands

Although arts remained at a relatively impressive level for another century with Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), Flanders experienced a loss of its former economic and intellectual power 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.

[edit] 1795–1815: French Revolution and Napoleonic France

In 1794 the French Republican Army started using Antwerp as the northernmost naval port of France,^[4] which country officially annexed Flanders the following year as the départements of Lys, Escaut, Deux-Nèthes, Meuse-Inférieure and Dyle. Obligatory (French) army service for all men aged 16–25 was one of the main reasons for the people's uprise against the French in 1798, known as the Boerenkrijg (Paysants' War), with heaviest fights in the Campine area.

[edit] 1815–1830: United Kingdom of the Netherlands

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 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, instead of Flemish, a dialect of the Dutch language.

The in 1815 reinstated Dutch Senate (Dutch: Eerste Kamer der Staaten Generaal) the nobility, mainly coming from 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 August 25, 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 October 4, 1830, the Provisional Authority (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 January 20, 1831. The de facto dissidence was only finally recognized by the United Kingdom of the Netherlands on April 19, 1839.

[edit] 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, who was allowed to levy a toll on all traffic to the Antwerp harbour until 1863.^[4]

[edit] Rise of the Flemish Movement

Main article: Flemish movement

[edit] 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 for lives lost in war.

Flemish feeling of identity and consciousness grew through the events and experiences of war. The German occupying authorities had taken several Flemish-friendly measures. More importantly, the experiences of many Flemish speaking soldiers on the front led by French speaking officers catalysed Flemish emancipation. The French speaking officers barked the orders in French, followed by "et pour les Flamands, la même chose", which basically meant, "Same thing for the Flemish", which obviously did not help the Flemish conscripts, who were mostly uneducated farmers and workers, who didn't speak French at all.^{[citation needed]} The resulting suffering is still remembered by Flemish organizations during the yearly Yser pilgrimage in Diksmuide at the monument of the Yser Tower.

[edit] Right-Wing Nationalism in the interbellum and World War II

Main articles: VNV, Verdinaso, Dietsland, and Cyriel Verschaeve

[edit] Communautary quibbles and the Egmont pact

Main articles: Egmont pact, Voeren, and Brussel-Halle-Vilvoorde

[edit] Recent events

[edit] Fake revolution

On 13 Dec 2006, a spoof news broadcast by the Belgian Francophone public broadcasting station RTBF declared that the Flemish part of Belgium had decided to declare independence from Belgium, and that the King and Queen of Belgium had left immediately on a plane. Images were shown of people celebrating and waving flags in the background. Within minutes of the beginning of the broadcast, the news station was flooded with calls from concerned French speakers. It was only a half hour after the beginning of the broadcast that the disclaimer "This is fiction" was displayed. It was revealed that the programme had been broadcast to stimulate discussion of this subject. [2]

[edit] Belgian federal elections

The 2007 elections showed an extraordinary outcome in terms of support for Flemish autonomy. All the political parties that advocated a significant increase of Flemish autonomy increased their share of the votes and seats in the Belgian parliament. This was especially the case for CD&V and N-VA (forming a cartel). In addition, the very assertive Lijst Dedecker gained a spectacular entry in parliament. It got even slightly ahead of the greens (Groen!) which rather disappointed. The outright secessionist Vlaams Belang remained strong, but stalled. The main parties advocating more or less the current Belgian institutiona and only modest increases in Flemlish autonomy severely lost(OpenVLD, Groen! and especially SP.A).

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.

Several negotiators having come and gone since the last federal elections of 10 June 2007 without diminishing the disagreements between Flemish and Walloon politicians regarding a further State reform, continues to prevent the formation of the federal government.

[edit] Government and politics

Main article: Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium

Both the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region are constitutional institutions of the Kingdom of Belgium with precise geographical boundaries. 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 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.).^[5]

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 utility companies.^[6]

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 Université 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.^[7][8] They are governed by the Brussels Region for economics affairs and by the Flemish Community for educational and cultural issues.

As of 2005, Flemish institutions such as Flanders' government, parliament, etc. 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 bodies (the Community and the Region) still exist 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.

