Yes...but we are losing freedom too rapidly with all these stupid rules and regulations, like not being allowed to swim in open waters at your own risk, or having to put license plates on electric bikes. Not to mention how hard it's become to start your own business or renovate your house. Freedom....yes, as long as you do things as you are told and pay the massive taxes. No worries though, I could go on and on about the good things in Belgium too. Just don't act too crazy here, people are afraid of what is 'unordinary'
He did not say in May. He said ‘in the main’. When he said de know how to enjoy ourselves , he’s means with more than 3000 brands of beers brewed here and a reputation for liking our food we like to live well.
I'm from Belgium and my grandparents used to have this cartoon up on the wall (made on a tile) of 2 drinking monks with the inscription "in de hemel hebben ze geen bier, daarom drinken wij het hier!" (in heaven there is no beer, that is why we drink it here!). These kind of joking tiles were quite common back in the day. Just a little fun fact.
@@gertvanderstraaten6352 er zijn echt veel overeenkomsten tussen Noord-Brabant en Vlaams Brabant. In (volks)muziek, humor, taal en gevoelscultuur. Duidelijk gezien vanuit Brabant hier, niet zo geweten of gevoeld vanuit België ... (hollanders hè)
I'm Dutch and I always forget how great it is too :) Just spent a weekend in Gent again and I hope we'll do a cycling trip through much more of Belgium next year.
There's one thing they forgot to mention. Belgium is the place of music festivals. There's hundred of music festivals during the whole year. Some of them are mega festivals and well known at international, like Pukkelpop, Dour Festivals, Rock Werchter, and of course Tomorrowland.
The advantage of Europe is and especially if you are living in the Benelux (BElgium, NEtherland, LUXembourg) is that it's only an hour away and you feel like being in a whole different world. Do come over and enjoy! Being Dutch we like to pick on our little neighbor, but honestly there is al lot of beautiful sites to see and don't forget about the food! Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg have a lion in theie coats of arms.
@@maximeanselot3007 it's sure between the Dutch, the Flemish, the Walloons, the German speakers and the French speakers we are all Belgian (see the Belgisch Park for those who understand Dutch) in 1830 we were banging on it and in 1944 we had a wedding in three (BENELUX) love drives you crazy
As a Belgian, I can give you some information about why the bricks of the houses are red/orange. It's because Belgium has a lot of clay in it's ground, that's why we bake them into bricks from the middle ages until this day for our houses, because they're more stable than wood or stone in other countries like the USA. Belgium is a catholic country since the middle ages, famous for it's clothes, churches, beers and later also fries, waffles and chocolate. Each city has it's own history, some more than others but it's all based on their region, like the west of Flanders was more about clothes, while the north was more about clay and the south more about sugar and it's landscapes.
That Asian building is one of the many buildings left from the world fair. This one used to be open but they closed it as it's on the edge of the royal domain.
Beer used to be the life savier of the common people in earlier times. Thats because many of the water in those days was not safe to drink (parasites, bacteria etc.) and easier/cheaper to make as wine. Thats why it was not considered a sin to make/drink beer by monks (because the alcohol in beer made it safe to drink).
Yes, Italy doesn't border Belgium. When he said Bruges was one of the most important cities in the world, he may have exaggerated a little bit, but in the Middle Ages it was a very important trade city in North Western Europe. The biggest one, actually. And there was a lot of trade and cultural exchange with Italy. Hence the Italian gardens. When you have the time, read about Bruge's history, its famous painters, and also its important family Van den Beurze. In the later Middle Ages Ghent took over the role, and then in the Renaissance, Antwerp became the true power house of the region, which it still is today (second biggest port of Europe, Rotterdam is the biggest now). In the 16th century, due to the 80 year war with Spain (another crucial period in the Low Countries you should read about) our wealthy educated people, tradesmen and artists fled to the relatively uninhabited North (modern day Netherlands). I'm not saying it was all due to them, but given the population numbers of those days, thousands of rich educated people entering a region must have had a HUGE impact. Small fishing villages like Amsterdam expanded very quickly after this exodus, and not even 50 years later the Dutch were sailing the seven seas going toe to toe with Spain, Portugal, England and France. Of course the country Belgium at the time didn't exist, but nowadays in shallow commentaries we are sometimes made fun of as Holland's little brother. We'll, this region nowadays called Belgium is actually Holland's OLDER brother who during the 80 year war went through a pretty rough time. Our border to the North with the Netherlands is not a lingual nor ethnic border, it's a religious one that was founded I the 80 year war with Spain. Cheers!!!
