Belgium

Kingdom of Belgium
Dutch: Koninkrijk België;
French: Royaume de Belgique
CAPITAL: Brussels (Brussel, Bruxelles)
FLAG: The flag, adopted in 1831, is a tricolor of black, yellow, and red vertical stripes.
ANTHEM: La Brabançonne (The Song of Brabant), named after the Duchy of Brabant.
MONETARY UNIT: The euro replaced the Belgian franc in 2002. The euro is divided into 100 cents. There are coins in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 cents and 1 euro; and 2 euros. There are notes of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 euros. €1 = $1.25475 (or $1 = €0.79697) as of 2005.
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES: The metric system is the legal standard.
HOLIDAYS: New Year's Day, 1 January; Labor Day, 1 May; Independence Day, 21 July; Assumption Day, 15 August; All Saints' Day, 1 November; Armistice Day, 11 November; Dynasty Day, 15 November; and Christmas, 25 December. Movable religious holidays are Easter Monday, Ascension, and Whitmonday.
TIME: 1 pm = noon GMT.

LOCATION, SIZE, AND EXTENT

Situated in northwestern Europe, Belgium has an area of 30,510 sq km (11,780 sq mi) and extends 280 km (174 mi) se–nw and 222 km (137 mi) ne–sw. Comparatively, the area occupied by Belgium is about the same size as the state of Maryland. Belgium borders on the Netherlands to the n, Germany and Luxembourg to the e, France to the s and sw, and the North Sea to the nw, with a total boundary length of 1,385 km (859 mi).
Belgium's capital city, Brussels, is located in the north-central part of the country.

LANGUAGES

According to a 1970 constitutional revision, there are three official languages in Belgium—French, Dutch (also called Flemish), and German. Dutch is the language of the four provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, East Flanders (Oost-Vlaanderen), and West Flanders (West-Vlaanderen), which form the northern half of the country. French is the language of the four southern Walloon provinces of Hainaut, Liège, Luxembourg, and Namur. The central province of Brabant is divided into three districts—one French-speaking (Nivelles, Nijvel), one Dutch-speaking (Leuven, Louvain), and one bilingual (composed of the 19 boroughs of the capital city, Brussels). The majority of people in the Brussels metropolitan area are French-speaking. According to 2005 estimates, 60% of the total population speak Dutch (Flemish), 40% speak French, less than 1% speak German, and 11% are legally bilingual in Dutch and French.
The relationship between the two major language groups has been tense at times. For many years, French was the only official language. A series of laws enacted in the 1930s established equality between the two languages. Dutch became the language of administration, the schools, and the courts in the Flemish region (Flanders), while French continued to be the language of Wallonia. The use of German is regulated in the same way in the German-speaking municipalities in the province of Liège. As a rule, French is studied in all secondary schools in the Flemish region, while Dutch is a required secondary-school subject in Wallonia.
In 1963, a set of laws created four linguistic regions (with bilingual status for Brussels), a decision incorporated into the constitution in 1970. Subsequent legislation in 1971–74 provided for cultural autonomy, regional economic power, and linguistic equality in the central government. Disagreement over the future status of bilingual Brussels intensified during the late 1970s. In 1980, after a political crisis, the Flemish and Walloon regions were given greater autonomy, but the issue of Brussels, a predominantly French-speaking territory surrounded by a Dutch-speaking region, remained intractable and was deferred.