History of Wallonia

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Main article: Wallonia

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

Walh. Walh is a very old Germanic word used to refer to a speaker of Celtic or Latin (cf. Wales).[1]

Prehistory

Iguanodon bernissartensis compared in size to a human.
Section of mines at Spiennes

As of 2014, the largest find of the fossilised remains of Iguanodon to date occurred in 1878 in a coal mine at Bernissart, at a depth of 322 metres (1,056 ft).[2] I. bernissartensis, that lived from the Barremian to the early Aptian (Early Cretaceous) in Europe, between about 130 and 120 million years ago.

The

province of Namur.[3] It was discovered in 1886 and has been classified as Wallonia's Major Heritage. It is one of the most important paleolithic sites in Europe. The excavation was conducted by Marcel de Puydt and Max Lohest of Liège. They proved the existence of the Neanderthal. Fraipont published an article about the cave in the American Anthropologist.[4]

Province of Hainaut
, has well known neolithic flint mines[5] that are included on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites. The entry on the list describes them as "the largest and earliest concentration of ancient mines in Europe" and cites the level of early technological development they demonstrate as justification for their inclusion.[6]

Antiquity

Séquence de sainte Eulalie

According to the region's official website, after Julius Caesar conquered Gaul, its inhabitants became the Gallo-Romans and were called the "Walha" by their Germanic neighbours, from whence the name Wallonia comes. The Walha started speaking Vulgar Latin instead of their Celtic dialects. At that time, Wallonia was on the border between Germanic-speaking and Latin-speaking territories.[7] Historian Léopold Genicot wrote in his review Toudi n° 1, 1987, p." of an "enclave" in "the area of the Germanic languages".[8] According to Hervé Hasquin, Francis Dumont [fr] described the Walloon territory as "a kind of isthmus" connecting old France and old Germany.[9]

Félix Rousseau said Wallonia has always been a Romance land since the Gallic Wars and constitutes a Latin avant-garde in Germanic Europe. In his book La Wallonie, Terre Romane (Wallonia, a Romance Land) he says:

For centuries, the land of the Walloons has been and has never ceased to be a Romance land. That is the capital fact of the history of the Walloons that explains their ways of thought, feeling, and belief. Moreover, in the whole Romance world, the land of the Walloons, caught between Germanic territories, occupies a special position, the position of a vanguard. In fact a border about 300km long separates these extremi Latini from the Flemish to the North and from the Germans to the East.[10]

According to Genicot, the most remarkable evidence of the Romance identity of Wallonia is the Sequence of Saint Eulalia because of its traits of Walloon, Picard, Lorrain, which may have been located in Wallonia or adjacent to it. Its origin must be located "in a region between Tournai and Liège, and it was written around 880".[8]

The longue durée event of the language border

According to

Barbarian invasions, which he says is an interesting example of the longue durée event. Braudel wrote that the result of the Germanic invasions—the language border—is "a contemporary and living circumstance" and that "Belgium divided into two parts along a language border".[11] This border, separating the Germanic and Roman sprachraums, moved over the centuries preceding the establishment of the Belgian state over an area between the Ardennes and the line from Aachen to Calais and the more sparsely populated frontier from Aachen to Arlon via Malmedy. This frontier has not much changed since the 18th century.[12] Flanders is to the north of the line and Wallonia to the south. According to Kenneth D. McRae, this language border "acquired administrative significance for the first time in 1822 with [William I of the Netherlands'] legislation on the use of Dutch in Flemish communes".[13]