I agree, but this was also within a general shift from feudalism to capitalism, to which development the Flemish contributed too, and therefore from land to water in importance. So the wetter Northern Netherlands were becoming less disadvantaged/more advantaged anyway. The 80 years war made the Northern Netherlands into a pressure cooker, in which anything happenend faster. The freedom the Northerners enjoyed compared to the Spain held catholic South was also of huge economic importance. But yes, the immigrants from Antwerp and blocking the Antwerp harbour certainly flipped the balance. But Amsterdam was in the process of getting more important than Utrecht and Brabant anyway because the economy changed. And let's not forget that the wind powered sawmill was invented in the Northern Netherlands, building ships 30 times faster than the rest of the world was what let the Dutch Republic play with the big boys and effectively change the world and end the Middle Ages while the Flemish hardly sailed past the shrimps. The North was were it all happpened the next century while Flanders was standing still. The Dutch Republic did more than half of all European trade, and globalized trade, that was not a position Flanders ever got near to. Bruges was an important city, European top 10 in size, but the Mediterranean with Naples and Venice was probably still on different scale while also Paris was much bigger. Nothern Europe has always been about doing more with less people. Probably cities in Asia and even Meso-America were far bigger.
about the 'what do you guys do in may?' I think he said 'in the main, they know how to enjoy life' so he meant that overall we enjoy living in belgium.
In the video, a lot of Belgian culture is left out seems more a kind of naturedocumentary and a focus on infrastructure and industry next to that. It is a country of many festivals and very diverse architecture. Many also love football (soccer). Some answers on the questions you asked in the vid: Italian Garden? It means Italian style gardens, they were popular in the rennaissance period. What is the connection of Belgium and Italy? especially Northern Italy and Flandersand Brabant (Northern Belgium) were the most prosperous and wealthy areas of Europe during that time, there was many trade between the regions (cities like Lucca and Genoa traded a lot with Bruges) next to trade many flemish artists (painters, weavers, sculptors, singers were active in Italy) when they returned to Flanders/Brabant they brought back some of the Italian culture, including gardening. (in the rennaissance period, the first stockexchange was established in Bruges, the first diamonds were cut in Bruges and the lottery was inventedin the same city, and the italians, like the Medici established banks in Bruges and double bookkeeping was being introduced from Italy. The hill of Waterloo; the hill is made of earth scraped of from the surroundings; so it is a pile of soil. the Lion, is not a dutch symbolas such, but the Lion was introduced in heraldry in Europe during the Crusades (also teh royal flag of the English kings sinc ethat period) In the entire Low Countries (or the area historically called The Netherlands) wich consists of The Kingdom of the Netherlands (so The Netherlands today is just a part of a bigger area called the Netherlands, like we Europeans say America when we mean U.S.A, but it is also the name of the continent), Kingdom of Belgium, Grand-Duchy of Luxemburg and Northern France use Lionsin their heraldic shields and flags. The royal symbol of belgium for example is a crown held high by two lions, The flag of the county of Flanders, and now the rregion of Flanders is a lion,... etc. Things left out of the video; the lavish building constructed by Leopold II were financed by a territory he was personally in charge of (and not the country Belgium), The Free State of Congo; were as in many other colonies at the time a brutal capitalist system was installed leading to many deaths.
