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Flemish Brabant - is a province of
Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It
borders on (clockwise from the North) the Belgian
provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant,
Hainaut and East Flanders. Flemish Brabant also
surrounds the Brussels-Capital Region. Its capital is
Leuven. It has an area of 2,106 km² which is divided
into two administrative districts (arrondissementen in
Dutch) containing 65 municipalities. Flemish Brabant was
created in 1995 by the splitting of the former province
of Brabant into three parts: two new provinces, Flemish
Brabant and Walloon Brabant; and the Brussels-Capital
Region, which no longer belongs to any province. The
split was made to accommodate the eventual division of
Belgium in three regions (Flanders, Wallonia and the
Brussels-Capital Region).
It is a province with a rich cultural history and a
great diversity of typical products, among them several
of the world-famous Belgian beers. The province is made
up of two arrondissements. The Halle-Vilvoorde
Arrondissement has Brussels in its middle. It is
therefore mainly a residential area, but it also has
large industrial zones. For example, it is home to
Belgium's main airport. The other arrondissement is the
Leuven Arrondissement, centered on Leuven. The official
language in Flemish Brabant is Dutch (as it is in the
whole of Flanders), but a few municipalities are to a
certain extent allowed to use French to communicate with
their citizens; these are called the municipalities with
language facilities. Other such special municipalities
can be found along the border between Flanders and
Wallonia, and between Wallonia and the German-speaking
area of Belgium. Halle-Vilvoorde mostly surrounds
Brussels, which is officially bilingual but whose
inhabitants mostly speak French. The history of Brabant
can be found at the Duchy of Brabant article; see also
Duke of Brabant. |
