How large is Flanders today?
Flanders
The present-day Flemish Region covers and is divided into five provinces, 22 arrondissements and 308 cities or municipalities.
Mesen
Mesen ("Messines" in French, historically used in English) is a city located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. On January 1, 2006, Mesen had a total population of 988. The total area is 3.58 km² which gives a population density of 276 inhabitants per km².
Apostolic Nunciature to Flanders
Apostolic Nunciature to Flanders was an ecclesiastical office of the Catholic Church to Flanders, Belgium. It was a diplomatic post of the Holy See, whose representative is called the Apostolic Nuncio with the rank of an ambassador. The office ceased to exist in 1795 after the annexation of Flanders by France.
French Flanders
French Flanders (; ) is a part of the historical County of Flanders in present-day France where Flemings were traditionally the dominant ethnic group and where a dialect of Dutch was or still is traditionally spoken. The region lies in the modern-day region of Hauts-de-France and roughly corresponds to the arrondissements of Lille, Douai and Dunkirk on the southern border with Belgium. Together with French Hainaut and the Cambrésis, it makes up the French Department of Nord.
Waasland
The Waasland is a Belgian region. It is part of the Belgian provinces of East Flanders and Antwerp. The other borders of the Land van Waas are with the Scheldt and Durme rivers. The (informal) capital and major city of the region is Sint-Niklaas.
Tour of Flanders
The Tour of Flanders crosses the two western provinces of Flanders, West Flanders and East Flanders. Since 1998 the race starts in Bruges, in the northwest of Flanders, close to the North Sea. After the start on the market square in the city center, the race heads south, along broad roads over the flatlands of West-Flanders. In recent years this straightforward southern route is followed for 55 km until Kortrijk in the south of West-Flanders, before heading east, towards the Flemish Ardennes where the landscape gradually becomes hillier.
The first climbs of the race are usually located in the periphery of West-Flanders, after 70–80 km of racing. After ca. 100 km the course passes for the first time through Oudenaarde, after which the race remains in the Flemish Ardennes, in the southern half of East-Flanders, with a succession of hills "(hellingen)" and a few flat sections of cobbled roads which determine the nature of the race. The hills offer many opportunities to attack and are usually the decisive sites of the race. These climbs are notorious for being short but very steep, and most of them - but not all - are cobbled.
Geert Wilders
Wilders has also revived the old idea of reuniting Flanders with the Netherlands.
Battle of Armentières
The North-east of France and the south-west Belgium are known as Flanders. West of a line between Arras and Calais in the north-west, lie chalk downlands covered with soil sufficient for arable farming. East of the line the land declines in a series of spurs into the Flanders plain, bounded by canals linking Douai, Béthune, Saint-Omer and Calais. To the south-east, canals run between Lens, Lille, Roubaix and Courtrai, the Lys river from Courtrai to Ghent and to the north-west lay the sea. The plain is almost flat, apart from a line of low hills from Cassel, east to Mont des Cats, Mont Noir, Mont Rouge, Scherpenberg and Mount Kemmel. From Kemmel, a low ridge lies to the north-east, declining in elevation past Ypres through Wytschaete, Gheluvelt and Passchendaele, curving north then north-west to Dixmude where it merged with the plain. A coastal strip about wide, was near sea level and fringed by sand dunes. Inland the ground was mainly meadow, cut by canals, dykes, drainage ditches and roads built up on causeways. The Lys, Yser and upper Scheldt had been canalised and between them the water level underground was close to the surface, rose further in the autumn and filled any dip, the sides of which then collapsed. The ground surface quickly turned to a consistency of cream cheese and on the coast troops were confined to roads, except during frosts.
Seventeen Provinces
The same confusion exists around the word "Flanders". Historically, it applied to the County of Flanders, corresponding roughly with the present day provinces of West Flanders and East Flanders. But when the Dutch-speaking population of Belgium sought more rights in the 19th century, the word "Flanders" was reused, but now to indicate the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, which is larger, and contains only part of the old county of Flanders (see Flemish Movement).So the territory of the County of Flanders and present-day Flanders do not fully match:
French Flanders
The region now called "French Flanders" was once part of the feudal state County of Flanders, then part of the Southern Netherlands. It was separated from the county (part of Habsburg's Burgundian inheritance) in 1659 due to the Peace of the Pyrenees, which ended the French-Spanish conflict in the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), and other parts of the region were added in successive treaties in 1668 and 1678. The region was ceded to the Kingdom of France, and became part of the province of Flanders and Hainaut. The bulk became part of the modern French administrative Nord "departément", although some western parts of the region, which separated in 1237 and became the County of Artois before the cession to the French, are now part of Pas-de-Calais.
Flanders
The entire area, straddling the ancient boundary of France and the Holy Roman Empire, later passed to Philip the Bold in 1384, the Duke of Burgundy, with his capital in Brussels. The titles were eventually more clearly united under his grandson Philip the Good (1396 – 1467). This large Duchy passed in to the Habsburg dynasty, and in 1556 to the kings of Spain. Western and southern districts of Flanders were confirmed under French rule under successive treaties of 1659 (Artois), 1668, and 1678.
West Flanders
West Flanders consists of the North Sea coast, followed by a very flat polder landscape. Only in the south are some small hills, with the Kemmelberg (159 m) being the highest point in the province. The Leie and IJzer are the main rivers. West Flanders is both the only Belgian province that borders both France and The Netherlands, and the only non-landlocked province.
History of Flanders
Within the Belgic region, the old County of Flanders was inhabited by the Menapii (with on the coast possibly also part of the Marsacii and Morini) whose territory stretched from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta into modern France. More inland, across the Scheldt, stretching from Brabant into modern France, lived the Nervii. The most eastern part of modern Flanders was inhabited by the Eburones, whose territory encompassed all or most of modern Belgian Limburg. The exact borders of these tribal groups are not known, but they were all part of a Belgian alliance which fought against Caesar. Later, under Roman rule, each of these tribal groups had its own ""civitas"" or state, each with a Roman administrative capital. For the Menapii, this was Cassel, now in northern France. This was within the Roman province of Gallia Belgica.
