Visiting Belgium
For travel guide for Belgium and practical advice regarding eating, drinking, shopping, how to get around, price levels on lodging and holiday
accomodation (e.g. hotels, vacation rentals by owner, b&b's, vacation rental homes, holiday villas, condos, cabins, hostels, self-catering cottages)
and safety hints please click here. |
Belgium facts, geography & history
Facts
Government: Parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarch.
Population (est.): 10,379,000.
Capital, population (est.): Brussels, 1,750,600 (metro area), 981,200 (city proper).
Language: Dutch (Flemish) 60%, French 40%, German less than 1% (all official).
Monetary unit: Euro (formerly Belgian franc).
Geography
Belgium, with a land area of 30 528 square kilometres (33,990 kmē 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. 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, further inland, by fields that have been
drained with canals. The second geographical region, the central plateau, lies further inland. This is a smooth, slowly rising area that has many fertile
valleys and is irrigated by many waterways. Here one can also find rougher land, including caves and small gorges.Belgium shares borders with France
620 km, Germany 167 km, Luxembourg 148 km and Netherlands 450 km.
The third geographical region, called the Ardennes, is more rugged than the first two. It is a thickly forested plateau, very rocky and not very good for
farming, which extends into northern France and in Germany where it is named Eifel. This is where much of Belgium's wildlife can be found. Belgium's
highest point, the Signal de Botrange is located in this region at only 694 metres (2,277 ft).
Because of its high population density and location in the centre of Western Europe, Belgium faces serious environmental problems. A 2003 report suggested
that the water in Belgium's rivers was of the lowest quality in Europe, and bottom of the 122 countries studied............
Adopted from and read more at:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium
History
If you are interested in this country's history, please take a look
here. |
