Kingdom of Belgium: Map & History

History

In his account of the Roman invasion of Gaul, Roman leader Julius Caesar noted that the original Belgae inhabited the northern part of Gaul extending from the Seine and Marne rivers to the Rhine. They therefore inhabited most of modern Belgium, and significant parts of France, the Netherlands, and Germany. He described the Belgae as the bravest of the Gauls, and attributed this to their distance from the Roman Province, minimal contact with merchants importing luxury goods, and their continual warfare with the neighbouring Germanic tribes across the Rhine. Within this broad region, Caesar referred to a specific area as "Belgium," which was politically dominant and located in what is now northern France.

Politics and government

Belgium is a constitutional monarchy and a federal parliamentary democracy. The bicameral federal parliament is composed of a Senate and a Chamber of Representatives. The former is made up of 50 senators appointed by the parliaments of the communities and regions and 10 co-opted senators. Prior to 2014, most of the Senate's members were directly elected. The Chamber's 150 representatives are elected under a proportional voting system from 11 electoral districts. Belgium has compulsory voting and thus maintains one of the highest rates of voter turnout in the world.

The King (currently Philippe) is the head of state, though with limited prerogatives. He appoints ministers, including a Prime Minister, that have the confidence of the Chamber of Representatives to form the federal government.

Economy

Belgium's strongly globalised economy and its transport infrastructure are integrated with the rest of Europe. Its location at the heart of a highly industrialised region helped make it the world's 15th largest trading nation in 2007. The economy is characterised by a highly productive work force, high GNP and high exports per capita. Belgium's main imports are raw materials, machinery and equipment, chemicals, raw diamonds, pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs, transportation equipment, and oil products. Its main exports are machinery and equipment, chemicals, finished diamonds, metals and metal products, and foodstuffs.

The Belgian economy is heavily service-oriented and shows a dual nature: a dynamic Flemish economy and a Walloon economy that lags behind.

Culture

Despite its political and linguistic divisions, the region corresponding to today's Belgium has seen the flourishing of major artistic movements that have had tremendous influence on European art and culture. Nowadays, to a certain extent, cultural life is concentrated within each language Community, and a variety of barriers have made a shared cultural sphere less pronounced. Since the 1970s, there are no bilingual universities or colleges in the country except the Royal Military Academy and the Antwerp Maritime Academy.