Walloons are a Romance ethnic group native to Belgium, principally its southern region of Wallonia, who speak French and Walloon. Walloons are a distinctive ethnic community within Belgium. Important historical and anthropological criteria bind Walloons to the French people.
Flemish Brabant is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on 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 containing 65 municipalities.
The Seventeen Provinces were the Imperial states of the Habsburg Netherlands in the 16th century. They roughly covered the Low Countries, i.e. what is now the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and most of the French departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais (Artois). Also within this area were semi-independent fiefdoms, mainly ecclesiastical ones, such as Liège, Cambrai and Stavelot-Malmedy.
Walloon Brabant is a province of Wallonia and Belgium. It borders on the province of Flemish Brabant and the provinces of Liège, Namur and Hainaut (Wallonia). Its capital is Wavre.
Wallonia is a region of Belgium. As the southern portion of the country, Wallonia is primarily French-speaking, and accounts for 55% of Belgium's territory and a third of its population. The Walloon Region was not merged with the French Community of Belgium, which is the political entity responsible for matters related mainly to culture and education, because the French Community of Belgium encompasses both Wallonia and the majority French-Speaking Brussels-Capital Region.
Liège is the easternmost province of Wallonia and Belgium.
Belgium is a federal state comprising three communities and three regions that are based on four linguistic areas. For each of these subdivision types, the subdivisions together make up the entire country; in other words, the types overlap.
The country of Belgium is divided into three regions. Two of these regions, the Flemish Region or Flanders, and Walloon Region, or Wallonia, are each subdivided into five provinces. The third region, the Brussels-Capital Region, is not divided into provinces, as it was originally only a small part of a province itself.
West Flanders 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.
Namur is a province of Wallonia, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on the Walloon provinces of Hainaut, Walloon Brabant, Liège and Luxembourg in Belgium, and on France. Its capital is the city of Namur.
Spanish Netherlands was the collective name of States of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries, held in personal union by the Spanish Crown from 1556 to 1714. This region comprised most of the modern states of Belgium and Luxembourg, as well as parts of northern France, southern Netherlands, and western Germany with the capital being Brussels.
The cougnou or bread of Jesus is a bread baked during Christmas time and is typical of the southern Low Countries.
Société Régionale Wallonne du Transport (SRWT), is responsible for the supervision, strategic planning and marketing of a group of five regional public transport companies branded as TEC or "Transport En Commun" in Wallonia, Belgium. It is primarily a bus operator, but also operates the Charleroi tram system. TEC buses and trams are distinctively painted yellow and red.
The Court of Appeal in Belgium is a court which hears appeals against decisions of the Court of First Instance and the Commercial Court. Unlike the Court of First Instance, the Court of Appeal isn't divided into different divisions. There are five Courts of Appeal in Belgium. Each Court of Appeal hears appeals against the decisions of the Courts of First Instance and the Commercial Courts of the judicial arrondissements within its jurisdiction. The Court of Appeal doesn't hear appeals against decisions of the Labour Court. Decisions of Labour Courts can only be appealed against to the Court of Labour.
The history of Wallonia, from prehistoric times to the present day, is that of a territory which, since 1970, has approximately coincided with the territory of Wallonia, a federated component of Belgium, which also includes the smaller German-speaking Community of Belgium. Wallonia is the name colloquially given to the Walloon Region. The French word Wallonie comes from the term Wallon, itself coming from Walh. Walh is a very old Germanic word used to refer to a speaker of Celtic or Latin.
Federal elections were held in Belgium on 25 May 2014. All 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected, whereas the Senate was no longer directly elected following the 2011–2012 state reform. These were the first elections held under King Philippe's reign.