  • Gaul, conquered by Julius Caesar, was a part of the Roman Empire. The result of this is French-speaking Europe: France, Wallonia, Brussels, and French-speaking Switzerland, with their regional languages (see following map).
    Gaul, conquered by Julius Caesar, was a part of the Roman Empire. The result of this is French-speaking Europe: France, Wallonia, Brussels, and French-speaking Switzerland, with their regional languages (see following map).
  • Languages of France. Wallonia is in the NE, containing almost the whole Walloon language (dark green), a small part of the Picard language (light green to the West), and another small part of the Lorrain language (light green to the South).
    Languages of France. Wallonia is in the NE, containing almost the whole Walloon language (dark green), a small part of the Picard language (light green to the West), and another small part of the Lorrain language (light green to the South).
  • Regional languages of Wallonia: Walloon language (yellow), Picard language (green) and Lorrain language (brown), with a small area of Champenois (and smaller Germanic areas (blue or white))
    Regional languages of Wallonia:
    Champenois
    (and smaller Germanic areas (blue or white))
  • Area of the Walloon language (the most important one): the white-coloured areas are those of the Picard language, Lorrain language, and Champenois. Some old smaller current Germanic areas.
    Area of the Walloon language (the most important one): the white-coloured areas are those of the
    Champenois
    . Some old smaller current Germanic areas.
  • Regional languages of Wallonia.
    Regional languages of Wallonia.
  • Wallonia in relation with Belgium and the neighbouring countries: France, Germany etc.
    Wallonia in relation with Belgium and the neighbouring countries: France, Germany etc.
  • Political Wallonia among the other Regions.    Flemish Region   Brussels-Capital Region   Walloon Region
    Political Wallonia among the other Regions.
       Flemish Region
      Brussels-Capital Region
      Walloon Region
  • The five provinces of Wallonia: Walloon Brabant (1), Hainaut (2), Liège (3), Luxembourg (4), Namur (5).
    The five provinces of Wallonia:
    Namur
    (5).

Industry

See also: Sillon industriel

The Ardennes is an old mountain mass formed during the

Namur)."[14]
The Tournaisian excepted, all these rocks are in the geological area of Ardennes.

The Ardennes includes the greatest part of the Belgian province of Luxembourg, the south of the province of Namur, the province of Liège, and a very small part of Hainaut. The first furnaces in the four Walloon provinces were in this area, before the 18th century using charcoal made in the Ardennes forest. This industry was also found in Gaume in the south of the province of Luxembourg. After the 18th century, the most important part of the Walloon steel industry, now using coal, was built around the coal mines, principally around the cities of Liège, Charleroi, La Louvière, the Borinage, and also in Walloon Brabant in Tubize. Wallonia became the second industrial power of the world, in proportion to its territory and to its population.[citation needed]

The

Walloon method, involving the use of a blast furnace, was developed in Liége, making it possible to substitute bronze with iron. The few coal mines around Liège, Charleroi, and the Borinage produced coal for breweries, dyeworks, soap and brick factories, and in the fourteenth century by the glassmaking industry in the Charleroi basin. At that time, coal mining was a part-time activity carried on by rural peasants to supplement their incomes.[16]

The Walloon process in the Middle Ages

During the

Walloon process.[17] It consists of making pig iron in a blast furnace, then refining it in a finery forge. The process was devised in the Liège region and spread into France and thence from the Pays de Bray to England before the end of the 15th century.[18][19][20] Louis de Geer took it to Roslagen, Sweden, in the early 17th century, where he employed Walloon ironmakers.[21] Iron made there by this method was known in England as oregrounds iron.[22][23]

The beginning of the Industrial Revolution

Peter N. Stearns wrote that the development of the

Newcomen-type steampumps were used in mines near Liège by 1723 and at Charleroi by 1725. The first steam engines based on James Watt's modifications appeared about 1803 in a Liège cannon foundry. The two engines installed there was producing 100,000 horsepower by 1860.[24]

  • Font of Renier de Huy (Mosan art): The baptism of the catechumens. An example of old Walloon technique in making the brass I (12th century).
    Font of Renier de Huy (Mosan art): The baptism of the catechumens. An example of old Walloon technique in making the brass I (12th century).
  • The splendid house of Curtius in Liège, one of the first capitalists.
    The splendid house of Curtius in Liège, one of the first capitalists.
  • Statue of the Walloon Louis de Geer (1587–1652) in Norrköping, Sweden (1945; the sentence at the bottom of the statue speaks of him as the "father of the industry in Sweden").
    Statue of the Walloon Louis de Geer (1587–1652) in Norrköping, Sweden (1945; the sentence at the bottom of the statue speaks of him as the "father of the industry in Sweden").
  • View of the oval courtyard and the statue of H. de Gorge, who early in the 19th century built the mining complex of Grand Hornu, which is an example of functional town-planning and evidence of the importance of the Industrial Revolution in Wallonia.
    View of the oval courtyard and the statue of H. de Gorge, who early in the 19th century built the mining complex of
    Grand Hornu
    , which is an example of functional town-planning and evidence of the importance of the Industrial Revolution in Wallonia.