There is a name for enjoying life with food and beer and wine that relates to the region stretching from Northern Braband in the Netherlands to the north of France. It is called the Burgundian life style.
i was a bit bored with this movie about Belgium (not with your reactions to it) Dont get me wrong i love our green and sceneries. They make it look like its almost a midieval country with some steel plants , agriculture and a few container ports..... Belgium is also worldwide highly praised for nanotechnologie , integrated circuit (chip) research (intel and amd couldnt make their advanced chips without a company like Imec in Leuven) , cancer and m.s. developments etc.... why you did see for instance Italian gardens etc.... is becouse half of Belgium was in the middle ages a trade route for the most of europe (italy, spain, france, germany etc) just like it is today... becouse it lies so close to so many other countries it was and is used as a lets call it "trade centre" . Greetings from Belgium, Peter ps: try a Duvel beer if you get the chance :)
11:54 The Italian Gardens in Gaasbeek castle are probably part of the castle "renovations" done by the last private owner of the castle, Marie D'Arconati - Visconti, widow of an Italian count (he didn't last long).
what an amazing guy! gives credit to original video creator, amazing intro. got all the info I wanted to know at the start. and all that in the first minute. idk if you upgraded. but you can hear the audio quality drop from the moment you press play, i would recommend getting headset/earbuds.
Hi Charlie. First view and first comment from your favorite Belgian resident! :) Next month there's a bier festival in Tongeren called 'AmBIERix'! Now you get the joke! It'll be right beside that big tower called the 'Basilique' (Meause is called 'Maas' when it gets to the Dutch speaking regions.) 'Razed to the ground' = 'destroyed/burnt' Lots of Belgians went on pilgrimage to Rome and came back with designs.
So my uncle is a historian with flemish and dutch roots. He said to me that the Flemish pleople wanted to stay with te dutch in 1830. But at the time the Walloon bourgeoisie had in every major city the power and the flemish were small farmer who had nothing to say.. the walloon didnt like the dutch but needed land, so they just took flanders with it… you wil never find this info on the internet or not easy
In the trenches of death, the reason it looks like a ziplock is because when a grenade lands in it. The grenade gets blocked by the walls in the curve and doesn't kill as many men as it would've been in a straight line
8:32 I live in the city with the castle in the center, it’s called Ghent. It’s a really old and very neat looking city. You should look it up sometime.
13:47 Brabant represent!! Maybe you should also make a video about the First World War. It’s really interesting, world war 1 was mostly being fought in Western Belgium & northern France. It showed how brave our country was in trying to defend it. 20:31 i visited this cemetery once. It’s really chilling to see how many soldiers there are laying here. th-cam.com/video/3ypFeoDIsns/w-d-xo.html maybe this is a good video
Hi Charlie, i don't think he said may but maine, in maine we Belgians know how to enjoy life. (not me necessarily) love the video though, always happy that other nationalities learn about us and I even learned a few things as well. thanks
22:17, this is not a natural hill but a "terril", so an artificial hill, formed by the ground, stones, pebbles, some dirty coal, formed by the activities of the mines. The height can be 150 m or more. Many are now so covered by plants and trees that it's an attraction to climb and walk on them.
IF you are considering moving to belgium, i suggest you look into Limburg. If you pick a place say Genk, or Hasselt you have nearly direct connections to the international airports as well as all major cities, not to mention the railway that can take you onward into the Netherlands, Germany and France. Plus the region is insanely beautiful, a nice mixture of villages, cities and rural. Especially in spring whenthe blossoms are blooming. On top there is a lot of bicycle routes like the blooming routes.
The Chinese looking tower next to the king's palace in Brussels was erected in 1958 during the international exposition. It is called ''la tour japonaise'' (japanese tower) by locals.
that is ambiorix on that statue! and the meuse river flows from france through belgium into the netherlands, Rotterdam, the second largest city of the netherlands is located at that river too...
The orange roof tiles are pottelberg, the black is slate stone and the grey is most likely eternit asbestos tiles but the oldest buildings have Boomse pannen on the roof.
That skyscraper part around 26:40 is Brussels. Many cities in Europe do have high buildings, but not that high as in the US. Mostly it is just a part of the center, or, like Rotterdam where a huge part was rebuild after WW 2. So when you see a skyscraper, don't be alarmed, it is minor to the old city structures.
