INTRODUCTION
The land of castles, waffles, and comic books, that’s right we are talking about Belgium. A country divided into two with lots of natural resources, great tourist attractions, and don’t forget the tasty food. Snugly placed between Germany, the Netherlands, and France, Belgium has one of the highest standards of living. Belgium is truly fascinating. GEOGRAPHY
The official name of the country is Belgium. The capital city of Belgium is Brussels. The land area is 11,672 square miles (30, 230 square kilometers). The population is 10,431, 477 as of July 2011. The major cities of Belgium are Brussels and Antwerp.
There are three main geographical regions in Belgium, the coastal plain, the central plateau, and the Ardennes uplands. Inland, up to the Meuse River, the land is flat with many canals and dikes protecting the land from the sea; valleys, caves, and small gorges can also be found here. East of the Meuse River, forested hilly conditions raise the rugged and flat-topped mountains of the Ardennes Region. The highest point is the Botrange at 2,276 feet (6,694 meters).
The Gulf Stream and Atlantic Ocean winds moderate the weather in Belgium resulting in rainy, cloudy days mostly along the coasts. Inland, summers are mild for the most part, cloudy, and cool with temperatures reaching only into the mid 60s. Winters are also mild with fog and light rain, and lows around 37 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures are of course colder in the Ardennes.
The natural vegetation of Belgium has been greatly decreased and removed in areas that are suitable for farming. The little vegetation that is still in these settled areas are the beach and Lyme grasses in the sand-dune belt, some salt marshes in the not drained sections of the polder region, and some stretches of fen, heath, plant fir woods, and swamps. About 20% of Belgium has forests, two-thirds of which is deciduous (mainly beech and oak) and one-third of it is coniferous trees.
Belgium has splendid agricultural resources; about 24% of the land is suitable for cultivation, and another 24% is suitable for pastures and meadows. Belgium also has extensive limestone and sand deposits, which are used in making glassware and cement.
It was estimated by the Population Reference Bureau that 97% of the population of Belgium lived in urban areas in 2001, up from 95% in 1980. The major urban areas are the capital city, Brussels, with 1,211,000, Antwerp with 470,349, Ghent with 230,543, Charleroi with 206,779, Liege with 196,825, and Brugge with 117,460.
The hyacinth is a common name for a variety of plants in the lily family. The hyacinth is commonly found in Belgium. It is a favorite for home gardeners around the globe. There are many varieties of periwinkle thriving in Belgium, including the rosy periwinkle which is normally found in Madagascar. Pheasants are a very popular game bird found in Europe. There an estimated 48 species of pheasants in the world, and in Belgium the great Argus pheasant is the most attention-catching species of pheasant. The marten is a small omnivorous mammal from the weasel family, and can be widely spotted throughout Belgium.
Brussels being the capital of Belgium and the administrative centre of the European Union makes a popular tourist attraction. Waterloo is one of Belgium’s main tourist attractions, with hundreds of thousands of visitors coming each year to look over the plains from the Lion of Waterloo. Gravensteen castle, also known as the Castle of Counts, in Ghent is one of the strongest moated fortresses in Europe. Gravensteen was used as a military base for many years, until the 14th century where it served many purposes as being the town mint, a prison, and a cotton mill. The Grand Place in Brussels is a great tourist attraction with its carpet of real flowers that just seems to make people awestruck in its beauty.
PEOPLE
The official languages of Belgium are Dutch (Flemish) 60%, French 40%, and German less than 1%. The