Belgium

Belgium occupies a slender ribbon of land at the northwestern edge of Europe. Across thirty thousand square kilometres, it presses between the North Sea and the rolling uplands of the Ardennes, tracing borders with the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and France. Though its surface hardly exceeds the size of Maryland or Wales, its story unfolds at the heart of Western European history—its fields have hosted Roman legions and medieval merchants; its streets have seen the rise and fall of empires; its government chambers now shape the affairs of the European Union. This article offers a portrait of Belgium that embraces both its rugged contours and its refined details: a country whose complexity rewards careful attention.

Belgium’s terrain falls naturally into three zones. In the north, a coastal plain of sand dunes and reclaimed polders meets the restless tides of the North Sea. Toward the centre, a gently rising plateau—crisscrossed by canals and zigzagging rivers—carries fertile fields and market towns. In the southeast, the Ardennes, with its forested hills, rocky gorges and scattered villages, forms a rugged counterpoint. Here the Signal de Botrange crowns the High Fens at 694 metres—the nation’s highest point.

Climate follows the contours of latitude more than altitude. The western lowlands see mild winters and cool summers, with precipitation spread evenly through the year. The Ardennes, though still maritime in influence, tends toward cooler temperatures and slightly higher rainfall, nourishing its oak and beech woods. Across Belgium, average lows in January hover around 3 °C, while July highs settle near 18 °C. Rainfall ranges from some 54 millimetres per month in drier spells to nearly 80 millimetres when summer storms pass.

The earliest recorded inhabitants of this region were the Belgae, a collection of tribes whom Julius Caesar named in the first century BCE. Their lands were soon absorbed by Rome; under emperors from Augustus to Hadrian, Belgica provided recruits for the legions and grain for the empire. With the fall of Rome, the territory became a crossroads in the Carolingian world, then fragmented under the Holy Roman Empire. By the Late Middle Ages it prospered as part of the Burgundian domains, its cities—Bruges, Ghent, Ypres—thriving on cloth, trade and banking.

In the sixteenth century, the Habsburgs laid claim: first Spain, then Austria, held sway until the revolutionary French armies annexed the provinces in 1794. After Napoleon’s defeat, the 1815 Congress of Vienna joined the southern provinces to the new Kingdom of the Netherlands. But south and north proved uneasy partners; in 1830, Belgian revolutionaries declared independence. The newly formed kingdom adopted a constitutional monarchy and quickly embraced industrialisation, becoming the first part of continental Europe to mechanise ironworks and textile mills.

The colonial era followed. In the 1880s, King Leopold II established the Congo Free State as his personal possession; international outrage over abuses led to state control in 1908. Belgium also administered Ruanda-Urundi. By mid-twentieth century these African territories had attained independence, shaping Belgium’s modern relationship with francophone Africa.

Two world wars reinforced the country’s reputation as “Europe’s battlefield.” In 1914 German troops breached through Belgium toward Paris, and in 1940 a similar thrust sealed the fall of France. Tens of thousands of Belgian soldiers and civilians suffered and died. Today, countless cemeteries and memorials, particularly around Ypres and Liège, testify to that legacy.

Modern Belgium is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with an unusually intricate federal system. Its territory splits into three Regions—Flanders to the north, Wallonia to the south, and the Brussels-Capital Region at the centre. Each region governs its territory, yielding powers over economic policy, transport and the environment. Overlaying these are three Communities—Flemish, French and German-speaking—which manage cultural affairs, education and language use.

This complexity mirrors Belgium’s linguistic map. Approximately sixty per cent of its 11.8 million residents speak Dutch—known locally as Flemish—mostly in Flanders. Forty per cent speak French, concentrated in Wallonia and roughly eighty-five per cent of Brussels. A small German-speaking community of around seventy thousand inhabits eastern Wallonia. Political tensions have long arisen from uneven economic development—Flanders has surged ahead since the late twentieth century, while Wallonia’s heavy industries waned—so that today, language laws and autonomy debates persist across six separate governments.

