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The town was originally settled by Catholic Flemings from Belgium. A Catholic church, The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, existed in Belgique from 1884 to 1992. [3] A post office was established in 1890, but as the name "Belgium" had already been taken, the French name for Belgium "Belgique" was used instead. [4]
The Flemish Region (Dutch: Vlaams Gewest, pronounced [ˌvlaːms xəˈʋɛst] ⓘ), [a] [b] usually simply referred to as Flanders (Dutch: Vlaanderen [ˈvlaːndərə(n)] ⓘ), [c] is one of the three regions of Belgium—alongside the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region. [5]
Belgium is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a complex federal system structured on regional and linguistic grounds. The country is divided into three highly autonomous regions: [13] the Flemish Region (Flanders) in the north, the Walloon Region (Wallonia) in the south, and the Brussels-Capital Region in the middle. [14]
Ghent (Dutch: Gent ⓘ; French: Gand ⓘ; historically known as Gaunt in English) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the province of East Flanders, and the third largest in the country, after Brussels and Antwerp. [2] It is a port and university city.
At the creation of Belgium in 1831, there were 2,739 municipalities in the country, which had fallen to 2,663 municipalities by 1961. Following a series of decisions and actions, carried out in 1975, 1983 and 2019, the fusion of the Belgian municipalities reduced the national total to 581 municipalities.
However, like Belgium itself, the official capital of Flanders is the City of Brussels, [4] which lies within the Brussels-Capital Region, not the Flemish Region, and the majority of residents there are French speaking. The powers of the Flemish Government in Brussels are limited mainly to Flemish culture and education.
Kortrijk (/ ˈ k ɔːr t r aɪ k / KORT-ryke, [2] Dutch: [ˈkɔrtrɛik] ⓘ; West Flemish: Kortryk or Kortrik; French: Courtrai), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray [3] [4] (/ k ʊər ˈ t r eɪ / koor-TRAY), [2] is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders.
Geraardsbergen (Dutch: [ˈɣeːraːrtsˌbɛrɣə(n)] ⓘ; French: Grammont) is a city and municipality located in the Denderstreek and in the Flemish Ardennes, the hilly southern part of the Belgian province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Geraardsbergen proper and the following towns: