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Belgium - Hutchinson encyclopedia article about Belgium (4427 words) |
 | The kingdom of Belgium was founded after the 1830 revolution, but the history of the area – the southern part of the Low Countries (also sometimes referred to in their entirety as the Netherlands) – dates back to pre-Roman times. |
| Belgium also gained the district of Eupen-and-Malmédy and the commune of Moresnet from Germany, thus adding 984 sq km/380 sq mi of territory, which in 1925 were made part of the province of Liège. |
| Since 1945 Belgium has been a major force for international cooperation in Europe, being a founding member of the Benelux Economic Union in 1948, the Council of Europe, and the European Economic Community (now the European Union), whose administrative headquarters are in Brussels. |
| Politics of Belgium: Information from Answers.com (5052 words) |
| Belgium is one of the few countries that has compulsory voting, thus having one of the highest rates of voter turnout in the world. |
| Belgium does not have elections similar to presidential elections, where only one person can be elected; rather, seats in the parliament, city council or similar are elected, the occupants of which then vote who gets to be prime minister, mayor, governor, etc. |
| A controversial amendment declared that Belgium consists of three cultural communities (the Flemish Community, the French-speaking community and the German-speaking Community) and three economic regions (Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels) each to be granted a significant measure of political autonomy. |
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