Agriculture in Flanders
In 2013, organic farming utilised a cultivated area of 5 065 ha in Flanders, 0.8% of the total arable area. The number of organic farms amounts to 319 units. Over the last years, the cultivated area and the number of holdings has steadily increased, in part under the impulse of the Strategic Action Plan for Organic Agriculture, from which the second programme is running from 2013 to 2017.
Flanders
The Belgian Revolution was not well supported in Flanders and even on 4 October 1830, when the Belgian independence was eventually declared, Flemish authorities refused to take orders from the new Belgian government in Brussels. Only after Flanders was subdued with the aid of a large French military force one month later, under the leadership of the Count de Pontécoulant, did Flanders become a true part of Belgium.
List of cities in Flanders
This is a list of cities in Flanders, the northern part of Belgium. The status of "city" is historical and does not necessarily mean it has a high number of inhabitants: see city status in Belgium for more information.
Flanders Campaign
The Flanders Campaign (or Campaign in the Low Countries) was conducted from 6 November 1792 to 7 June 1795 during the first years of the French Revolutionary Wars. A Coalition of states representing the Ancien Régime in Western Europe – Austria (including the Southern Netherlands), Prussia, Great Britain, the Dutch Republic (the Northern Netherlands), Hanover and Hesse-Kassel – mobilised military forces along all the French frontiers, with the intention to invade Revolutionary France and end the French First Republic. The radicalised French revolutionaries, who broke the Catholic Church's power (1790), abolished the monarchy (1792) and even executed the deposed king Louis XVI of France (1793), vied to spread the Revolution beyond France's borders, by violent means if necessary. 
A quick French success in the Battle of Jemappes in November 1792 was followed by a major Coalition victory at Neerwinden in March 1793. After this initial stage, the largest of these forces assembled on the Franco-Flemish border. In this theatre a combined army of Anglo-Hanoverian, Dutch, Hessian, Imperial Austrian and, south of the river Sambre, Prussian troops faced the Republican Armée du Nord, and (further to the south) two smaller forces, the Armée des Ardennes and the Armée de la Moselle. The Allies enjoyed several early victories, but were unable to advance beyond the French border fortresses. Coalition forces were eventually forced to withdraw by a series of French counter-offensives, and the May 1794 Austrian decision to redeploy any troops in Poland.
Zuiderzee Works
After the war, work was started on draining the Flevolands, a massive project totalling almost 1000 km². This area is now home to Lelystad and Almere; the latter is the fastest growing city in the Netherlands (in part because of its proximity to Amsterdam). Another large polder was originally planned in the Markermeer. This project was extensively debated until plans were abandoned in the early 2000s, as environmental issues were viewed differently than in the 1920s. A new province, Flevoland, was created out of the Noordoostpolder and the Flevolands in 1986, thereby completing the Works.
County of Flanders
Flanders and Flemish (Dutch: "Vlaanderen", "Vlaams") are likely derived from the Frisian *"flāndra" and *"flāmisk" (in Old Frisian "flamsk"), the roots of which are Germanic *"flaumaz" meaning "overflow, flooding". The coastal area of Flanders was flooded twice per day from the 3rd century to the 8th century by the North Sea at the time when the coast was frequently visited by Frisian (cattle) traders and probably largely inhabited by Frisians.
Flanders
Flanders has two main geographical regions: the coastal Yser basin plain in the north-west and a central plain. The first consists mainly of sand dunes and clayey alluvial soils in the 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, a little further inland, by fields that have been drained with canals. With similar soils along the lowermost Scheldt basin starts the central plain, a smooth, slowly rising fertile area irrigated by many waterways that reaches an average height of about five metres (16.4 ft) above sea level with wide valleys of its rivers upstream as well as the Campine region to the east having sandy soils at altitudes around thirty metres. Near its southern edges close to Wallonia one can find slightly rougher land richer of calcium with low hills reaching up to and small valleys, and at the eastern border with the Netherlands, in the Meuse basin, there are marl caves ("mergelgrotten"). Its exclave around Voeren between the Dutch border and the Walloon province of Liège attains a maximum altitude of above sea level.
Tour of Flanders
From 1973 to 2011 the finish was in Meerbeke, part of the municipality of Ninove, some 20 km west of Brussels. For 39 years the race finished on the Halsesteenweg, with a finishing straight of 400 m, going slightly uphill in the final meters.
Fortified Sector of Flanders
The Fortified Sector of Flanders ("Secteur Fortifié des Flandres") was the French military organization that in 1940 controlled the section of the French border with Belgium between Lille and the North Sea. The sector was part of a system of fortifications that, in other sectors, included the Maginot Line. In the case of the Flanders sector, no large fortifications of the kind typified by the Maginot Line were built in the area. Fortifications were confined to almost two hundred blockhouses built during the 1930s, and some defensive inundations in the vicinity of Dunkirk. The Fortified Sector of Flanders was bordered on the east by the Fortified Sector of Lille It was quickly overrun by German forces during the Battle of France.
Flanders
The area of the Flemish Region is represented on the maps above. It has a population of more than 6 million (excluding the Dutch-speaking community in the Brussels Region, grey on the map for it is not a part of the Flemish Region). Roughly, the Flemish Region is responsible for territorial issues in a broad sense, including economy, employment, agriculture, water policy, housing, public works, energy, transport, the environment, town and country planning, nature conservation, credit, and foreign trade. It supervises the provinces, municipalities, and intercommunal utility companies.
Coat of arms of Flanders
After gaining cultural autonomy in 1972, the then "Cultuurraad van de Nederlandse Cultuurgemeenschap" (Cultural Council of the Dutch Cultural Community) voted the decree of 22 May 1973 adopting the Flemish lion as its official flag. Shortly afterwards, the Cultuurraad also adopted a coat of arms: "Or, a lion rampant sable, armed and langued gules, five mullets sabel in orle". The five stars surrounding the lion were meant to denote the five Flemish provinces. The inclusion of black stars caused a small controversy. Some objected to their colour, others regarded them as a needless Americanism. It was therefore suggested to replace them with a sheaf of arrows, an idea taken from the arms of the Netherlands. Notwithstanding the criticism, these arms were adopted by the Flemish Community (Decree of 30 March 1988) when it took over the attributions of the Cultuurraad. Shortly afterwards however it was decided to return to the original arms of Flanders (Decree of 7 November 1990), thereby making the arms identical to the flag.