Fun fact if you take a map and put a circle on it with the center Brussels and Antwerp on the circumference. You"ll find every major city on this circumference due to the fact that they were build at a 1 days chariot ride from Brussels
That place in the video at 32:49 was called 'Jubelplein in the center of Brussels. In the old buildings you can find now museums and the army museum of Belgium with a huge exposition about the first en second world war. It also contains a airplane museum and a army tank museum. Check it out. It's only a hour drive from Limburg. 👍
Man, this is a pretty "old" video considering they were still building the new Liège-Guillemins train station. As for cycling being more of a hobby than a mode of transportation, this is definitely true in (most of) Wallonia. My city alone is on a 4% slope, so outside of my direct neighborhood, everywhere else involves climbing one way or another, and people aren't too keen on punching it for work all out of breath and sweaty (or going back home with a big hill to climb). This is why the RAVeL (Wallonia's network of slow paths) is mostly designed with cyclotourism (and trekking since they aren't exclusively cycling paths) in mind, not so much commuting. Most of the network is composed of old towpaths along the rivers (ie. mostly flat) and abandoned railway/vicinal tramway lines in forests and the countryside (the Vennbahn being the most famous). It's nice, safe and scenic for a day out with the family or whatever, but very few people are using it to commute unless they both live and work in the valley (and the distance isn't too crazy). Maybe things will change with the introduction of electric bikes and scooters which make slopes less of an issue, but it would still take quite a while (years, if not decades) before we have a safe extended network people might consider using to commute.
Finale some Belgium episode you have to do more.bthe castle is my city gent..one of the most beautiful city in Belgium..maby you can look a video about gent
Do you know we, Belgian, founded New York? That we were in the most famous troops of your civil war ? That many places in the states are named by their Belgian first settlers like Namur or Brussels ?
Please come and vist Belgium, and try to visit each province, they all got there specific beauty, nature, culture, art, industrial heritage, and delicious foods and drinks. And public transport allows you to see a lot. As a Belgian I traveled the east cost of the USA, from New York down to Texas , and I was impressed by all the regional cultural differences, even for a young nation. And I feel after a month that I only scratched the surface, but you have to go there your self to see, feel and taste, and Belgium is no different. And although small you'll get only a glimpse of Belgium even if you stay a month. But the video you chose, was a good starting point…
This video is from 2013, so a lot of the footage can also be from 2012. That is the reason for the 360p image. I don't think he is flying a drone, 10 years ago it would be a helicopter and the small personal aircraft you see at the end.
17:00 It's the Japanese Tower in the king's garden. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museums_of_the_Far_East 26:23 It's the Northern Quarter in Brussels. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Quarter,_Brussels
Belgium is the best! The music (!!! techno, new beat, breakcore), the history, the (belgian, don't you dare call 'em french~ : we invented AND perfected that potato fried) fries, the beer, the chocolate (these things are just what we call basic), the bread, the people,.... I can go on forever (Antwerpian here)
a bit of both, in the late middle ages there were quite a few italian merchants and bankers living in Flanders, also flemish and italian artists had an influence on eachother in the early renaissance period (1350-1450). the northern half of Italy and the northern half of flanders were the richest, most populated areas of Europe at that time.
This cycle culture is also part of the Netherlands, but as a sub-culture, it is part of a sports culture. The Tour de France is probably the most well known race in this culture. Many cyclist use Netherlands-Limburg and Belgium for training on hilly and mountainous terrain, with going full blown Alp/Pyrenees style.
The are called Italian gardens because it was at some time just very fashionable to have a particular style of garden . The noble people or owners , wanted to distinguish themselves from their peers or competitors , so they invested and decorated their gardens to a particular style or architecture usually what was in vogue or in fashion at some time . Just google italian gardens
From the ground, Belgium can look very built up as if it's one single dense city almost. The owner of a helicopter company however realised while filming videos for commercial use, that that was not the case from the air. So between jobs, he started creating footage for this movie. Back then drones weren't a thing yet and so it has all been from a helicopter which considering some of the scenes is actually quite impressive.
I live in Eastern Belgium -in the Ardennes where the Battle of the Bulge took place. We are mostly a rural and forested area, and no big city. So, yes, Belgium is heavily populated with a large urban population to , roughly, the north and west of the Meuse River. Cross this river and welcome to our hilly land of deep forests and green pastures - about one third of the Belgian territory still.
The river Meuse is the Maas as is in Maastricht! 😁 Rotterdam was the biggest port and now it's in third place in the world, but still the biggest in Europe.✌🏼
Ah, I got confused in the video, because I also thought that Rotterdam wasn't the biggest in the world (still biggest in Europe 😁). The video is indeed so old.
