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Flemish Brabant (Dutch: Vlaams-Brabant
French: Brabant flamand
)
Province of Belgium
Leuven.jpg
Leuven Town Hall.
Flemish Brabant Flag.png
Flag
Wapen vlaams-brabant.png
Coat of arms
Country  Belgium
Region Flanders Flemish Region
Capital Leuven
 - coordinates 50°53′N 04°42′E / 50.883°N 4.700°E / 50.883; 4.700
Highest point Walshoutem
 - location Landen, Leuven, Flemish Brabant
 - elevation 137.33 m (451 ft)
Area 2,106 km² (813 sq mi)
Population 1,129,849 (1 January 2017)
Density 536 /km² (1,388 /sq mi)
Subdivisions 2 Arrondissements
65 Municipalities
Governor Lode De Witte
Timezone CET (UTC+1)
 - summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal codes 1500-1999 / 3000–3499
ISO 3166-2 BE-VBR

Flemish Brabant (Dutch: Vlaams-Brabant, French: Brabant flamand) is the youngest and smallest province of the Flemish Region, one of the three regions of Belgium. It covers the Dutch-speaking northern part of the former province of Brabant. Flemish Brabant also completely surrounds the Brussels-Capital Region, which forms an enclave within the territory of the province.

Its capital, and also the largest city of the province, is the university city of Leuven (French: Louvain, often used in English).

History

Flemish in Flemish Brabant means that it is in the Flemish part of the former province of Brabant of Belgium. Brabant was an old region, the Duchy of Brabant. The word Brabant appears for the first time in the seventh century when the abbey of Nivelles was founded in the pagus Bracbatensis (pagus is a Latin word meaning a very small town, with only few houses).

Flemish Brabant was created in 1995 by the splitting of the former province of Brabant into three parts: two new provinces, Flemish Brabant and Walloon Brabant; and the Brussels-Capital Region, which no longer belongs to any province. The split was made to accommodate the eventual division of Belgium in three regions (Flanders, Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region).

Geography

The province borders on (clockwise from the North) the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Hainaut and East Flanders.

The province has an area of 2,106 km2 (813 sq mi); it is about 90 km (56 mi) long (east-west direction) and about 40 km (25 mi) wide (north-south direction).

It has a population of 1,129,849 and a density of 536.5 inhabitants per km². The province is divided into two districts (arrondissements in French and arrondissementen in Dutch) with 65 municipalities.

The main rivers of the province are the Dyle, the Demer and the Zenne.

Administrative divisions

The province of Flemish Brabant is divided into two districts: Halle-Vilvoorde has Brussels in its middle and, therefore, is mainly a residential area, but it also has large industrial zones; the other district is Leuven, centered on the city of Leuven.

Vlaams-BrabantGemeenten
Map of the municipalities of Flemish Brabant
(names are in the following table)
2011-09-24 17.42 Leuven, universiteitsbibliotheek ceg74154 foto4
Leuven, the university library.
Municipalities by arrondissements,
with their numbers in the map
Halle-Vilvoorde Leuven
Arrondissement Halle-Vilvoorde Belgium Map.png Arrondissement Leuven Belgium Map.png

Population by arrondissement

Population on 1 January of each year.

Arrondissement 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Hal-Vilvorde 580,407 584,416 588,743 593,455 598,944 604,097
Leuven 472,060 475,816 480,095 483,469 487,502 490,654
Province of Flemish Brabant 1,052,467 1,060,232 1,068,838 1,076,924 1,086,446 1,094,751


Images for kids

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Provincia del Brabante Flamenco para niños

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