Flanders, Belgium
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Flanders Vlaanderen |
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| Community and region of Belgium | |||
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| Anthem: De Vlaamse Leeuw ("The Flemish Lion") |
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 Present-day Belgian Flanders (dark green) shown within Belgium and Europe. Brussels is in some contexts considered part of Flanders and in other contexts separate. |
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| Country | Belgium | ||
| County of Flanders | 862–1795 | ||
| Community in Belgium | 1970 | ||
| Region in Belgium | 1980 | ||
| Seat | Brussels | ||
| Government | |||
| • Executive | Flemish Government | ||
| • Governing parties (2014–2019) | N-VA, CD&V, Open Vld | ||
| • Minister-President | Geert Bourgeois (N-VA) | ||
| • Legislature | Flemish Parliament | ||
| • Speaker | Jan Peumans (N-VA) | ||
| Area | |||
| • Land | 13,522 km2 (5,221 sq mi) | ||
| Population (1 January 2015) | |||
| • Total | 6,444,127 (Flemish Region only) | ||
| • Density | 477/km2 (1,240/sq mi) | ||
| • Official language | Dutch | ||
| Demonym(s) |
Flemish (adjective), Fleming (person) Vlaams (adjective), Vlaming (person) |
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| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| ISO 3166 code | BE-VLG | ||
| Website | www |
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| The area and population figures are given for the Flemish Region, not the Community. | |||
Flanders (Dutch: Vlaanderen [ˈvlaːndərə(n)], French: Flandre [flɑ̃dʁ], German: Flandern) is the Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium, although there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, language, politics and history. It is one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. The demonym associated with Flanders is Fleming, while the corresponding adjective is Flemish. The official capital of Flanders is Brussels, although Brussels itself has an independent regional government, and the government of Flanders only oversees some cultural aspects of Brussels life.
In historical contexts, Flanders originally refers to the County of Flanders (Flandria), which around AD 1000 stretched from the Strait of Dover to the Scheldt estuary. The core of historical Flanders is situated within modern-day Flanders and corresponds to the provinces West Flanders and East Flanders, but it sometimes stretched into what is now France and the Netherlands. Nevertheless, during the 19th and 20th centuries it became increasingly commonplace in English and some other languages to use the term "Flanders" to refer to the entire Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, stretching all the way to the River Maas, as well as cultural movements such as Flemish art. In accordance with late 20th century Belgian state reforms the area was made into two political entities: the "Flemish Community" (Dutch: Vlaamse Gemeenschap) and the "Flemish Region" (Dutch: Vlaams Gewest). These entities were merged, although geographically the Flemish Community, which has a broader cultural mandate, covers Brussels, whereas the Flemish Region does not.
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