Belgium

Belgium is a small, densely populated country at the crossroads of north-western Europe, between France, Germany and the Netherlands. Its position has always made it a place of trade and a battlefield, from Waterloo to the two world wars. Its capital, Brussels, is home today to the main institutions of the European Union and to NATO headquarters. The country is divided between two large communities, the Dutch-speaking Flemings in the north and the French-speaking Walloons in the south.

In a small space, the country goes from the sea to the hills. In the north-west, a short, flat North Sea coast gives onto Flanders, a region of fertile plains, canals and historic art cities. The centre is gently rolling farmland. In the south-east rise the wooded hills of the Ardennes, wilder and cooler, cut by rivers. Although heavily urbanised, the country keeps green, quiet countryside between its towns.

Julius Caesar already praised the courage of the Belgae, the Gaulish tribes of the north. The region's golden age was the late Middle Ages: the cities of Flanders (Bruges, Ghent, later Antwerp) were among the richest in Europe, grown wealthy on cloth and trade, and became great centres of art. Long fought over by the great powers (Burgundy, Spain, Austria), this land was so often at war that it was called the "battlefield of Europe"; Waterloo is here. Belgium became an independent kingdom in 1830 and, more than a century later, was one of the founding members of the European project.

Belgium has three official languages: Dutch in Flanders, in the north; French in Wallonia, in the south, and in Brussels; and German for a small community in the east. The language border runs right across the country and weighs on all of its politics. The country is traditionally Catholic, as its countless churches and béguinages show, although society today is largely secular.

Belgium has a love of good food and a sense of humour all its own. It is the home of comics (Tintin, the Smurfs and Lucky Luke were born here), of great painters from Van Eyck and Bruegel to Rubens and Magritte, and of Art Nouveau. It is also the land of hundreds of beers, some of the best chocolate in the world, fries (invented here, people say) and waffles.