Brussels plays a dual role. As Belgium’s formal capital it hosts the federal parliament and royal palace; as an international hub it hosts the main institutions of the European Union—Commission, Council and one seat of the Parliament—and the headquarters of NATO. Its European Quarter, with glass-walled offices and meeting rooms, sits a short tram-ride from the medieval core at the Grand-Place, where guild houses and the Gothic town hall frame a square that lives on UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

Belgium’s density—over 380 residents per square kilometre—produces urban areas at every scale. Brussels leads with some 1.25 million inhabitants in its nineteen municipalities; Antwerp follows at half a million, with Ghent close behind at 270 000. Bruges and Charleroi host around 120 000 and 200 000, respectively; Liège and Namur house just under 200 000.

Each city offers a distinct character. In Antwerp, spires and merchant halls recall its sixteenth-century heyday, yet the city pulses with contemporary design and diamond trading. Ghent melds canals with university life, its medieval belfry watching over streets where students circle terraces at dusk. Bruges retains the hush of a small town, its stone bridges and cloistered courtyards seeming unchanged since the fourteenth century, even as coaches bring tourists to its quiet lanes at midday.

Leuven’s skyline rises above the Statiestraat, home to one of Europe’s oldest Catholic universities. Here, the ornate university library stands opposite beer cafés where students toast their studies with local brews. In Wallonia, Charleroi bears the marks of coal mining and steel—its gritty workshops now giving way to creative industries—while Liège, along the Meuse, offers a more relaxed riverside urbanity. Mons, the capital of Hainaut, preserves its medieval heart and hosts a UNESCO-listed belfry, while Namur’s citadel commands the confluence of rivers Sambre and Meuse.

Beyond the urban core lie smaller destinations with their own voices. Mechelen’s cathedral square recalls childhood pilgrimages; Dinant sits on a cliff above the Meuse, its yellow citadel and saxophone heritage celebrating Adolphe Sax; Spa’s springs—once prized by Tsar Peter the Great—still attract health seekers; Ypres and its villages lie in fields scarred by trenches and trenches of white crosses.

Belgium’s economy ranks among the world’s most open and export-oriented. Its ports—Antwerp, Zeebrugge and Ghent—link central Europe with global markets. Main imports include machinery, chemicals, raw diamonds and foodstuffs; exports mirror these, with machinery and chemicals leading alongside advanced metal products and refined diamonds. The Belgian-Luxembourg Economic Union, founded in 1922, binds two small states into one customs and currency area, while membership in the EU cements access to the single market.

Two economies coexist within Belgium’s borders. Flanders, once rural with textile roots, has grown into a centre for technology, pharmaceuticals and services, boasting per-capita wealth among Europe’s highest. Wallonia, historically dependent on coal and steel, struggled when those industries declined after 1945; though pockets of innovation and tourism have emerged, unemployment there remains noticeably higher. The gap fuels political debate: North-south divides over fiscal transfers and investment continue to shape federal negotiations.

Transport infrastructure remains a strength. A network of motorways, rail lines and inland waterways connects major cities. Brussels-South station offers international trains to Paris, Amsterdam and Cologne; local high-speed services serve Lille and Frankfurt. Airports at Brussels, Charleroi and Antwerp link the country by air. Cycling, too, finds favour in cities like Ghent and Leuven, where dedicated lanes thread through historic streets.

On 1 January 2024, Belgium’s population register counted approximately 11 763 650 residents. Antwerp province leads in density; Luxembourg province stands least crowded. Flanders shelters some 6.8 million people; Wallonia, 3.7 million; Brussels, 1.25 million. These figures translate into roughly 58 per cent in Flanders, 31 per cent in Wallonia and 11 per cent in Brussels.

Language shapes identity. While Dutch and French claim official status nationwide, Belgium’s constitution permits education and administration in each region’s dominant language. German holds official status in the east. Dialects still linger: Flemish dialects appear in villages; Walloon, once common, now survives mainly among the elderly. In Brussels the mix of francophones, Dutch speakers, and immigrants from Europe, Africa and Asia adds further complexity. No census tracks mother tongues, so estimates rely on criteria such as parental language, schooling and second-language use.