Flanders
For some inhabitants, Flanders is more than just a geographical area or the federal institutions (Flemish Community and Region). Supporters of the Flemish Movement even call it a nation and pursue Flemish independence, but most people (approximately 75%) living in Flanders say they are proud to be Belgian and opposed to the dissolution of Belgium. 20% is even "very proud", while some 25% are not proud and 8% is "very not proud". Mostly students claim to be proud of their nationality, with 90% of them staying so. Of the people older than 55, 31% claim to be proud of being a Belgian. Particular opposition to secession comes from women, people employed in services, the highest social classes and people from big families. Strongest of all opposing the notion are housekeepers—both housewives and house husbands.
Flanders
Geographically, Flanders is mainly flat, and has a small section of coast on the North Sea. Much of Flanders is agriculturally fertile and densely populated, with a population density of almost 500 people per square kilometer (1,200 per square mile). It touches France to the west near the coast, and borders the Netherlands to the north and east, and Wallonia to the south. The Brussels Capital Region is an officially bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. Flanders has exclaves of its own: Voeren in the east is between Wallonia and the Netherlands and Baarle-Hertog in the north consists of 22 exclaves surrounded by the Netherlands.
Friesland
Friesland (; official, ), also historically known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the northern part of the country. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of Flevoland, northeast of North Holland, and south of the Wadden Sea. In 2015, the province had a population of 646,092 and a total area of .
Flanders Expo
Flanders Expo is the biggest event hall in the Flanders region and the second biggest in Belgium. It is the 40th largest exhibition complex in the world.
Flanders
The term "Flanders" has several main modern meanings:The significance of the County of Flanders and its counts eroded through time, but the designation remained in a very broad sense. In the Early modern period, the term Flanders was associated with the southern part of the Low Countries: the Southern Netherlands. During the 19th and 20th centuries, it became increasingly commonplace to refer to the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium as "Flanders". The linguistic limit between French and Dutch was recorded in the early '60's, from Kortrijk to Maastricht. Now, Flanders extends over the northern part of Belgium, including Belgian Limburg (corresponding closely to the medieval County of Loon), and the Dutch-speaking Belgian parts of the medieval Duchy of Brabant.
Army of Flanders
The size of the Army of Flanders would vary over the period in response to contemporary challenges and threats. The initial force that combined in the Netherlands in 1567 was a little over 20,000 strong; after the defeat of William I of Orange the following year, the Spanish planned for an enduring force of 3,200 Walloon and 4,000 Spanish infantry along the borders of the Netherlands, backed by 4,000 Spanish infantry and 500 light cavalry forming a strategic reserve. In practice, the ensuing Dutch revolt meant that the Army had to enlarge considerably in 1572, reaching, on paper, if not in reality, a strength of 86,000 by 1574.
Flanders
Flanders was one of the first continental European areas to undergo the Industrial Revolution, in the 19th century. Initially, the modernization relied heavily on food processing and textile. However, by the 1840s the textile industry of Flanders was in severe crisis and there was famine in Flanders (1846–50). After World War II, Antwerp and Ghent experienced a fast expansion of the chemical and petroleum industries. Flanders also attracted a large majority of foreign investments in Belgium. The 1973 and 1979 oil crises sent the economy into a recession. The steel industry remained in relatively good shape. In the 1980s and 90s, the economic centre of Belgium continued to shift further to Flanders and is now concentrated in the populous Flemish Diamond area. Nowadays, the Flemish economy is mainly service-oriented.
County of Flanders
The geography of the historic County of Flanders only partially overlaps with present-day region of Flanders in Belgium, though even there it extends beyond West Flanders and East Flanders. Some of the historic county is now part of France and the Netherlands. The land covered by the county is spread out over:
Flanders
During the late Middle Ages Flanders' trading towns (notably Ghent, Bruges and Ypres) made it one of the richest and most urbanized parts of Europe, weaving the wool of neighbouring lands into cloth for both domestic use and export. As a consequence, a very sophisticated culture developed, with impressive achievements in the arts and architecture, rivaling those of northern Italy. Ghent, Bruges, Ypres and the Franc of Bruges formed the Four Members, a form of parliament that exercised considerable power in Flanders.
Flemish Parliament
On December 7, 1971, the Cultural Council for the Dutch-speaking Cultural Community held its first meeting, later followed a parliament for the Flemish Region. Flanders decided as early as 1980 to merge the Flemish Community with the Flemish Region. As a result, Flanders now has a single parliament and a single government with competence over community as well as over regional matters. This Parliament was called the "Vlaamse Raad" until it was officially renamed "Vlaams Parlement" (Flemish Parliament) on June 13, 1995. Over the last thirty years, Flanders has thus developed into a separate state within the federalised Belgium.
Flanders, New Jersey
Flanders is an unincorporated community located within Mount Olive Township, in southwestern Morris County, New Jersey, United States. Flanders is served by the United States Postal Service as ZIP Code 07836.
The Bulletin (Brussels weekly)
"Flanders Today" is a weekly, English-language newspaper based in Groot-Bijgaarden. Launched in October 2007 and entirely funded by the Flemish Region, and published by Ackroyd Publications, it has the explicit mission to defend the economic, social and cultural interests of the Flemish Region and Community at the inter-regional and international level. In addition, although officially independent, the newspaper must fully comply with the visual identity of the Flemish authorities, and its figurative and verbal trademarks are the exclusive property of the Flemish Region.
1914 Tour of Flanders
The race started in Ghent, East Flanders, before heading eastward to Sint-Niklaas and making a clockwise circle along Aalst, Oudenaarde, Kortrijk, Veurne and Roeselare. The race finished back in Ghent - for a total distance of 280 km. With this route, the race addressed all the major cities of the two western provinces of Flanders. The course was similar to the previous edition's, but organizers had cancelled the leg to the coast in order to scale down the distance to 284 km. There were no categorized climbs.