3:25 Actually, the claim of 1000 years of occupation in the U.S. is historically inaccurate. Continuous European settlement began around 400 years ago, with places like St. Augustine (1565) and Jamestown (1607). Norse exploration around the year 1000 in parts of Canada was brief and did not lead to lasting colonization.
Belgium had a lot of rich people from all over Europe during the ages cause it was the center of world trade. We even had the first stock markets. So rich italians came and moved closer to the money. They usually asked to bring their country with them through their garden lay-outs. It was the meeting place for parties etc. A lot of work went into those gardens. It was their pride so to speak.... To answer your question about it xD
roman roads are easy to spot . the are straight and when you come close to a city centre the first thing you see is the top of the church right in front of you
Leffe is good beer, but have you ever tried Geuze, it’s a kind of beer you have probably never tried, and you can store it for years to improve the taste
As one of the smaller European countries, Belgium has a lot to offer in comparison to it's size; beautiful nature, ancient historical sites and lovely architecture... Not to mention it's gastronomical prowess! Belgium is actually "divided", it has three different language communities; the biggest is in the North, called Flemish(a sort of Dutch) in the South the Wallonic(French speaking) and the smallest one is in the East(which are German speaking) What many outside Belgium don't know is that our royal family is actually not Belgian at all, but is of German lineage and was "handed" out to the Belgians(by Great Britain and the German state of Saxen-Coburgh )after our revolution against the Dutch who ruled us prior before we got independant...
Belgium is an amazing country , very small but very very beautiful with a rich history and wonderfull people . Our food is great and we enjoy and indulge in it . Ps if you come to visit , you might want to stay
As a Belgian, there are multiple things I have to say about this video. 1. No, Belgium isn't as old as they make it seem (obviously). But, the idea of a certain union exists since a while ago as the belgians. We've always been refered as "belgians", there was no political or institutional Belgium. We had independent regions under the rule of a king (french, Eglish or whatever), Liège, etc. Then it became the united provinces (that included the actual netherlands). Belgium was born in 1830. 2. As Belgium was born in 1830 and had an exclusively french speaking administration, I would say there was no real attachment to the lion as a symbol. At least until later when the communities, regions, etc were created after the surge of the flemish movement. The lion then became the symbol of the flanders while the french speaking walloon kept the rooster as the symbol of Wallonia. 3. There is no real national identity anymore (if it ever existed). I feel lioke we have a general consensus to say, we are belgian and proud of it. But there are so many differences in culture between the north and south that we identify ourselves more as a Walloon or flemish. However, I'd say that if it's a bit like in the US where, some sates are really attached to their identity and less to the federal status, it's not to the same extent.
1) that means it is exactly as old as he implies it is. The people have lived here longer than the state has officially existed. 2) fun fact, lions used to live in Europe. 3) you're right, this ís everywhere, and Belgium's problems are always blown out of proportion, be it by Belgians who think it's funny to trash on the country, or by uneducated informational youtube channels.
The third point is pretty common around the world in reality. We display an "identity" relative to scale. When you're in Belgium? You're a walloon, flemish.... In Flanders? You're from Antwerpen, or Brugge, etc. Outside of the country? You're Belgian. The French are the exact same if not worse (been living in France for 7 years now. They're not French. They're Sarthois, Parisien, Normands, ... not to count the BIG ones in terms of identity (Corsica, Brittany, Alsace, Pays Basque...). Nobody would say "the french have no national identity". Regarding the first point, it's debatable. There were around 15 or so tribes of Gauls that inhabited specific areas around modern Belgium and the Netherlands (and french Flanders). The entities controlling said lands surprisingly didn't change borders that much. An argument could be made about distinct cultures/people. It's very shallow and ancient for sure, but it still exists.