Second industrial power of the world

Jean-Pierre Rioux quoted the following table in his book La révolution industrielle (The Industrial Revolution) based on several "levels of development"; consumption of cotton in the rough state, of cast iron, cast steel, coal, and the development of the railway network.[25] It was first drawn by Paul Bairoch, one of the most important post-1945 economists.[26] This table is not based on absolute figures, nor does it point out absolute ranks, but the hierarchy of the industrial powers is based on their levels of development. "Wallonia" may be substituted for "Belgium".

Rank [27] 1810 1840 1860 1880 1900 1910
1 United Kingdom United Kingdom United Kingdom United Kingdom United States United States
2 Belgium Belgium Belgium Belgium United Kingdom United Kingdom
3 United States United States United States United States Belgium Belgium
4 France Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland Germany
5 Switzerland France France Germany Germany Switzerland
6 Germany Germany Germany France France France
7 Sweden Sweden Sweden Sweden Sweden Sweden
8 Spain Spain Spain Spain Spain Spain
9 Italy Italy Italy Italy Italy Italy
10 Russia Russia Russia Russia Russia Russia
11 Japan Japan Japan Japan Japan Japan

According to Herbert Lüthy, quoted by Maurice Besnard said Belgium and its Walloon part was "the first country to become an industrial country after England".[citation needed] Herbert Lüthy did not agree with the theory of Max Weber on the link between capitalism and Protestantism and emphasised the fact that Wallonia was a Catholic country.[28] Philippe Destatte wrote that Wallonia was "the second industrial power of the world, in proportion to its population and its territory".[29]

Hervé Hasquin said, "the development of the Walloon industrial regions contributed to make Belgium one of the main industrial powers in Europe, if not in the world ..."[30] Philippe Raxhon wrote that after 1830, "the Walloon regions were becoming the second industrial power in the world after England".[31] Marc Reynebau said the same thing.[32]

According to Michel De Coster, a professor at the University of Liège, "The historians and the economists say that Belgium was the second industrial power of the world, in proportion to its population and its territory ... [b]ut this rank is that of Wallonia, where were concentrated the coal-mines, the blast furnaces, the iron and zinc factories, the wool industry, the glass industry, the weapons industry ... "[33] According to Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency, "The Walloon iron and steel industry came to be regarded as an example of the radical evolution of industrial expansion. Thanks to coal ... the region geared up to become the second industrial power in the world after England ... in 1833 Belgian industry boasted 5 times more steam machines per inhabitant than a country such as France. It also exported them to over 25 countries."[34] European Route of Industrial Heritage said, "The sole industrial centre outside the collieries and blast furnaces of Walloon was the old cloth making town of Ghent".[35]

Dependence on Brussels

Michel Quévit wrote that Wallonia has been a prosperous country dependent on the financial powers in Brussels.[36] When arriving at the end of the first stage of the industrial revolution, Walloon captains of industry took huge risks because of the large increase of their production. The result was that the High Bank in Brussels acquired very important financial participation in the Walloon companies, and in 1847 Brussels became the dominant centre of Belgian territory".[37]

Herman Van der Wee said Wallonia's status as Belgium's industrial heartland was "due to factors on the supply side and to a fortuitous boom in exporting coal to France [and] to the export demand for pig iron, for intermediate finished metal products, for steam engines, locomotives and other transportation equipment [which was largely determined by] the Railway Revolution and the ensuing railway boom."[38] He also said, " ... because ... Wallonia’s heavy industry had an undeniable technological lead over its French and German counterparts, and because it had a clear locational advantage vis-à-vis British competition, the first phase of industrialization in Germany and France became very dependent upon exports from Wallonia".[38]

