From wikipedia about Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of
Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, as well as those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.
Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many international organisations, including ACCT, AfDB, AsDB,
Australia Group, Benelux, BIS, CCC, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, G-10, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MONUC (observers), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNECE, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIK, UNMOGIP, UNRWA, UNTSO, UPU, WADB (non-regional), WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO, ZC.
Belgium covers an area of, and it has a population of about 11 million people. Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe,
Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups, the Dutch-speakers, mostly Flemish, and the French-speakers, mostly Walloons, plus a small group of German-speakers. Belgium's two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region, officially bilingual, is a mostly French-speaking enclave within the Flemish Region.
A small German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia.
The (original) (already) mentions 73, 000 instead of 71, 500 inhabitants.
Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political and cultural conflicts are reflected in the political history and a complex system of government.
Historically,
Belgium, the
Netherlands and
Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, which used to cover a somewhat larger area than the current Benelux group of states. The region was called Belgica in Latin because of the Roman province Gallia Belgica which covered more or less the same area. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, it was a prosperous centre of commerce and culture. From the 16th century until the Belgian Revolution in 1830, when
Belgium seceded from the
Netherlands, many battles between European powers were fought in the area of
Belgium, causing it to be dubbed the battleground