Historical region of NW Belgium and NE France; autonomous in early Middle Ages; densely populated industrial area; chief towns Bruges, Ghent, Sint-Niklaas, Aalst, Ronse; traditional textile industry, with linen, silk, cotton processing; intensive farming, especially wheat, sugar-beet, oats, barley, potatoes; scene of heavy fighting in both World Wars.
Vlaanderen|
The Flemish Region |
The Flemish Community |
| Official language | Dutch |
| Capital | Brussels |
| Minister-President | Yves Leterme |
|
Area – Total |
13,522 km² |
|
Population – In Flemish region – in Brussels region Population density |
6,043,161 (2005) ca. 200,000 447/km² |
| National anthem | De Vlaamse Leeuw |
Flanders (Dutch: Vlaanderen) has several main meanings:
the social, cultural and linguistical, scientific and educational, economical and political community of the Flemings; some prefer to call this the "Flemish community" (others refer to this as the "Flemish nation") which is, with over 6 million inhabitants, the majority of all Belgians; a constituent governing institution of the federal Belgian state through the institutions of the Flemish Community (with its own Flemish government and Flemish parliament) and the Flemish region; the geographical region in the north of Belgium coinciding with the Flemish region, a constituent part of the federal Belgian state.The precise geographical area denominated by "Flanders" has changed a great deal over the centuries.
In the Middle Ages, the term Flanders was applied to an area in western Europe, the County of Flanders, spread over:
Belgium : the area that is now approximately the Flemish provinces of East Flanders and West Flanders the French-speaking area at the west of the Scheldt river, called Tournaisis (from the now Wallonian town Tournai in the province of Hainaut) France : a part of what is now the Nord département (Nord-Pas de Calais), in north-eastern France, often called French Flanders or sometimes even South-Flanders. The term Walloon Flanders corresponds to the French-speaking Flemish region around Lille. In history of art, the adjectives Flemish, Dutch and Netherlandish are commonly used to designate all the artistic production in this region. For examples, Flemish Primitives is synonym for early Netherlandish painting, Franco-Flemish School for Dutch School, and it is not uncommon to see Mosan art categorized as Flemish art.Flanders in France
Flanders in the Netherlands
Contemporary Flanders
Sometime in the 19th century it became commonplace to call the area now known as Flanders, from Maasmechelen to De Panne as "Flanders", including parts of the Duchy of Brabant and the (Belgian Limburg).
At this time, for most, the term Flanders is normally taken to refer to either the political, social, cultural and linguistic community (and the corresponding official institution, the Flemish Community), or the geographical area, one of the three regions in Belgium, namely the Flemish region.
History
Early history
Flanders was once inhabited by Celtic peoples and Germanics had crossed the Rhine and merged with them.
Historical Flanders: County of Flanders
Created in the year 862, the County of Flanders was divided when its western districts fell under French rule in the late 12th century.
During the late Middle Ages Flanders' trading towns (notably Ghent,Bruges and Ypres) made it one of the most urbanised parts of Europe, weaving the wool of neighbouring lands into cloth for both domestic use and export.
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. 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 in the Low Countries
The Reformation
Martin Luther's 95 Theses, published in 1517, had a profound effect on the Low Countries.
The Pragmatic Sanction of 1549, issued by Charles V, established the Low Countries as the Seventeen Provinces (or Spanish Netherlands in its broad sense) as an entity separate from the Holy Roman Empire and from France.
The schism between the southern Roman Catholics and northern Calvinists resulted in the Union of Atrecht and the Union of Utrecht, respectively.
It was the iconoclasm of 1566 (the Beeldenstorm) – the demolition of statues and paintings depicting saints – that led to religious war between Catholics and Protestants.
Charles' son, King Philip II of Spain, a devout Catholic and self-proclaimed protector of the Counter-Reformation who was also the duke or earl of each of the Seventeen Provinces, started to crack down on the rising Calvinists in Flanders, Brabant and Holland.