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 Université catholique de Louvain in Louvain-La-Neuve and published in June 2006.^[9][10]

[edit] Politics

Main article: Politics of Flanders

Many new political parties during the last half century were founded in Flanders: the nationalist Volksunie of which the extreme-right nationalist Vlaams Blok (Vlaams Belang) split off, and that later dissolved into SPIRIT, moderate nationalism rather left of the spectrum, and the NVA, more conservative moderate nationalism; the alternative/ecological Groen!; the short-lived anarchistic libertarian spark ROSSEM and more recently the conservative-right liberal Lijst Dedecker, founded by Jean-Marie Dedecker.

[edit] Flemish nation

For many Flemings, Flanders is more than just a geographical area or the federal institutions (Flemish Community and Region). Some even call it a nation: a people of over 6 million living in the Flemish Region and in the Brussels-Capital Region. Flemings share many political, cultural, scientific, social and educational views. Although most Flemings identify themselves more with Flanders than with Belgium, the largest group defines itself as both Flemish and Belgian. The idea of an independent Flanders finds its root in the romantic nationalism of the 19th century.

[edit] Administrative divisions

Main article: Provinces of Belgium#Provinces of the Flemish Region

The Flemish Region covers 13,522 km² (5,221 sq mi) and contains over 300 municipalities. It is divided into 5 provinces:

1. Antwerp (Antwerpen)
2. Limburg (Limburg)
3. East Flanders (Oost-Vlaanderen)
4. Flemish Brabant (Vlaams-Brabant)
5. West Flanders (West-Vlaanderen)

Independently from the provinces, Flanders has its own local institutions in the Brussels-Capital Region, being the Vlaamse GemeenschapsCommissie (VGC), and its municipal antennae (Gemeenschapscentra, community centers for the Flemish community in Brussels). These institutions are independent from the educational, cultural and social institutions which depend directly on the Flemish government. They exert, among others, all those cultural competences that outside Brussels fall under the provinces.

[edit] Geography and climate

Antwerp (Antwerpen), Ghent (Gent), Bruges (Brugge) and Leuven are the largest cities of Flanders. Antwerp has got a population of more than 450,000 citizens and is the largest city, Ghent has got a population of 250,000 citizens, followed by Bruges with 100,000 citizens. Leuven is the smallest city with almost 100,000 citizens. Brussels (Brussel) 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 bassin plain in the north-west and a central plain. The first consists mainly 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 by dikes or, a little further inland, by fields that have been drained with canals. With similar soils along the lowermost Scheldt bassin 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^[11] Near its southern edges close to Wallonia one can find slightly 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 bassin, there are marl caves (mergelgrotten). Its exclave around Voeren between the Dutch border and the Walloon province of Liège attains a maximum altitude of 288 m (945 ft) above sea level.^[12][13]

The climate is maritime temperate, with significant precipitation in all seasons (Köppen climate classification: Cfb; the average temperature is 3 °C (37 °F) in January, and 18 °C (64 °F) in July; the average precipitation is 65 millimetres (2.6 in) in January, and 78 millimetres (3.1 in) in July).

[edit] Economy

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.

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 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, among others thanks to its well-educated and industrious labour force. 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 the Belgium continued to shift further to Flanders. Nowadays, the Flemish economy is mainly service-oriented, although its diverse industry remains a crucial force. Flemish productivity per capita is between 20 and 25% higher than that in Wallonia.

Flanders has developed an excellent transportation infrastructure of ports, canals, railways and highways. Antwerp is the second-largest European port, after Rotterdam.

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. 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 nonferrous 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.

[edit] Demographics

The highest population density is found in the area circumscribed by the Brussels-Antwerp-Gent-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. As of April 2005, the Flemish Region has a population of 6,058,368 and about 15% of the 1,018,029 people in the Brussels Region are also considered Flemish.^[14]

The (Belgian) laicist constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the various government generally respects this right in practice. Since independence, Catholicism, counterbalanced by strong freethought movements, has had an important role in Belgium's politics, since the 20th century in Flanders mainly via the Christian trade union (ACV) and the Christian Democrat party (CD&V). According to the 2001 Survey and Study of Religion,^[15] 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 55% to call themselves religious, 36% believe that God created the world.^[16] (See also Religion in Belgium).