There is much more than you know. In the Roman Era the tribes were already named Belgian. Have a look at the Belgian Lion map. And read about United Belgium States. We were, are and will always be Belgians. Wallons and Flamands worked together well until some people tried and managed to create anger
@@eurorpeen "Wallons and flamands" worked together... I have an issue here flanders existed before Walonia. The Flemish existed since the Middle Age but Walonia existed waaay later. It's definetely not as simple as, de Always worked together and some people are trying to divide us now. Our territory was called the united provinces at some point and we were part of the Netherlands. But before that where our territories were administratively united, they were under independant lords. While you had some that were under French rule, others were fighting them in the north. Liège was part of the Saint-Empire, while regions like Namur, Mons, or the Flanders were independent and had mixed loyalties. To the French, to England. It's never as simple as : de were always United. Just like France, we weren't. However, you're right, I don't know much about the Belgian tribe. But, since that time, did people really think that Belgians were a thing ? As I said, we are closer to the United States' system than ever before, but juste like them, before we existed people were attached to their local lords and not really to the higher autorities. The idea of nations is recent in the History of mankind and we must not fall into the trap that leads to misinterpretation of events into a nalionalistic sense. Because, for the people at the time, it simply didn't exist.
@ncormontagne it s not as simple as you want to tell. "Flanders" was not really a thing, not any more than Wallonie. There was a lot of different territorial unities in that part of Belgium. Have a look at Bataille des éperons d or. France invaded and took à lot of our territories yes. You can say that for every old country. Do you know 1830 was not against being ruled by the Netherlands?? It started like a protest to make the King aware of the problem. It s not before well after that it became a revolution. You should study more history, there are plenty of surprises there
that very last thing was poorly translated to english, if you translate the subtitels it says "because believe me, above all else they know how to enjoy live" but he's saying "because believe me, in the main, they know how to enjoy live"
Lots of Dutch and Belgian town squares and parks/gardens were designed by Italian designers. They were just the best at it so local governments would bring in Italian masons and gardeners for their projects.
Probably the greatest cyclist of all time was a Belgian, Eddy Merckx, 3 world championships, 5 tour de Frances, 5 Tour of Italy's and one tour of Spain. His nickname was the cannibal
I really enjoy your journey through European history. And it certainly makes you realize that knowledge is like a balloon: the more you blow it up the more it makes contact with the outside world. In other words the more you know the more you realize that there a lot of thing you don't know enough about... Keep on digging...
They were never really united... For every point about Belgium being "artificial" you could throw one right back about "reunification" being just as artificial if not more. And that from Antiquity onward.
The strange black mountains in Charleroi are colliery spoil heaps. Imagine, this is the waste of coal veins. Coal was 40% of what was extracted from the Earth. There are still 250 colliery spoil heaps in Wallonia.
Thanks for putting our little country in the picture… it is beautiful and I love it here…👌🇧🇪
Except for the roads🙂
Jaaaaaaaa🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
It's more than chocolate, beer and fries
Yes...but we are losing freedom too rapidly with all these stupid rules and regulations, like not being allowed to swim in open waters at your own risk, or having to put license plates on electric bikes. Not to mention how hard it's become to start your own business or renovate your house. Freedom....yes, as long as you do things as you are told and pay the massive taxes. No worries though, I could go on and on about the good things in Belgium too. Just don't act too crazy here, people are afraid of what is 'unordinary'
@@lukmaes6290sure, it's tax evasion and language wars and waffles too 😂
He did not say in May. He said ‘in the main’. When he said de know how to enjoy ourselves , he’s means with more than 3000 brands of beers brewed here and a reputation for liking our food we like to live well.
I'm from Belgium and my grandparents used to have this cartoon up on the wall (made on a tile) of 2 drinking monks with the inscription "in de hemel hebben ze geen bier, daarom drinken wij het hier!" (in heaven there is no beer, that is why we drink it here!). These kind of joking tiles were quite common back in the day. Just a little fun fact.
In (Noord) Brabant (Netherlands) the saying goes 'In de hemel is geen bier, daarom drinken wij het hier'.
@@gertvanderstraaten6352 er zijn echt veel overeenkomsten tussen
Noord-Brabant en Vlaams Brabant.
In (volks)muziek, humor,
taal en gevoelscultuur.
Duidelijk gezien vanuit
Brabant hier,
niet zo geweten of gevoeld vanuit België ...
(hollanders hè)
Proud to be A Belgian, i travel often and sometimes i forget about the beautiful locations in Belgium. I need to travel my own country much more :)
I'm Dutch and I always forget how great it is too :) Just spent a weekend in Gent again and I hope we'll do a cycling trip through much more of Belgium next year.
