The Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe bordered by the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and France and is one of the founding and core members of the European Union

A country of northwest Europe on the North Sea. Inhabited in ancient times by the Belgae, the region was part of the Roman and Carolingian empires before breaking up into a number of feudal states during the Middle Ages. The area occupied by present-day Belgium passed to the Hapsburgs in the 15th century and to the French in the 18th century.

Geography

Belgium, with a land area of 30 528 square kilometres (33,990 km² in total), has three main geographical regions: the coastal plain in the north-west, the central plateau, and the Ardennes uplands in the south-east. The coastal plain consists mainly of sand dunes and polders.

Economy

Densely populated, Belgium is located at the heart of one of the world's most highly industrialised regions. Currently, the Belgium economy is heavily service-oriented and shows a dual nature with a dynamic Flemish part and Brussels as its main multilingual and multi-ethnic centre and a GNP/person which is one of the highest from the European union, and a Walloon economy that lags roughly one quarter behind (in GNP/person).

Belgium has a particularly open economy. It has developed an excellent transportation infrastructure of ports, canals, railways and highways to integrate its industry with that of its neighbours. Antwerp is the second-largest European port.

Demographics

The population density (342 per km² or 886 per sq. mi) of Belgium is one of the highest in Europe, after that of the Netherlands and some microstates such as Monaco. The areas with the highest population density are around the Brussels-Antwerp-Ghent-Leuven agglomerations, also known as the Flemish Diamond, as well as other important urban centres as Liège, Charleroi, Mons, Kortrijk, Bruges, Hasselt and Namur.

About 86 percent of the Belgian population has the Belgian nationality; 9 percent are either (in order of their numbers) Italian, Moroccan, French, Turkish or Dutch and 5% has one of various other nationalities.

Culture

Belgian cultural life has tended to concentrate within each community. The shared element is less important, because there are no bilingual universities, except the royal military academy, no common media, and no single, common large cultural or scientific organisation where both main communities are represented.

One cannot understand Belgian cultural life without considering the folk festivals, which play a major role in the country's cultural life. Examples are the Carnival of Binche and Aalst, the Ducasse of Ath, the procession of the Holy Blood in Bruges, the 15th-of-August festival in Liège, and the Walloon festival in Namur. A major non-official holiday is the Saint Nicholas Day, which commemorates the festival of the children and, in Liège, of the students.

Cycling is especially popular. Among the well known cyclists, Eddy Merckx won five Tours de France and is considered one of the best cyclists ever because of his numerous victories in the Tour as well as other bicycle races.

Belgium has two current female tennis champions: Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne. Football is also very popular.