The Eighty Years' War and its consequences
In 1568 the Seventeen that signed the Union of Utrecht started a (counter)rebellion against Philip II: the Eighty Years' War.
This mass immigration from Flanders and Brabant (especially Antwerp) was an important driving force behind the Dutch Golden Age.
Although arts remained at a relatively impressive level for another century with Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Flanders experienced a loss of its former economic and intellectual power under Spanish, Austrian, and French rule, with heavy taxation and rigid imperial political control compounding the effects of industrial stagnation and Spanish-Dutch and Franco-Austrian conflict.
1581-1815: The Southern Netherlands
Conquered by revolutionary France in 1794 and annexed the following year as the départements of Lys, Escaut, Deux-Nèthes, Meuse-Inférieure and Dyle.
1815-1830: United Kingdom of the Netherlands
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: Vereenigde 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 southern bourgeoisie mainly was Roman Catholic, in contrast to the mainly Protestant north, large parts of the southern bourgeoisie also primarily spoke French, instead of Flemish, a sub species of the Dutch language.
In the in 1815 instated Dutch Senate (Dutch: Eerste Kamer der Staaten Generaal) the nobility, mainly coming fom the south, became more and more estranged from their northern colleagues.
Kingdom of Belgium
In 1830, the Belgian Revolution led to the splitting up of the two countries.
Rise of the Flemish Movement
World War I and its consequences
Flanders (and Belgium as a whole) saw some of the greatest losses of life of the First World War including the battles of Ypres and the Somme.
Flemish feeling of identity and consciousness grew through the events and experiences of war. More importantly the experiences of many Flemish speaking soldiers on the front led by French speaking officers catalysed Flemish emancipation. The French speaking officers barked the orders in French, followed by "et pour les Flamands , la même chose" , which basically meant, same thing for the Flemish, and it obviously did not help the Flemish conscripts, who were mostly uneducated farmers and workers who didn't speak French at all...
Right-Wing Nationalism in the interbellum and World War II
Communautary quibbles and the Egmont pact
Government and politics
Both the Flemish Community and the Flemish region are federal units of the Kingdom of Belgium. In practice, the Flemish community and region together have their own parliament and government, whereas the region has almost no proper institutions any more, as it was absorbed by the community.
The area of the Flemish Community is represented on the maps above plus the area of the Brussels region (seen as a white hole on the same map). Roughly, the Flemish Community is responsible for all cultural issues as Flemish education, culture, language, sports, ...
The area of the Flemish region is represented on the maps above. The Flemish Region has a population of around 6 million (excluding the Dutch-speaking community in the Brussels Capital region, which is not a part of the Flemish region). Roughly, the Flemish Region is responsible for all economic issues.
The number of Dutch-speaking Flemings in Brussels (region) is estimated to be between 11% and 15% (official figures do not exist as there is no language census and no official subnationality). They are under the rule of the Brussels Region for economics affairs and under the rule of the Flemish Community for educational and cultural issues.
As of 2005, the Flemish institutions as its government, parliament, etc. represent the Flemish Community and the Flemish region. Members of the Flemish parliament who were elected in Brussels region cannot vote on flemish regional affairs.
The official language for all Flemish institutions is Dutch.
Politics
Many new political parties during the last half century were founded in Flanders: the nationalist Volksunie of which the extreme-right nationalist Vlaams Blok (Vlaams Belang) split off, and that later dissolved into SPIRIT, moderate nationalism rather left of the spectrum, and the NVA, more conservative moderate nationalism;
Flemish nation
For many Flemings, Flanders is more than just a geographical area (Flemish region) or a federal institution (Flemish community). Some even call it a nation: a people of over 6 million living in the Flemish Region and in the Brussels-Capital Region. Although most Flemings identify themselves more with Flanders than with Belgium, the largest group defines itself as both Flemish and Belgian.