According to Van der Wee, "Antwerp's harbor benefited from the shift of Wallonia’s exports to the sea route and from the rising transit trade with Germany and France".[38] At the end of the nineteenth century, the port began attracting industrial investment based on its advantageous location. The industrialisation of Antwerp and the diffusion of the mechanized textile industry from Ghent to the rest of Flanders was not enough to shift the balance of industrial power northwards, and this shift did not occur until after the Second World War.[38] The Brussels mixed banks, the Société Générale de Belgique, founded in 1822, and the Banque de Belgique, founded in 1835, combined commercial banking with long-term investment and had a dominant role in Belgium's industrialisation.[38]

After the Second World War, investment in colonial mining and transportation ceased and Belgium became a more affluent society. Industrial investment shifted towards consumer durables and traditional Brussels holding companies lost their grip on Belgian industry to American multinationals, German mixed banks and to other financially independent European companies. The need for external funds was increasing but the control of the new industrial sectors increasingly shifted into the hands of foreign investors.[38]

Political dependence on the north

In 1930, the language of Belgium's elites, government, monarchy, and bourgeoisie, was French; they favoured the southern part of Belgium over the northern part. Francophone elites at the head of companies, industry and politics came from both Flanders and Wallonia. Wallonia found this to be a disadvantage. According to Philippe Destatte, "In the history of Belgium, the legislative elections held on 11 June 1884 represent a pivotal point, for the total victory of the Catholic Party over Walthère Frère-Orban's Liberals opened the way for thirty years of homogeneous governments, thirty years of domination by that party, whose main power was in Flanders. Above all, this 1884 victory had the effect—to quote Robert Demoulin—of shifting the country's political centre of gravity from the South to the North."[39]

Government composition, 1884-1911 [40]
Periods and Governments Flemish Ministers Ministers from Brussels Walloon Ministers
A. Beernaert
 : October 26, 1884/ March 17, 1894		 60% 14% 26%
J. de Burlet  : March 26, 1894/ June 25, 1896 75% 9% 16%
P. de Smet de Naeye : June 26, 1896/ January 23, 1899 87% - 13%
J. Vandenpeereboom : January 24, 1899/ July 31, 1899 84% - 16%
Paul de Smet de Naeyer  : August 5, 1899/ April 12, 1907 76% - 24%
J. de Trooz : May 1, 1907/ December 31, 1907 67% 11% 22%
F. Schollaert : January 9, 1908/ June 8, 1911 57% 22% 21%
Ch. de Broqueville : June 18, 1911/ August 4, 1914 42% 22% 36%

Jules Destrée, an important socialist leader of Charleroi, reacted against this situation by writing his Lettre au roi sur la séparation de la Wallonie et de la Flandre.[41] The President of the POB, Emile Vandervelde, said, "The Walloon populations are tired of seeing themselves crushed by an artificial majority formed by the Flemish part of the country".[42]

Industrial relations

According to Tony Cliff, Belgium has

general strike in 1950 led to the abdication of King Leopold. Coal miners in the Borinage began a general strike in 1958-9 to demand the nationalisation of the mining industry and increased wages.[43]

Belgium was dominated by a Francophone elite from Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia.

1960–61 Winter General Strike to demand a self-governing Wallonia.[citation needed
]

Walloon decline versus reconversion

According to the website "Portal Wallonia", the effect of the two world wars was to curb economic growth in Wallonia. By 1958, the region's dwindling coal reserves were becoming increasingly expensive to extract and the factories were becoming outdated. Wallonia needed to redefine its role as Belgium's industrial heartland; it turned to the technology sector.[45]

