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Ceasar states in 50BC
"...most of the Belgae descend from the Germani and had crossed the Rhine in ancient times because of the fertility of the soil and expelled the Gauls who had inhabited this place. "
Belinos (Belenus) is a celtic deity somewhat similar to the Greco-Roman Apollo. Likely this is where the term Belga comes from. Bel is also a deity from the pantheon of the Sumerians. Belit is the feminine form of Bel and they are creation deities. Without providing evidence, it is possible to see how Roman emperors who liken themselves to Apollo would be insulted by the presence of people worshipping Bel or Belinos. Belgae is the plural form of Belga and the adjective is Bel-gic. The Gaul was an old French population and Belgium in french is Belgique.
John Koch in Celtic Culture states this about the Belgae people.
The Belgae were a sub group of the Gauls whose territory extended from the Seine to the Rhine, in what is now Belgium, northern France, the rhineland in Germany, Luxembourg, and the southern Netherlands.The Belgae population was vast and many tribes existed including some of these :
- Morini
- Remi
- Suessiones
- Ambiani
- Parisii
- Bellovaci
- and more
The modern name Belgium is was officially adopted in 1831 when the Netherlands seperated themselves into an independent political entity. Belgium is named after the ancient Gallia Belgica.
After Caesar invades Gallia Belgica the Romans occupy the area for some 500 years and are conquered by the Germanic Franks. At the turn of the first millenium the Vikings had turned the Gallia into groups of feudal domains. French kings and German emperors ruled but their rule was subject to the respect of Counts who ruled fiefdoms. These Counts built fortified castles in places like Flanders and Ghent and ruled has vassals to the kings and emperors.
The Gallia Belgica was a bustling trading ground and traders were making connections far into other areas. Feudalism fades away and towns begin to pop up everywhere along the trading routes. Flemish cloth was being loaded on merchant ships and was being exported along with lead, tin, coal, and more. The small towns became evermore powerful as the craftsman started to unite and the Flemish counts were losing their dominion.
The French kings were seeing opportunity here and tried to gain total control of Flanders.
In 1302 war broke out and the Battle of the Golden Spurs brought French Knights and Flemish militia together. The Flemish rebels won the battle and Flanders gained independence.
In the century following Burgundian dukes ruled the Gallia Belgica. At this time we get the term Conditor Belgii which translates to Belgiums founder. This title is given to Philip the Good who ruled from 1419 to 1467. Philip the Good ruled from Brussels and was amongst the wealthiest Europeans. In his age the first University is founded in the area and much great art and architecture provides cultural evidence of the rise of the Belgic people.
Gallia Belgica is part of the Low countries of western Europe. In 1519 new Roman Emperor was crowned. Charles the fifth ruled out of Spain. Earlier in life Charles V was risen to the position of Duke of Brabant and as such ruled the Low countries. He too ruled from Brussels as Duke of Brabant. As Roman Emporer he ruled from Spain. In later life he returns to rule from Brussels.
Interesting to this day and age the Belgium city of Brussels is the de facto capital city of the European Union. Belgium is today one of the seventeen nations trading the Euro and Eurozone member.
In the Dukes age Catholics and Protestants were setting the stage for the religious reformations that would change the Christian world. Charles was on the Catholics side and flooded the Low countries with Catholic mercenaries.
The Roman Emperor of Spain marked the area as the Spanish Netherlands and forced protestants out. Many of these protestants ended up in Plymouth where they embarked on a journey to the New World which will in a few centuries become the United States of America.
It is when Charles V hands over the Spanish Netherlands to Archduke Albert of Austria, husband of Infanta Isabella, daughter of Charles V, that the low countries boundaries truly start to emerge.
By 1650 the economic foundation of the low countries, mostly the cloth industry, had been lost to England. Poverty was rampant. Rebellion was met with war and the low countries or Spanish Netherlands were annexed to Austrian rulers.
This brings on the Austrian Hapsburg dynasty followed by a French conquest by Napoleon in the early 1800's.
The Battle of Waterloo in Brussels is resolved through the creation of the Netherlands United Kingdom. The Benelux nations of the UK are Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
In 1830 the Benelux nation is dissolved at the London Conference and Belgium receives its independence. The Saxe-Coburg Leopold I becomes the first king of the monarchy of Belgium. His son succeeds him. The Saxe-Coburg-Gotha lineage formed through the merger of Saxon stock and Frankish stock.
Under the Leopold's Belgiums economy boomed mostly through industrial power and Belgian expansion into Africa. In 1908 Congo, Africa was annexed to Belgium.
King Albert I saw Belgium through the first world war. King Leopald III saw them through WW II.
In 1952 Belgium is one of the six nations that founds the European Coal and Steel Community. The ECSC is the first pillar of what will become the European Union. Belgium traded its own currency called the Belgium Franc until 1999 when it was amongst the first European Union nations to enter the Eurozone and to trade the Euro exclusively. By 2002 the process was complete and the Belgium Franc was pulled out of circulation.
And that was Belgium before being a European Union nation.
Typos are free.
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