History of Flanders
Increasingly powerful from the 12th century, the territory's autonomous urban communes were instrumental in defeating a French attempt at annexation (1300–1302), finally defeating the French in the Battle of the Golden Spurs (July 11, 1302), near Kortrijk. Two years later, the uprising was defeated and Flanders remained part of the French Crown. Flemish prosperity waned in the following century, however, owing to widespread European population decline following the Black Death of 1348, the disruption of trade during the Anglo-French Hundred Years' War (1338–1453), and increased English cloth production. Flemish weavers had gone over to Worstead and North Walsham in Norfolk in the 12th century and established the woollen industry.
Flanders Moss
Flanders Moss is an area of raised bog lying in the Carse of Forth in west Stirlingshire, Scotland. The villages of Thornhill and Port of Menteith lie to the north with the villages of Kippen and Buchlyvie lying to the south. The moss is a National Nature Reserve, managed by Scottish Natural Heritage. Formed on the Carse of Stirling over 8000 years ago, it is an internationally important habitat currently undergoing active restoration.
The eastern part of Flanders Moss is the largest raised bog in Europe to remain in a predominantly near-natural state.
Flanders
Both the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region are constitutional institutions of the Kingdom of Belgium, exercising certain powers within their jurisdiction, granted following a series of state reforms. In practice, the Flemish Community and Region together form a single body, with its own parliament and government, as the Community legally absorbed the competences of the Region. The parliament is a directly elected legislative body composed of 124 representatives. The government consists of up to a maximum of eleven members and is presided by a Minister-President, currently Geert Bourgeois (New Flemish Alliance) leading a coalition of his party (N-VA) with Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams (CD&V) and Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten (Open VLD).
Flanders
In 1830, the Belgian Revolution led to the splitting up of the two countries. Belgium was confirmed as an independent state by the Treaty of London of 1839, but deprived of the eastern half of Limburg (now Dutch Limburg), and the Eastern half of Luxembourg (now the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg). Sovereignty over Zeelandic Flanders, south of the Westerscheldt river delta, was left with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which was allowed to levy a toll on all traffic to Antwerp harbour until 1863.
Politics of Flanders
Flanders is divided into 5 provinces, plus the local Flemish institutions in Brussels (the 'Vlaamse Gemeenschaps-Commissie' (VGC), and around 300 municipalities. Provincial and local government are an exclusive competency of the regions. The provincial governments are primarily administrative units, and are politically weak. A governor is appointed by Flemish government, and approved by the Flemish parliament. One governor presides over each province. He or she is supported by an elected Provincial Council of 47 to 84 members.
History of Flanders
During the late Middle Ages Flanders' trading towns (notably Ghent, Bruges and Ypres) once again made it one of the richest and most urbanized parts of Europe, weaving the wool of neighbouring lands into cloth for both domestic use and export. As a consequence, a very sophisticated culture developed, with impressive achievements in the arts and architecture, rivaling those of Northern Italy. Ghent, Bruges, Ypres and the Franc of Bruges formed the Four Members, a form of parliament which exercised considerable power in Flanders.
Flanders
Flanders, despite not being the biggest part of Belgium by area, is the area with the largest population (68.5%). 7,876,873 out of 11,491,346 Belgian inhabitants live in Flanders or the bilingual city of Brussels. Not including Brussels, there are five modern Flemish provinces.
County of Flanders
In the second half of the 12th century, the county went through a period of great prosperity when Philip of Alsace managed to incorporate the County of Vermandois into Flanders through the inheritance of his wife. The territories he controlled now came to within 25 kilometers of Paris, and were larger than the territories his Feudal Lord, the French King, directly controlled.
Flanders
In medieval contexts, the original "County of Flanders" stretched around AD 900 from the Strait of Dover to the Scheldt estuary and expanded from there. This county also still corresponds roughly with the modern-day Belgian provinces of West Flanders and East Flanders, along with neighbouring parts of France and the Netherlands. Although this original meaning is still relevant, during the 19th and 20th centuries it became increasingly commonplace to use the term "Flanders" to refer to the entire Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, stretching all the way to the River Meuse, as well as cultural movements such as Flemish art. In accordance with late 20th century Belgian state reforms the Belgian part of this area was made into two political entities: the "Flemish Community" () and the "Flemish Region" (). These entities were merged, although geographically the Flemish Community, which has a broader cultural mandate, covers Brussels, whereas the Flemish Region does not.
Flanders Classics
Flanders Classics is an official cooperation among the organizers of the classic cycle races held in Flanders. It was founded in 2010 and comprises six races, of which the Tour of Flanders, one of the Monuments of cycling classics, is considered the most important. Important classics not included are E3 Harelbeke and Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne.
History of Flanders
Several negotiators having come and gone since the federal elections of 10 June 2007 without diminishing the disagreements between Flemish and Walloon politicians regarding a further State reform, caused difficulties for the formation of the federal government and ultimately led to the fall of the government and new elections on June 13, 2010. These were won by the pro-independence party of the N-VA in Flanders. The long-lasting government formation of 2010 broke the previous record of 2007.
Flanders Campaign
By the end of 1792, following his surprise victory over the Imperial command under the Duke of Saxe-Teschen and Clerfayt at the Battle of Jemappes (6 November 1792), French commander Charles François Dumouriez had marched largely unopposed across most of the Austrian Netherlands, an area that roughly corresponds to present-day Belgium. As the Austrians retreated, Dumouriez saw an opportunity with the Patriot exiles to overthrow the weak Dutch Republic by making a bold move north. A second French Division under Francisco de Miranda manoeuvred against the Austrians and Hanoverians in eastern Belgium.