Administrative divisions
The Flemish Region covers 13,522 km² and contains over 300 municipalities. It is divided into 5 provinces:
Antwerp (Antwerpen) Limburg (Limburg) East Flanders (Oost-Vlaanderen) Flemish Brabant (Vlaams-Brabant) West Flanders (West-Vlaanderen)Independently from the provinces, Flanders has its own local institutions in the Brussels-Capital region, being the Vlaamse GemeenschapsCommissie (VGC), and its municipal antennae (Gemeenschapscentra, community centers for the Flemish community in Brussels). These institutions are independent from the educational, cultural and social institutions which depend directly on the Flemish government.
Geography and climate
Brussels (Brussel), Antwerp (Antwerpen), Ghent (Gent), Bruges (Brugge), Leuven and Mechelen are the largest cities of Flanders, with populations above or around 100,000.
Flanders has two main geographical regions: the coastal plain in the north-west and a central plateau.
The climate is maritime temperate, with significant precipitation in all seasons (Köppen climate classification: Cfb;
Economy
Flanders is one of the most dynamic areas in the entire world.
Flanders was one of the first continental European areas to undergo the Industrial Revolution, in the early 1800s. However, by the 1840s the textile industry of Flanders was in severe crisis and there was famine in Flanders (1846–50). Nowadays, the Flemish economy is mainly service-oriented, although its diverse industry remains a crucial force.
Flanders has a particularly open economy.
In 1999, the euro, the single European currency, was introduced in Flanders. The Flemish economy is strongly export oriented, in particular of high value-added goods.
Demographics
The areas with the highest population density are around the Brussels-Antwerp-Gent-Leuven agglomerations, also known as the Flemish Diamond, as well as other important urban centres as Kortrijk, Bruges, Hasselt and Mechelen. As of 2005, the Flemish Region has a population of about 6,043,161, and around 15% of the people in Brussels 1,006,749 are also considered as Flemish.
The (Belgian) laicist constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the various government generally respects this right in practice.
According to Npdata, 9.7% of the Flemish population is of foreign descent.
Education is compulsory from the ages of six to 18, but most Flemings continue to study until around 23.
In addition, concern is rising over functional illiteracy.
Mirroring the historical political conflicts between the freethought and Catholic segments of the population, the Flemish educational system is split into a laïque branch controlled by the communities, the provinces, or the municipalities, and a subsidised religious—mostly Catholic—branch controlled by both the communities and the religious authorities—usually the dioceses.
Flemish language and culture
The standard language used in Flanders is the same as in the Netherlands, i.e., Dutch. However, using Flemish to refer to a specific dialectic language may be confusing as there are many different Flemish dialects that are sometimes mutually incomprehensible.
At first sight, Flemish culture is defined by its language and its gourmandic mentality. Some claim Flemish literature does not exist, because it is said to be 'readable' by both the Dutchmen as well as Flemings. That is correct for say 99% of the literature written in Dutch, although one might argue a distinct Flemish literature already began in the 19th century, when most of the european Nation-states arose, with writers and poets such as Guido Gezelle, who not only explicitly referred to his writings as Flemish, but actually used it in many of his poems, and strongly defended it:
Original
"Gij zegt dat ‘t vlaamsch te niet zal gaan:
‘t en zal!
dat ‘t waalsch gezwets zal boven slaan:
‘t en zal!
Dat hopen, dat begeren wij:
dat zeggen en dat zweren wij:
zoo lange als wij ons weren, wij:
‘t en zal, ‘t en zal,
‘t en zal!"
|
Translation |
This distinction in literature is also made by some experts, such as Kris Humbeeck, professor in Literature of the University of Antwerp here.
Some other famous writers representative of Flemish culture are Ernest Claes, Stijn Streuvels, and Felix Timmermans.
Flanders in literature
A fictional town in Flanders called Quiquendone and the Flemish people were written about in the comic novel, Le Docteur Ox written by Jules Verne.
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