GDP per capita. Belgium is also home to two main linguistic communities: the Flemish Community, which constitutes about 60 percent of the population, and the French Community, which constitutes about 40 percent of the population. A small German-speaking Community, making up around one percent of the population, exists in the East Cantons. The Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual in French and Dutch, although French is the majority language and lingua franca. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its complex system of governance, made up of six different governments
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Since the Middle Ages, Belgium's central location has meant that the area has been relatively prosperous, connected commercially and politically to its bigger neighbours. The country as it exists today was established following the 1830 Belgian Revolution, when it seceded from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, which had incorporated the Southern Netherlands (which comprised most of modern-day Belgium) after the Congress of Vienna in 1815. The name chosen for the new state is derived from the Latin word Belgium, used in Julius Caesar's "Gallic Wars", to describe a nearby region in the period around 55 BCE. Belgium has also been the battleground of European powers, earning the moniker "the Battlefield of Europe", a reputation reinforced in the 20th century by both world wars. (Full article...)
Häkkinen went into the event as the World Drivers' Championship leader with his team McLaren leading the World Constructors' Championship. The race began behind the safety car due to overnight rainfall making the track wet and reducing visibility. When the safety car returned to the pit lane Häkkinen built a significant lead over Jarno Trulli. As the track dried and other drivers made pit stops, Häkkinen maintained his lead until a lap-13 spin gave Michael Schumacher the lead for most of the remainder of the race. By the 34th lap Schumacher's tyres began to degrade; he drove off the racing line to cool them, which allowed Häkkinen to close the gap. On lap 41 Häkkinen overtook Michael Schumacher for the lead while lapping BAR driver Ricardo Zonta and maintaining the lead to win. Although Rubens Barrichello set the fastest lap time in the other Ferrari, he was hampered by a poor qualifying performance and retired with a fuel-pressure problem thirteen laps from the finish. (Full article...)
Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels in Belgium. The abbey reached its peak in the 16th and 17th centuries, though over the past hundred years it has been in a state of decline.
Limburger cheese and pumpernickel bread. Limburger originated from Limburg, Belgium, and is known for its strong odor, which is due in part to being fermented with the same bacteria partially responsible for human body odor.
Saint Nicholas' Church in Ghent, Belgium, one of the city's oldest and most prominent landmarks, dating back to the 13th century. The church's central tower served as an observation tower and carried the town bells until the neighboring belfry of Ghent was built.
Brooklyn, New York. Land sailing is the act of moving across land in a wheeled vehicle powered by wind through the use of a sail. Although land yachts have existed since Ancient Egypt, the modern sport was born in Belgium in 1898.
Gustaf Wappers, was a teacher at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp from age 31. He was known primarily for his mythological and biblical scenes, as well as his portraits and genre pictures. The subject, Henriette Mayer van den Bergh, was the mother of the art collector Fritz Mayer van den Bergh; after his death, she founded the Museum Mayer van den Bergh in Antwerp to house his collection.
Sunrise, Inverness Copse, is a 1918 artwork by the British war artist Paul Nash. It shows a desolate Western Front landscape at Inverness Copse, near Ypres in Belgium; the sun is rising over the hills to reveal shattered trees standing among mounds of earth and an expanse of mud, pock-marked by shell-holes and devoid of vegetation. The pen-and-ink drawing, with watercolour and chalk, is held by the Imperial War Museum in London.
After a period serving in the Artists Rifles following the outbreak of the First World War, Nash was commissioned as an officer in the Hampshire Regiment. He was sent to Flanders in February 1917, but was invalided back to London in May 1917, a few days before his unit was nearly obliterated at the Battle of Messines. Nash became an official war artist and returned to the Ypres Salient, where he was shocked by the devastation caused by war. In six weeks on the Western Front, he completed what he called "fifty drawings of muddy places". He later used this drawing as the basis for his 1918 oil painting We Are Making a New World.
Poeke, Belgium. Standing on 56 hectares of park, the castle is surrounded by water and is accessible through bridges at the front and rear of the building.
Three scenes of the legend of the Miraculous Sacrament in stained glass windows in the Cathédrale Saints-Michel-et-Gudule of Brussels by Jean-Baptiste Capronnier (c. 1870). The contributions of Capronnier (1814–1891) helped lead to a revival in glass painting.
television programs. Stunts are sometimes rigged so that they look dangerous while still having safety mechanisms, but often they are as dangerous as they appear to be.
four cylinders arranged horizontally in two banks of two cylinders on each side of a central crankcase; they can be used in cars, motorcycles, or aircraft. This type of engine tends to be well-balanced and have efficient cooling, but is expensive to manufacture and considerably wider than other engines.
Image 24A Belgian machine gunner at the front lines in 1918, firing a Chauchat machine gun. (from History of Belgium)
Image 25Cartoon of "The Rape of Belgium" showing giant hairy fist with Prussian eagle grasping maiden in flowing robes. (from History of Belgium)
Image 26Southern part of the Low Countries with bishopry towns and abbeys c. 7th century. Abbeys were the onset to larger villages and even some towns to reshape the landscape. (from History of Belgium)
Image 27The Sack of Antwerp in 1576, in which 17,000 people died. (from History of Belgium)
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