History of Flanders
After the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the 1815 Battle of Waterloo in Waterloo, Brabant, sovereignty over the Austrian Netherlands – Belgium minus the East Cantons and Luxembourg – was given by the Congress of Vienna (1815) to the United Netherlands (Dutch: "Verenigde Nederlanden"), the state that briefly existed under Sovereign Prince William I of Orange Nassau, the latter King William I of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, after the French Empire was driven out of the Dutch territories. The United Kingdom of the Netherlands was born. The Protestant King of the Netherlands, William I rapidly started the industrialisation of the southern parts of the Kingdom. The political system that was set up however, slowly but surely failed to forge a true union between the northern and the southern parts of the Kingdom. The southern bourgeoisie mainly was Roman Catholic, in contrast to the mainly Protestant north; large parts of the southern bourgeoisie also primarily spoke French rather than Dutch.
Tour of Flanders
The Tour of Flanders has started in four different cities – Ghent, Sint-Niklaas, Bruges and Antwerp. The start of the inaugural event in 1913 was on the Korenmarkt in Ghent's historic city center. Ghent, the largest city of East- and West-Flanders, hosted the 1913 World's Fair at the time of the race. Later, the official start in Ghent moved to the fashionable "Albert Hotel", close to "St-Pieters Station", where riders signed on. Until the 1950s a Sunday Mass was held for riders before the start, as the race was often held just before the Holy Week or on Easter day.
Zeelandic Flanders
Zeelandic Flanders was subsequently ruled directly by the Dutch States General (parliament) as one of the Generality Lands and called Flanders of the States ("Staats-Vlaanderen"). After occupation by the French in 1795, the area accrued to the "département" of Escaut. Before the formation of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, Zeelandic Flanders was territory of the Dutch province of North Brabant for a few years, but when the present province Zeeland was formed Zeelandic Flanders became a part of it, even after the 1830 Belgian Revolution that separated the remainder of Dutch Flanders from the Netherlands.
Arnulf I, Count of Flanders
Arnulf of Flanders (c. 890 – 27 March 965), called the Great, was the first Count of Flanders, who ruled the County of Flanders, an area that is now northern France (Nord), northwestern Belgium and southwestern Netherlands.
Ghent
As the largest city in East Flanders, Ghent has many hospitals, schools and shopping streets. Flanders Expo, the biggest event hall in Flanders and the second biggest in Belgium, is also located in Ghent. Tourism is becoming a major employer in the local area. Recently a local business man donated a substantial amount of money to have all the kerbs lowered by two inches in the city
States of Flanders
The States of Flanders were a representative institution in the medieval and early modern County of Flanders. Initially it consisted only of the Third Estate, with representatives of the three cities of Bruges, Ghent and Ypres. Around 1350 the rural Liberty of Bruges also obtained representation in the States.
County of Flanders
The 1493 Treaty of Senlis established peace between France and the Habsburgs; per the terms of the treaty, Flanders would henceforth be a territory of the Holy Roman Empire.
2015 Tour of Flanders
The 2015 Tour of Flanders (in Dutch, "Ronde van Vlaanderen") was the 99th edition of the Tour of Flanders one-day cycling race. It took place on 5 April and was the eighth race of the 2015 UCI World Tour. The race is one of the cobbled classics and is the second of the cycling monuments on the 2015 calendar. The 2014 champion was Fabian Cancellara; he was not able to defend his title after breaking two vertebrae in a crash at E3 Harelbeke.
Tour of Flanders
In order to preserve the "Ronde's" specific character, organisers increased the number of hills and searched for more backroads in the Flemish Ardennes. In 1973 the finish was moved to Meerbeke, not far after the Muur of Geraardsbergen, which became an iconic climb of the race and of Belgian cycling. Three years later the controversial Koppenberg was included.
It marked the beginning of some sensational editions of the race. In 1975 Eddy Merckx concluded his second win after another memorable raid to the finish. Merckx, in the rainbow jersey, escaped from the peloton together with Frans Verbeeck with 104 km to ride, before distancing his worn-out companion 6 km before Meerbeke. In 1976 Freddy Maertens and Roger De Vlaeminck, two of Belgium's star riders, were part of a five-man group and favourites to win the sprint, but the two did not get on and let themselves jointly be dropped at 4 km from the finish. De Vlaeminck beat Maertens for fourth place, acknowledging his mistake, but stated that "he did not want Maertens to win".
Politics of Flanders
The Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (OpenVLD, "Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten"), who opened up their ranks to "Volksunie" defectors some years ago, were the largest political force in Flanders during the 1990s, but lost more than one third of their support after 7 years of liberal control of the post of prime minister by Guy Verhofstadt. The Open VLD is currently headed by Alexander De Croo.
Walloon Flanders
Walloon Flanders was part of the County of Flanders from the early Middle Ages, but was ceded to the Kingdom of France from 1304 to 1369, by the Treaty of Athis-sur-Orge which concluded the Franco-Flemish War (1297-1305). As a result it was to some degree institutionally distinct from the County of Flanders and in some lists it even features as one of the Seventeen Provinces. Furthermore, Walloon Flanders adhered to the Union of Arras in 1579, whereas the County of Flanders joined the Union of Utrecht.
Gare de Lille Flandres
Lille Flandres is the main railway station of Lille, capital of French Flanders. It is a terminus for SNCF Intercity and regional trains. It opened in 1842 as the "Gare de Lille", but was renamed in 1993 when Lille Europe station opened. There is a 500m walking distance between the two stations, which are also adjacent stops on one of the lines of the Lille Metro.
Flemish Region
The Flemish Diamond (Dutch: "Vlaamse Ruit") is the name of the central, populous area in Flanders and consists of several of these cities, such as Antwerp, Ghent, Leuven and Mechelen. Approximately 5,500,000 people live in the area.
Flag of Flanders
The flag of Flanders, called the "Vlaamse Leeuw" ("Flemish Lion") or "leeuwenvlag" ("Lion flag"), is the flag of the Flemish Community and Flemish Region in Belgium. The flag was officially adopted by the Cultural Council for the Dutch Cultural Community ("Cultuurraad voor de Nederlandse Cultuurgemeenschap") in 1973, and later, in 1985, by its successor, the Flemish Parliament. In 1990, also the coat of arms was adopted as an official symbol.