The December 1960 general strike succeeded only in Wallonia, where it became a Renardist strike. According to Renée Fox, a major reversal in the relationship between Flanders and Wallonia was underway.[46] Flanders had entered a period of vigorous industrialization, and a significant percentage of the foreign capital entering Belgium to support new industries—particularly from the United States—was being invested in Flanders. In contrast, Wallonia's coal mines and outdated steel plants and factories were in crisis, and the region's unemployment was rising and investment capital was falling. According to Fox, an unpwardly mobile, Dutch-speaking, "populist bourgeoisie" was becoming visible and vocal in both Flemish movements and in local and national policy. The strike was originally against the austerity law of Gaston Eyskens, but became "a collective expression of the frustrations, anxieties, and grievances that Wallonia was experiencing in response to its altered situation, and by the demands [for] regional autonomy for Wallonia ... "[46]

In 2012, four former industrial sites, the

world heritage sites.[47]

As of 2014[update], Wallonia displays interregional cooperation with its neighbours,[48] centres of excellence and-state-of-the-art technologies[49] and business parks.[50] The Region is not yet at the level of Flanders, however, and is suffering many difficulties. Nevertheless, forty Walloon companies are number one in Wallonia and worldwide, according to the Union Wallonne des Entreprises,[51] for instance in glass production,[52] lime and limestone production,[53] cyclotrons,[54] and the aviation industry,.[55]