@@Snowshowslow ha... im leaving in 2 days to Friesland , going kayaking for 7 days with my gf. I love the Netherlands , its such a quiant country :)
@@EleaRevils Have fun! Are you going to do a round trip (Elfstedentocht, perhaps)?
Yess I forget it too but i’m proud of our country 🇧🇪
The lion is the symbol for Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belguim.
And the Wallons are the rooster people :D
That Lion was the symbol of the monarchies that won over the revolutionary Napoleon, whose symbol was the Eagle ( that flew to America ...)
There's one thing they forgot to mention. Belgium is the place of music festivals. There's hundred of music festivals during the whole year. Some of them are mega festivals and well known at international, like Pukkelpop, Dour Festivals, Rock Werchter, and of course Tomorrowland.
zeker waar !
The advantage of Europe is and especially if you are living in the Benelux (BElgium, NEtherland, LUXembourg) is that it's only an hour away and you feel like being in a whole different world. Do come over and enjoy! Being Dutch we like to pick on our little neighbor, but honestly there is al lot of beautiful sites to see and don't forget about the food! Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg have a lion in theie coats of arms.
Ja we weten da Jan 🤣🤣 Hollandse toeristen genoeg haha
We secretly love each other, but don´t tell anyone because we will deny it to the grave😉🇧🇪🇳🇱
Little neighbour? Holland is same size.. Belgium has more 'land'... Holland is more water (:
Thanks for the kind words. As a Belgian I agree with you. I love my country neighbors. Especially the Netherlands. I love our duality.
@@maximeanselot3007 it's sure between the Dutch, the Flemish, the Walloons, the German speakers and the French speakers we are all Belgian (see the Belgisch Park for those who understand Dutch) in 1830 we were banging on it and in 1944 we had a wedding in three (BENELUX) love drives you crazy
You're extremely knowledgeable about Belgium, which is uncommon in general and even more so for an American. Congratulations!
Thank you Charlie for reacting to this beautiful video about our amazing, wonderful country Belgium 🇧🇪
This was a nice video, thanks for sharing Charlie!
I learned some nice things about our southern neighbours
Thanks for this video. I very appreciate that!
As a Belgian, I can give you some information about why the bricks of the houses are red/orange. It's because Belgium has a lot of clay in it's ground, that's why we bake them into bricks from the middle ages until this day for our houses, because they're more stable than wood or stone in other countries like the USA. Belgium is a catholic country since the middle ages, famous for it's clothes, churches, beers and later also fries, waffles and chocolate. Each city has it's own history, some more than others but it's all based on their region, like the west of Flanders was more about clothes, while the north was more about clay and the south more about sugar and it's landscapes.
Belgium has the most castles per square kilometre in the entire world!!
I was searching for this comment 😂
That Asian building is one of the many buildings left from the world fair. This one used to be open but they closed it as it's on the edge of the royal domain.
They closed the Museum?! I used to live right in front of it....
Beer used to be the life savier of the common people in earlier times. Thats because many of the water in those days was not safe to drink (parasites, bacteria etc.) and easier/cheaper to make as wine. Thats why it was not considered a sin to make/drink beer by monks (because the alcohol in beer made it safe to drink).
Where a complicated nation, but o so beautiful.
Yes, Italy doesn't border Belgium. When he said Bruges was one of the most important cities in the world, he may have exaggerated a little bit, but in the Middle Ages it was a very important trade city in North Western Europe. The biggest one, actually. And there was a lot of trade and cultural exchange with Italy. Hence the Italian gardens. When you have the time, read about Bruge's history, its famous painters, and also its important family Van den Beurze. In the later Middle Ages Ghent took over the role, and then in the Renaissance, Antwerp became the true power house of the region, which it still is today (second biggest port of Europe, Rotterdam is the biggest now). In the 16th century, due to the 80 year war with Spain (another crucial period in the Low Countries you should read about) our wealthy educated people, tradesmen and artists fled to the relatively uninhabited North (modern day Netherlands). I'm not saying it was all due to them, but given the population numbers of those days, thousands of rich educated people entering a region must have had a HUGE impact. Small fishing villages like Amsterdam expanded very quickly after this exodus, and not even 50 years later the Dutch were sailing the seven seas going toe to toe with Spain, Portugal, England and France. Of course the country Belgium at the time didn't exist, but nowadays in shallow commentaries we are sometimes made fun of as Holland's little brother. We'll, this region nowadays called Belgium is actually Holland's OLDER brother who during the 80 year war went through a pretty rough time. Our border to the North with the Netherlands is not a lingual nor ethnic border, it's a religious one that was founded I the 80 year war with Spain. Cheers!!!