Flanders, New York
As of the census of 2010, there were 4,705 people, 1,797 households, and 1,068 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 297.1 per square mile (114.7/km²). There were 1,797 housing units at an average density of 124.0/sq mi (47.9/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 25.63% White, 21.12% African American, 8.05% Native American, 1.04% Asian, 2.08% from other races, and 12.06% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 42.08% of the population.
Flanders
Within this Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, French has never ceased to be spoken by some citizens and Jewish groups have been speaking Yiddish in Antwerp for centuries. Today, Flanders' minority residents include 170 nationalities—the largest groups speaking French, English, Berber, Turkish, Arabic, Spanish, Italian and Polish.
History of Flanders
In 1794 the French Republican Army started using Antwerp as the northernmost naval port of France, which country officially annexed Flanders the following year as the "départements" of Lys, Escaut, Deux-Nèthes, Meuse-Inférieure and Dyle. Obligatory (French) army service for all men aged 16–25 was one of the main reasons for the people's uprising against the French in 1798, known as the "Boerenkrijg" ("Peasants' War"), with the heaviest fighting in the Campine area.
Flanders
After the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the 1815 Battle of Waterloo in Waterloo, Brabant, sovereignty over the Austrian Netherlands – Belgium minus the East Cantons and Luxembourg – was given by the Congress of Vienna (1815) to the United Netherlands (Dutch: "Verenigde Nederlanden"), the state that briefly existed under Sovereign Prince William I of Orange Nassau, the latter King William I of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, after the French Empire was driven out of the Dutch territories. The United Kingdom of the Netherlands was born. The Protestant King of the Netherlands, William I rapidly started the industrialisation of the southern parts of the Kingdom. The political system that was set up however, slowly but surely failed to forge a true union between the northern and the southern parts of the Kingdom. The southern bourgeoisie mainly was Roman Catholic, in contrast to the mainly Protestant north; large parts of the southern bourgeoisie also primarily spoke French rather than Dutch.
Flanders
On 13 December 2006, a spoof news broadcast by the Belgian Francophone public broadcasting station RTBF declared that Flanders had decided to declare independence from Belgium.
Battle of Messines (1914)
The North-east of France and the south-west Belgium were known as Flanders. West of a line between Arras and Calais in the north-west, lay chalk downlands, covered with soil sufficient for arable farming. East of the line, the land declines in a series of spurs into the Flanders plain, bounded by canals linking Douai, Béthune, St. Omer and Calais. To the south-east, canals ran between Lens, Lille, Roubaix and Courtrai, the Lys river from Courtrai to Ghent and to the north-west lay the sea. The plain was almost flat, apart from a line of low hills from Cassel, east to Mont des Cats, Mont Noir, Mont Rouge, Scherpenberg and Mont Kemmel. From Kemmel, a low ridge lay to the north-east, declining in elevation past Ypres, through Wytschaete, Gheluvelt and Passchendaele, curving north and then north-west to Dixmude, where it merged with the plain. A coastal strip about wide,was near sea level and fringed by sand dunes. Inland the ground was mainly meadow, cut by canals, dykes, drainage ditches and roads built up on causeways. The Lys, Yser and upper Scheldt had been canalised and between them the water level underground was close to the surface, rose further in the autumn and filled any dip, the sides of which then collapsed. The ground surface quickly turned to a consistency of cream cheese and on the coast troops were confined to roads, except during frosts.
History of Flanders
This article describes the history of Flanders. The definition of the territory called "Flanders" (), however, has varied throughout history.
Flanders
At the creation of the Belgian state, French was the only official language. Historically Flanders was a Dutch-speaking region. For a long period, French was used as a second language and, like elsewhere in Europe, commonly spoken among the aristocracy. There is still a French-speaking minority in Flanders, especially in the municipalities with language facilities, along the language border and the Brussels periphery (Vlaamse Rand), though many of them are French-speakers that migrated to Flanders in recent decades.
History of Flanders
Thus, the modern Belgian provinces of West and East Flanders have always been part of a political territory named Flanders, while the provinces Antwerp, Flemish Brabant and Belgian Limburg, though Dutch-speaking, have not.
Flanders, New York
It is located in the town of Southampton on the south side of the Peconic River at its mouth in Peconic Bay. Riverhead is across the river to the north.
County of Flanders
From 1840 onwards, the title "Count of Flanders" has been appropriated by the monarchy of Belgium. As a rule it was given to the second in line of succession to the Belgian throne. The title of count of Flanders was abolished by royal decision on 16 October 2001.
Flanders
When Julius Caesar conquered the area he described it as the less economically developed and more warlike part of "Gallia Belgica". His informants told him that especially in the east, the tribes claimed ancestral connections and kinship with the "Germanic" peoples then east of the Rhine. Under the Roman empire the whole of "Gallia Belgica" became an administrative province. The future counties of Flanders and Brabant remained part of this province connected to what is now France, but in the east modern Limburg became part of the Rhine frontier province of "Germania Inferior" connected to what is now the Netherlands and Germany. "Gallia Belgica" and "Germania Inferior" were the two most northerly continental provinces of the Roman empire.
County of Flanders
It was in Steenvoorde (In French Flanders) in 1566 that the Beeldenstorm broke loose. The Beeldenstorm spread through all of the Low Countries and eventually led to the outbreak of the Eighty Years' war and the secession of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. Originally Flanders cooperated with the northern provinces as a member of the Union of Utrecht, and also signed the Act of Abjuration in 1581, but from 1579 to 1585, in the period known as the "Calvinist Republic of Ghent", it was reconquered by the Spanish army.
Flanders stayed under Spanish control. Through the efforts of the French king Louis XIV, the entire southern part of Flanders was annexed by France, and became known as South-Flanders or French Flanders. This situation was formalised in 1678 at the Treaty of Nijmegen.
Count of Flanders
The Count of Flanders was the ruler or sub-ruler of the county of Flanders, beginning in the 9th century. The title was held for a time by the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of Spain. During the French Revolution in 1790, the county of Flanders was annexed to France and the peerage ceased to exist. In the 19th century, the title was appropriated by Belgium and granted twice to younger sons of the King of the Belgians. The most recent holder died in 1983.
