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Belgium

The Kingdom of Belgium (Dutch: België, French: Belgique, German: Belgien) is a country in Western Europe, bordered by the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, France, and the North Sea. Belgium is at a cultural crossroad between Germanic Europe (with Dutch speakers in the North, the Flemings, and German speakers in the East) and Romance Europe (with French speakers in the South, the Walloons), which is reflected in its complex institutions and political history.

Belgium geography

Belgium has an area of 30,510 km². Belgium has three main physical regions: the coastal plain (located in the northwest), the central plateau, and the Ardennes uplands (located in the southeast).

The coastal plain consists mainly of sand dunes and polders. Polders are areas of land, close to or below sea level, that have been reclaimed from the sea from which they are protected by dikes, or, further inland, fields that have been drained by canals.

The second physical region, the central plateau, lies further inland. This is a smooth, slowly rising area which has many fertile valleys and is irrigated by many waterways. Here one can also find rougher land, including caves and small gorges.

The third physical region (called the Ardennes) is somewhat more rugged than the first two. It is a thickly forested plateau, very rocky and not very good for farming, which extends into northern France. This is where much of Belgium's wildlife can be found.

The two main rivers in Belgium are the Scheldt and the Meuse. Although generally flat, the terrain becomes increasingly hilly and forested in the southeast (Ardennes) region, where one can find Belgium's highest point, the Signal de Botrange at only 694 metres.

The climate is cool, temperate, and rainy; summer temperatures average 25°C / 77°F, winters average 7.2°C / 45°F. Annual extremes (rarely attained) are -12.2°C / 10°F and 32.2°C / 90°F.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Belgium".