Languages of Belgium
The Kingdom of Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French, and German. A number of non-official, minority languages and dialects are spoken as well.
Belgium in &quot;the long nineteenth century&quot;
At the start of the period, French was the dominant language, and was the only one approved for use in legal and government business, however Belgium become officially bilingual in 1870 and Dutch was officially recognized as an equal language to French in legal matters in 1898.