County of Flanders
In 1278 Guy of Dampierre, of the House of Dampierre, became count of Flanders. The king of France wanted to definitively conquer Flanders, and started the Franco-Flemish War (1297–1305). Increasingly powerful in the 12th century, the territory's autonomous urban centres were instrumental in defeating the French invasion attempt, defeating the French at the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302. But finally the French prevailed at the battle of Mons-en-Pévèle and with the subsequent treaty of Athis-sur-Orge (1305) Flanders lost Lille, Douai, and Orchies to France and had to pay exorbitant fines but retained their independence as a fief of the French kingdom. During this period, Flanders experienced a period of relative prosperity with its strong cloth industry and diverse artwork. Trade in Flanders was so extensive that statues of the Madonna and Child were made in Flanders with ivory, which was only accessible on the Indian Ocean trade networks.
French Flanders
French Flanders is mostly flat marshlands in the coal-rich area just south of the North Sea. It consists of two regions:
East Flanders
During the short-lived Napoleonic Empire, most of the area of the modern province was part of the Department of Escaut, named after the River Scheldt. Following the defeat of Napoleon, the entity was renamed after its geographical location in the eastern part of historic Flanders; although the province is actually situated in the western portion of Flanders, in the contemporary sense of the word.
History of Flanders
On 13 December 2006, a spoof news broadcast by the Belgian Francophone public broadcasting station RTBF declared that Flanders had decided to declare independence from Belgium.
History of Flanders
In 1830, the Belgian Revolution led to the splitting up of the two countries. Belgium was confirmed as an independent state by the Treaty of London of 1839, but deprived of the eastern half of Limburg (now Dutch Limburg), and the Eastern half of Luxembourg (now the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg). Sovereignty over Zeelandic Flanders, south of the Westerscheldt river delta, was left with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which was allowed to levy a toll on all traffic to Antwerp harbour until 1863.
Flanders Campaign
In the north, the allies' immediate aim was to eject the French from the Dutch Republic (modern The Netherlands) and the Austrian Netherlands (modern Belgium), then march on Paris to end the chaotic and bloody French version of republican government. Austria and Prussia broadly supported this aim, but both were short of money. Britain agreed to invest a million pounds to finance a large Austrian army in the field plus a smaller Hanoverian corps, and dispatched an expeditionary force that eventually grew to approximately twenty thousand British troops under the command of the king's younger son, the Duke of York. Initially, just fifteen hundred troops landed with York in February 1793.
Judith of Flanders
Baldwin was given the land directly south of the Scheldt, i.e. the Country of Flanders (albeit an area of smaller size than the county which existed in the High Middle Ages) to ward off Viking attacks. It is disputed among historians as to whether King Charles did this in the hope that Baldwin would be killed in the ensuing battles with the Vikings; however, Baldwin managed the situation remarkably well. He succeeded in quelling the Viking threat, expanded both his army and his territory quickly, and became a faithful supporter of King Charles. The March of Baldwin came to be known as the County of Flanders and would come to be one of the most powerful principalities of France.
County of Flanders
Initially the French kings meant to secure the safety of the northern French border from Viking invasions with this act. The counts, however, made good use of the crisis situation by incorporating the surrounding plundered territories into the county. The counts expanded the influence of the original Flemish "pagus" over the years over all territories south and west of the Scheldt river, including presentday the lordship of the Four Amts, Zeelandic Flanders, the burgraviate of Aalst to the east and the County of Artois to the south, which remained part of Flanders until it became a separate county in 1237. After that date, the county of Artois at various times still came under the dominion of the count of Flanders as a separate title, until it was absorbed by the French crown.
History of Flanders
Written records of the Flemish region begin in Roman times. Julius Caesar left his "Commentaries of the Gaulish War" about his time in the region. Caesar described "Belgium" or "Gallia Belgica" as the northernmost of the three distinct parts of Gaul, and all definitions of Flanders are within this large Belgic area. The inhabitants were collectively called Belgae. The boundaries were the North Sea, the Marne and Seine rivers in the southwest, the Ardennes in the southeast, and the Rhine in the north and east.
Politics of Flanders
Historically, the contemporary Flemish community (or nation, as some Flemings see it) grew out of the Catholic southern part of the medieval XVII provinces of the Low Countries. The contemporary Belgian Flanders area was divided within several feudal states. The most important states were the County of Flanders (except for its southernmost areas), the southern part of the Duchy of Brabant (except for the area around Nivelles) and the northern part of the Bishopric of Liège. Most of these states were united from 1384 to 1530 under the Burgundian Netherlands
Council of Flanders
The council ceased to exist in 1795, when the Austrian Netherlands were annexed by the First French Republic.
Grand Steeple-Chase des Flandres
The (; "great steeplechase of Flanders") is a horserace held annually at the Hippodrome Waregem in Waregem, Belgium. It is the centrepiece of the ("Waregem Races") meeting, held on the Tuesday of the , a kermesse which begins on the weekend of the last Sunday in August. Local businesses often close for the kermesse. The race is sometimes described as the Belgian Grand National, by analogy with the (English) Grand National. It has a distance of 4600m, with 25 obstacles, the most spectacular of which is the water jump across the Gaverbeek river, which is in front of the grandstand and taken twice in the race. In 1990 the water jumpwas redesigned to reduce the frequency of horses breaking legs; it faced continued criticism from animal welfare activists after deaths there in 2012. The "Waregem Koerse" was first held in 1849 on the city's cobbled streets; the "Steeple-Chase" was first held in 1858, sponsored by French businessman Marc Lejeune. In its early decades it was one of the most prestigious horseraces in Europe. It declined after the Second World War when French prize money grew, but recovered somewhat from the 1980s. In the 1990s there was an increase in the number of British entries, from smaller stables. Multiple winners include Spectre (five wins in the 1870s), Redpath (seven wins 1880s–1890s) and Taupin Rochelais (three wins 2015–2017). Since 2010 the race has formed part of the Crystal Cup series of European steeplechases.
History of Flanders
The historical county of Flanders is now split into different countries. It roughly encompassed Zeelandic Flanders in the Netherlands, French Flanders in France, and the Belgian provinces of West Flanders, East Flanders as well as part of Hainaut. The city of Ghent was the capital.