Culture

The Manifesto for Walloon culture published in 1983 is also an important event in Walloon history.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel (1963), English and Welsh in Angles and Britons: O'Donnell Lectures, University of Cardiff Press. read online Archived 2008-12-18 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ISBN 978-0-517-46890-6
    .
  3. ^ "Accéder". La grotte de Spy: le sommaire. (in French). Archived from the original on 2007-03-12. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
  4. ^ La race humaine de Neanderthal ou de Canstadt en Belgique: Recherches ethnographiques sur des ossements d'une grotte à Spy et détermination de leur âge géologique in American Anthropologist, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Jul., 1888), pp. 286-287 (review consists of 2 pages)
  5. ^ "Neolithic Flint Mines of Petit-Spiennes : Official web site". Archived from the original on 2007-12-31. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
  6. ^ "Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes (Mons)". World Heritage List. UNESCO. 2000. Retrieved 2007-03-16.
  7. ^ "Official website of Wallonia". Archived from the original on 2008-05-01. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
  8. ^ a b Léopold Genicot, ed. (1973). Histoire de la Wallonie. Toulouse: Privat.
  9. ^ Hervé Hasquin (1995). Historiographie et politique en Belgique. Bruxelles: IJD et ULB. p. 218.
  10. ^ (in French) Depuis des siècles, la terre des Wallons est une terre romane et n'a cessé de l'être. Voilà le fait capital de l'histoire des Wallons qui explique leur façon de penser, de sentir, de croire. D'autre part, dans l'ensemble du monde roman, la terre des Wallons, coincée entre des territoires germaniques, occupe une position spéciale, une position d'avant-garde. En effet, une frontière de près de trois cents kilomètres sépare ces extremi Latini des Flamands au Nord, des Allemands à l'Est. Félix Rousseau, La Wallonie, Terre romane, Institut Jules Destrée, Charleroi, 1962, 3rd ed., p. 9.
  11. ISBN 978-2-7003-0411-4
    . French: le dépassement du Rhin au Ve siècle par des peuplades germaniques [...constitue] à des siècles et des siècles de distance, un trait contemporain vivant (voyez par exemple la Belgique coupée linguistiquement en deux)
  12. ^ Roland Willemyns, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (2002). "The Dutch-French Language Border in Belgium" (PDF). Journal of multilingual and multicultural development. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-06-26. Retrieved 2008-07-23. For almost a century (and in spite of deficient methodology) there were (with the exception of Brussels) no significant differences from one census to another (Martens, 1975), a fact demonstrating the remarkable stability of Belgium's linguistic communities.
  13. ISBN 978-0-88920-195-8
  14. ^ "Most beautiful rocks of Wallonia". Archived from the original on 2009-02-04. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
  15. ^ Or more accurately Between-Sambre-and-Meuse see the bibliography (in several languages) Production et Travail du Fer en Gaule du Nord et en Rhénanie à l’époque romaine: le rôle des établissements ruraux Archived 2010-12-31 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Peter N. Stearns. The Revolutionary Period of the Industrial Revolution. pp. 129–130.
  17. S2CID 110821989
    .
  18. ^ Peter N.Stearns, Op. cit., p.130
  19. ^ B. G. Awty (1981). "The continental origins of Wealden ironworkers". Economic History Review. Ser. II, 34: 524–39.
  20. ^ B. G. Awty (1987). "The origin of the blast furnace: evidence from the frankophone areas". Historical Metallurgy. 21 (2): 96–9.
  21. ^ M. Nisser; Bergslagen (1975). B. Holtze; et al. (eds.). The Engelsberg ironworks. Stockholm. pp. 29–36.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  22. ^ P. W. King (2003). "The Cartel in Oregrounds Iron: trading relationships in the raw material for steel". Journal of Industrial History. 6 (1): 25–48.
  23. ^ Robert Halleux; Anne-Catherine Bernès; Luc Étienne (1995). 'L'évolution des sciences et des techniques en Wallonie', in Atouts et références d'une région. Charleroi: Institut Destrée.
  24. ^ Peter N. Stearns, op. cit., p. 131
  25. ISBN 978-2-02-000651-4
    .
  26. ^ P. Bairoch. "Niveaux de développement économique de 1810 à 1910". Annales. Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations. November–December 1965: 1110.
  27. ^ J.P.Rioux, op. cit., p. 105)
  28. ^ Philipppe Besnard (1970). Protestantisme et capîtalisme. la controverse post-wébérienne. Paris: Armand Collin. pp. 27–31.
  29. ISBN 978-2-87035-000-3
    .
  30. ISBN 978-2-930240-18-3
    .
  31. ISBN 978-2-7089-4779-5
    .
  32. ^ Translated from the Dutch by S.Delsart (2005). Histoire belge, 1830-2005. Bruxelles: Racine. p. 48.
  33. ISBN 9782296033948
    .
  34. ^ "Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency". Archived from the original on 12 October 2014. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  35. ^ "European Route of Industrial Heritage". Archived from the original on 2013-07-31.
  36. ^ Michel Quévit (1978). Les causes du déclin wallon. Bruxelles: EVO.
  37. ^ Philippe Destatte (1997). L'identité wallonne. Charleroi: Institut Destrée. p. 51.
  38. ^
    ISBN 978-0-521-40940-7
    .
  39. ISBN 978-2-87035-010-2
    .
  40. ISBN 978-2-8040-2174-0
    .
  41. ^ "Belgium may separate" (PDF). New York Times. 1912-08-09. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
  42. ^ French: Les populations wallonnes sont lasses de se voir écrasées par une majorité artificielle formée par la partie flamande du pays. In Rapport officiel du Congrès extraordinaire tenu le 30 juin 1912 à La Maison du peuple de Bruxelles, 1912, p. 23. Quoted by Claude Renard in La conquête du suffrage universel en Belgique, Editions de la Fondation Jacquemotte, Brussels, 1966, p. 246.
  43. ^ Tony Cliff (1965). "The Belgian General Strike (February 1961)". A Socialist Review. London: International Socialism. pp. 316–26. First published in Socialist Review, February 1961{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  44. ^ "Wallonia today—The search for an identity without nationalist mania".
  45. ^ "History of the Walloon economy". Portal Wallonia. Archived from the original on 2008-06-09. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
  46. ^
    ISBN 978-1-56663-057-3
    .
  47. TravelPulse
    . July 17, 2012.
  48. ^ "Cross-border and interregional cooperation". Portal Wallonia. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
  49. ^ "Centres of excellence and state-of-the-art technologies". Portal Wallonia. Archived from the original on 2011-05-21. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
  50. ^ "Walloon incentives". Portal Wallonia. Archived from the original on 2011-05-21. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
  51. ^ "Leaders mondiaux". Union Wallonne des Entreprises (in French). 14 December 2007. Archived from the original on 25 December 2017. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  52. ^ "AFC Flat Glass".
  53. ^ "Carmeuse".
  54. ^ "IBA".
  55. ^ "SONACA".

Bibliography

External links

Media related to History of Wallonia at Wikimedia Commons

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