According to Npdata, 9.7% of the Flemish population is of foreign descent. 4.5% European (including 1.8% Dutch, 0.6% Italian and 0.4% French), and 5.1% from outside the European union, (including 1.8% Moroccan and 1.5% Turks) This statistics also includes the Brussels region.

Education is compulsory from the ages of six to 18, but most Flemings continue to study until around 23. Among the OECD 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.

In addition, concern is rising over functional illiteracy. In the period 1994–98, 18.4 percent of the population lacks functional literacy skills.^[17]

Mirroring the historical political conflicts between the freethought and Catholic segments of the population, the Flemish educational system is split into a laïque branch controlled by the communities, the provinces, or the municipalities, and a subsidised religious—mostly Catholic—branch controlled by both the communities and the religious 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' (Steiner, Montessori, Freinet, ...) or serve the Jewish and Protestant minorities.

[edit] Language and culture

Main articles: Dutch language and Flemish people

The standard language is in Flanders the same as in the Netherlands, i.e., Dutch. The Dutch dialects spoken in Belgium and the standard language with influences from these dialects, are often referred to as Flemish (Dutch: Vlaams).

At first sight, Flemish culture is defined by its language and its gourmandic mentality. Some claim Flemish literature does not exist, because it is said to be 'readable' by both the Dutch as well as Flemings. This is correct for the vast majority of the literature written by Flemings, although one might argue a distinct Flemish literature already began in the 19th century, when most of the European Nation-states arose, with writers and poets such as Guido Gezelle, who not only explicitly referred to his writings as Flemish, but actually used it in many of his poems, and strongly defended it:

Original "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 disappear: It will not! that Walloonish rantings will prevail: It will not! This we hope, this we crave: this we say and this we swear: as long as we defend ourselves, we: It will not, It will not, It will not!"

This distinction in literature is also made by some experts, such as Kris Humbeeck, professor in Literature of the University of Antwerp here. Nevertheless, the near totality of Dutch-language literature read (and appreciated to varying degrees) in Flanders is the same as in the Netherlands.

Some other writers representative of Flemish culture are Ernest Claes, Stijn Streuvels and Felix Timmermans. Their novels mostly describe rural life in Flanders in the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. They were widely read by the elder generation but are considered somewhat old fashioned by present day critics.
Some famous flemish writers from the early 20th century wrote in French, like nobel-prize winner (1911) Maurice Maeterlinck and Emile Verhaeren.
Still widely read and translated into other languages (including English) are the novels of authors like Willem Elsschot, Louis Paul Boon and Hugo Claus. The younger generation is represented by novelists like Tom Lanoye, Herman Brusselmans and the poet Herman de Coninck.

[edit] The Family Name "Fleming"

The Family Name "Fleming" is common in England, Scotland and later-settled English-speaking countries, and also occurs in Scandinavian countries such as Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Having the name indicates that a family's ancestors may have originally immigrated from Flanders, though it could have occurred so long ago that no memory of it is retained apart from the name. The wide distribution of the name indicates a long-standing Fleming diaspora since the Middle Ages.

[edit] Science and technology in Flanders

See: Science and technology in Flanders

[edit] See also

• Flemish Parliament
• List of political parties in Flanders
• Flemish education
• List of Minister-Presidents of Flanders
• Count of Flanders
• VRT, the Flemish publicly-funded broadcaster
• VTM, the biggest Flemish commercial TV-station
• Flemish Primitives
• Vinkenzetting

[edit] External links

• Flemish authorities (Dutch: Vlaamse overheid), in English
• Flemish authorities (Dutch: Vlaamse overheid), in Dutch
• Flemish Parliament (Dutch: Vlaams Parlement)
• Flemish government (Dutch: Vlaamse regering)
• Flemish Community Council in Brussels (Dutch: Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie (VGC))
• Visit Flanders (touristic information in English, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Japanese, Chinese)
• Public radio & television (Dutch: Vlaamse radio en Televisie)
• Flanders on line (information in English, French, German and Dutch)
• Toerisme Vlaanderen
• Dag Vlaanderen
• French Flanders (only available in French)
• Frans-Vlaanderen (Dutch)
• Flanders reaches 6 million inhabitants (Dutch)
• History of Flanders

[edit] References