First Battle of Ypres
North-east France and the south-west Belgium are known as Flanders. West of a line between Arras and Calais in the north-west are chalk downlands, covered with soil sufficient for arable farming. East of the line, the land declines in a series of spurs into the Flanders plain, bounded by canals linking Douai, Béthune, St Omer and Calais. To the south-east, canals run between Lens, Lille, Roubaix and Courtrai, the Lys river from Courtrai to Ghent and to the north-west lies the sea. The plain is almost flat, apart from a line of low hills from Cassel, eastwards to Mont des Cats, Mont Noir, Mont Rouge, Scherpenberg and Mount Kemmel. From Kemmel, a low ridge lies to the north-east, declining in elevation past Ypres through Wytschaete, Gheluvelt and Passchendaele, curving north then north-west to Dixmude where it merges with the plain. A coastal strip is about wide, near sea level and fringed by sand dunes. Inland the ground is mainly meadow, cut by canals, dykes, drainage ditches and roads built up on causeways. The Lys, Yser and upper Scheldt are canalised and between them the water level underground is close to the surface, rises further in the autumn and fills any dip, the sides of which then collapse. The ground surface quickly turns to a consistency of cream cheese and on the coast movement is confined to roads, except during frosts.
Dunkirk
Upon the extinction of the Counts of Flanders with the death of Louis II in 1384, Flanders was acquired by the Burgundian, Duke Philip the Bold. The fortifications were again enlarged, including the construction of a belfry daymark. As a strategic point, Dunkirk has always been exposed to political , by Duke Robert I of Bar in 1395, by Louis de Luxembourg in 1435 and finally by the Austrian archduke Maximilian I of Habsburg, who in 1477 married Mary of Burgundy, sole heiress of late Duke Charles the Bold. As Maximilian was the son of Emperor Frederick III, all Flanders was immediately seized by King Louis XI of France. However, the archduke defeated the French troops in 1479 at the Battle of Guinegate. When Mary died in 1482, Maximilian retained Flanders according to the terms of the 1482 Treaty of Arras. Dunkirk, along with the rest of Flanders, was incorporated into the Habsburg Netherlands and upon the 1581 secession of the Seven United Netherlands, remained part of the Southern Netherlands, which were held by Habsburg Spain (Spanish Netherlands) as Imperial fiefs.
Friesland
Friesland is situated at in the northwest of the Netherlands, west of the province of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of Flevoland, northeast of the IJsselmeer and North Holland, and south of the North Sea. It is the largest province of the Netherlands if one includes areas of water; in terms of land area only, it is the third-largest province.
Flanders (film)
Flanders () is a 2006 French drama film written and directed by Bruno Dumont. It tells the story of Demester, a man whose girlfriend cheats on him out of frustration with his lack of emotion. Demester is then sent to war, in an unnamed Middle Eastern country, where he experiences (and participates in) the horrors of war.The film won the Grand Prix at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.
Flanders, New York
Flanders is a hamlet and a census-designated place (CDP) in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 4,472 at the 2010 census. It is the location of the Big Duck.
Aalst, Belgium
The first historical records on Aalst date from the 9th century, when it was described as the "villa Alost", a dependency of the Abbey of Lobbes. During the Middle Ages, a town and port grew at this strategic point, where the road from Bruges to Cologne crossed the Dender. While it was within the Holy Roman Empire it was considered the capital of the province of Flanders. In 1046, Aalst was transferred to the Countship of Imperial Flanders, and absorbed a portion of Brabant, and in 1173 it was united with the remainder of the Flanders province. Its frontier position on the border of the Holy Roman Empire allowed the town to keep a certain degree of independence. Its relation with Brabant has been preserved in the city's white and red coat of arms, the colours of Lotharingia.
Flanders, New Jersey
As of the 2010 United States Census, the population of the Flanders ZIP Code Tabulation Area was 12,568.
West Flanders
West Flanders ( ; West Flemish: "West Vloandern"; French: "(Province de) Flandre-Occidentale"; German: "Westflandern") is the westernmost province of the Flemish Region, in Belgium. It is the only coastal Belgian province, facing the North Sea to the north. It has land borders with the Netherlands to the northeast, the Flemish province of East Flanders to the east, the Walloon province of Hainaut in the southeast and France to the west. Its capital is Bruges ("Brugge"). Other important cities are Kortrijk in the south and Ostend on the coast, Roeselare and Ypres ("Ieper"). The province has an area of 3,125 km² which is divided into eight administrative districts ("arrondissementen") containing 64 municipalities.
County of Flanders
The first Count of Flanders was Baldwin I, who became count in 862, and a romantic anecdote is connected to this: Baldwin eloped with the daughter of the Frankish king Charles the Bald, Judith of West Francia. Judith, who had previously been married to two English kings, refused her father's command to return to him. After mediation by the pope, the Frankish king reconciled with his son-in-law, and gave him the title of count, and the corresponding feudal territories as dowry.
Greater Netherlands
On 12 May 2008, the Dutch politician Geert Wilders (PVV), who was previously quoted as arguing that a Greater Netherlands was "a Nazi and old-fashioned policy", said in "De Telegraaf" that he was interested in the possibility of a merger between the Netherlands and Flanders. Wilders proposed that, in accordance with previous polls, referendums would have to be held in the Netherlands and Flanders on the merger. He was quoted as saying that "the Netherlands must print the Flemish Lion on its chest and say: welcome home, we have never forgotten you." He argued that he was not planning to impose unification on the Flemish, but stated that then-Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende needed to talk with his Flemish colleagues on the subject. Balkenende responded by saying that "the fate of Belgium is not for us to decide".
Tour of Flanders
However, there were hints of the growing status of the race as a symbol of Flemish nationalism (see above). Marcel Buysse, one of Flanders' cycling icons in the early 20th century, insisted on entering the race, against the order of his French Alcyon team that forbade Belgian riders to participate. Buysse took part in the second edition in 1914 as one of the favourites and won the sprint of a group of six on the velodrome of Evergem, in the vicinity of Ghent. The distance was scaled back to .