Walloon Brabant

Walloon Brabant (French: Brabant-Wallon)
Province of Belgium
Flag Coat of arms
Coordinates:
Country	Belgium
Region	Wallonia
Capital	Wavre
Government
• Governor	?
Area
• Total	1,090.56 km2 (421.07 sq mi)
Population (1 January 2013)
• Total	385,990
• Density	350/km2 (920/sq mi)
Website	Official site

Walloon Brabant (French: Brabant wallon, Dutch: <phonos file="Nl-Waals-Brabant.ogg">Waals-Brabant</phonos>, Walloon: Roman Payis) is a province of Wallonia in Belgium. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the province of Flemish Brabant (Flemish Region) and the provinces of Liège, Namur and Hainaut (Wallonia). Its capital is Wavre.

The provincial population was recorded at 347,423 in January 1999, giving a population density of 318 inhabitants / km².

Etymology

Walloon in Walloon Brabant is likely one of the first uses of the word. Louis de Haynin wrote "Belgium is a great country between France, Germany and the North Sea (...). This country is divided in two regions, Flanders and Wallonia (...). Wallonia is divided in (the following provinces...) Brabant Wallon, Hainaut, Namur, Liège, Luxembourg"...

History

The history of Brabant is at Duchy of Brabant; see also Duke of Brabant.

The Battle of Waterloo took place in this province in June 1815.

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

Subdivisions

It has an area of 1,093 square kilometres (422 sq mi) and contains only one administrative district (arrondissement in French), the Arrondissement of Nivelles, with 27 municipalities.

Nivelles District:

2

The Butte du lion in Waterloo

The Collegiate Church of Saint Gertrude in Nivelles

Louvain-la-Neuve Science Park, aerial view

Economy

The Université catholique de Louvain is located in this province. The Louvain-la-Neuve Science Park is developing cooperation between industry and the Université catholique de Louvain and is contributing to regional economic development. It covers 231 hectares spread over the area of the town of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve and the municipality of Mont-Saint-Guibert (30 km away from Brussels). The main areas of activity are: Life sciences, Fine chemistry; Information technologies, Engineering, 135 innovative companies, 4,500 employees, one business incubator.

A part of the Walloon industrial power was based in the Sillon industriel with the steel industry of Clabecq, which has operated to the present. The Ronquières inclined plane is on the Brussels-Charleroi Canal which passes through the province, connecting connects Charleroi, one of the main cities of the Sillon industriel, with the Capital of Belgium and the Port of Antwerp. Piétrain is a breed of domestic pig taking its name from Piétrain, a little village of Jodoigne in Walloon Brabant. The most important town of this province is Nivelles, which has the Collegiate Church of Saint Gertrude and its westwork.

In Rixensart, the company Recherche et Industrie Thérapeutiques (changed to GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals in 2000) is one of the world’s leading vaccine manufacturers, supplying around 25% of the world’s vaccines:

GSK Biologicals employs a little over 5,300 persons on the Walloon sites of Rixensart, Wavre and Gembloux. The company distributes 36 doses of vaccines every second.

The castle of Corroy-le-Château, one of the best conserved castles of this period in Northern Europe was bought by 21st-century Flemish artist Wim Delvoye for EUR 3.3 million. He is planning to convert the Corroy-le-Château into a museum of modern art.

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Belgium

Twin towns and sister cities

Walloon Brabant is twinned with:

• Shenzhen, China, since 1993

External links

• The province's official site