Belgium’s constitution enshrines freedom of religion, and three faiths receive official recognition: Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Catholicism has historically dominated, especially in Flanders, yet weekly church attendance now hovers near five per cent. Despite falling attendance, religious festivals and pilgrimages persist, and the cathedral in Tournai or the route to Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-van-Banneux still draw the faithful. Islam and Judaism both maintain community centres and mosques or synagogues, though adherents sometimes face prejudice, particularly outside urban centres. Belgian law protects freedom of worship; an emergency line, 112, serves police, fire and medical requests.

Art has long thrived in Belgium’s soils. From the panels of Rogier van der Weyden and Jan van Eyck to the stark modernism of René Magritte, Belgian painters have shaped European culture. Today, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels and the Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp house national treasures; the Magritte Museum in Brussels explores surrealist legacies. Beyond visual arts, museums record coal mining at Bois-du-Luc, textile weaving in Verviers, and the horrors of war at the In Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres.

Belgium’s cultural life partly reflects its federal structure; Wallonia and Flanders govern arts funding separately. Six bilingual universities once existed; now only military and maritime academies cross language lines. Festivals—Gent Jazz, Tomorrowland, Les Ardentes—draw international crowds, while literary prizes and film events highlight local talent. Languages, religions and histories converge in a rich mosaic, even as barriers persist.

Belgium’s reputation for beer, chocolate and pastries is well earned. More than 1 100 beer varieties flow from abbey cellars and microbreweries alike. Trappist ales—each tied to a specific abbey glass—tie monastic tradition to modern taste, and the Abbey of Westvleteren’s brew often tops world rankings. Anheuser-Busch InBev, headquartered in Leuven, remains the world’s largest brewer by volume.

Chocolate houses—Neuhaus, Godiva, Côte d’Or, Leonidas—line city boulevards, their windows displaying pralines brushed with metallic hues. Artisanal chocolatiers offer smaller-batch, bean-to-bar creations, pairing single-origin cacao with sea salt or florals.

Savory dishes range from simple to elaborate. Steak-frites and moules-frites are national icons: tender mussels steamed in broth alongside crisp potatoes. Flemish carbonnade, a stew of beef, beer and mustard, warms winter evenings; waterzooi, a creamy fish or chicken soup, comforts on cooler days. Endive gratin finds bold bitterness softened by béchamel, while river eels swim in green-herb sauce. Speculoos biscuits—spiced with cinnamon and ginger—appear at autumn festivals, and waffles divide loyalties: Brussels-style light and rectangular, Liège-style dense and caramel-studded.

Belgium remains a safe destination by European standards. Violent crime is rare, though pickpocketing and bag-snatching occur in tourist centres. Basic caution—watching belongings in crowds, steering clear of poorly lit streets—suffices for most travellers. Rural areas host fewer incidents of racial or religious harassment, but biases can surface, especially toward visible minorities. LGBTQ visitors will find welcoming enclaves in Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent, even as isolated acts of intolerance can occur. Drug laws permit fines for small cannabis possession; public intoxication has declined since the early 2010s but occasionally troubles city centres at night.

Belgium’s story is one of layers—geological, linguistic, political and cultural. Its flat fields and forested hills cradle medieval bell towers and high-tech laboratories. Its citizens converse in multiple tongues; its governments negotiate power across multiple assemblies. A visitor who spends only an afternoon at the Grand-Place will glimpse beauty, but only those who cross the Ardennes by bike, compare a Flemish café with a Walloon brasserie, and trace the wartime cemeteries at Ypres will sense how deep its contours run.

In these narrow provinces, Europe’s past and present coalesce. Each city, each village, offers a chapter: from the Carolingian courts to the European institutions of today; from the frescoed walls of Leuven’s library to the modern lines of the Atomium. In embracing complexity—political, linguistic, geographic—Belgium reveals a human story that rests neither in platitudes nor in easy simplifications. To spend time here is to attend closely, to witness both the scars and the craft that have shaped a land at the centre of so many paths.