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Kingdom of Belgium; Language areas: 4 Dutch bilingual French German Communities: 3 Flemish Community French Community German-speaking Com. Regions: 3 Flemish Region Brussels Capital Region Walloon Region: Provinces: 10 West Flanders East Flanders Antwerp Limburg Flemish Brabant: None Walloon Brabant Hainaut Luxembourg Namur Liège/Lüttich
Covering the northern portion of the country, the Flemish Region is primarily Dutch-speaking. With an area of 13,626 km 2 (5,261 sq mi), it accounts for only 45% of Belgium's territory, but 58% of its population.
Dutch is the most spoken primary language of Belgium and the official language of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region (merged to Flanders). Along with French, it is an official language of the Brussels-Capital Region. The main Dutch dialects spoken in Belgium are Brabantian, West Flemish, East Flemish, and Limburgish.
The term Flemish itself has become ambiguous. Nowadays, it is used in at least five ways, depending on the context. These include: An indication of Dutch written and spoken in Flanders including the Dutch standard language as well as the non-standardized dialects, including intermediate forms between vernacular dialects and the standard.
The Dutch language used in Belgium can also be referred to as Flemish Dutch or Belgian Dutch (Dutch: Vlaams Nederlands, Belgisch Nederlands).Dutch is the mother tongue of about 60% of the population in Belgium, spoken by approximately 6.5 million out of a population of 11 million people.
Map of France plus Wallonia and Brussels (red), as advocated by rattachists. Note that the German-speaking community is also included here. The Flemish historian Maarten van Ginderachter wrote that the Walloons were "excluded from the national power, between 1884 and 1902 there was only one Walloon in the Belgian government at any time". [36]
Map of the Seventeen Provinces, red showing the border between the independent (Northern) Netherlands and the Southern Netherlands. The medieval Low Countries, including present-day Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, as well as parts of modern Germany and France, comprised a number of rival and independent feudal states of varying sizes.
Map of the medieval County of Flanders. Within Belgium, Flemings form a clearly distinguishable group set apart by their language and customs. Various cultural and linguistic customs are similar to those of the Southern part of the Netherlands. [10] Generally, Flemings do not identify themselves as being Dutch and vice versa. [11]