Older but little brother. Cheers brother 🍺😉
I agree, but this was also within a general shift from feudalism to capitalism, to which development the Flemish contributed too, and therefore from land to water in importance. So the wetter Northern Netherlands were becoming less disadvantaged/more advantaged anyway.
The 80 years war made the Northern Netherlands into a pressure cooker, in which anything happenend faster. The freedom the Northerners enjoyed compared to the Spain held catholic South was also of huge economic importance. But yes, the immigrants from Antwerp and blocking the Antwerp harbour certainly flipped the balance. But Amsterdam was in the process of getting more important than Utrecht and Brabant anyway because the economy changed.
And let's not forget that the wind powered sawmill was invented in the Northern Netherlands, building ships 30 times faster than the rest of the world was what let the Dutch Republic play with the big boys and effectively change the world and end the Middle Ages while the Flemish hardly sailed past the shrimps. The North was were it all happpened the next century while Flanders was standing still.
The Dutch Republic did more than half of all European trade, and globalized trade, that was not a position Flanders ever got near to. Bruges was an important city, European top 10 in size, but the Mediterranean with Naples and Venice was probably still on different scale while also Paris was much bigger. Nothern Europe has always been about doing more with less people. Probably cities in Asia and even Meso-America were far bigger.
no borders but we can also eat pizza and pasta here 🤣
about the 'what do you guys do in may?' I think he said 'in the main, they know how to enjoy life' so he meant that overall we enjoy living in belgium.
en avril, ne te découvre pas d'un fil !
en mai , fait se qu'il te plait !
et les festival commence en mai ^^
In the video, a lot of Belgian culture is left out seems more a kind of naturedocumentary and a focus on infrastructure and industry next to that. It is a country of many festivals and very diverse architecture. Many also love football (soccer).
Some answers on the questions you asked in the vid:
Italian Garden? It means Italian style gardens, they were popular in the rennaissance period. What is the connection of Belgium and Italy? especially Northern Italy and Flandersand Brabant (Northern Belgium) were the most prosperous and wealthy areas of Europe during that time, there was many trade between the regions (cities like Lucca and Genoa traded a lot with Bruges) next to trade many flemish artists (painters, weavers, sculptors, singers were active in Italy) when they returned to Flanders/Brabant they brought back some of the Italian culture, including gardening. (in the rennaissance period, the first stockexchange was established in Bruges, the first diamonds were cut in Bruges and the lottery was inventedin the same city, and the italians, like the Medici established banks in Bruges and double bookkeeping was being introduced from Italy.
The hill of Waterloo; the hill is made of earth scraped of from the surroundings; so it is a pile of soil.
the Lion, is not a dutch symbolas such, but the Lion was introduced in heraldry in Europe during the Crusades (also teh royal flag of the English kings sinc ethat period) In the entire Low Countries (or the area historically called The Netherlands) wich consists of The Kingdom of the Netherlands (so The Netherlands today is just a part of a bigger area called the Netherlands, like we Europeans say America when we mean U.S.A, but it is also the name of the continent), Kingdom of Belgium, Grand-Duchy of Luxemburg and Northern France use Lionsin their heraldic shields and flags. The royal symbol of belgium for example is a crown held high by two lions, The flag of the county of Flanders, and now the rregion of Flanders is a lion,... etc.
Things left out of the video; the lavish building constructed by Leopold II were financed by a territory he was personally in charge of (and not the country Belgium), The Free State of Congo; were as in many other colonies at the time a brutal capitalist system was installed leading to many deaths.
There is a name for enjoying life with food and beer and wine that relates to the region stretching from Northern Braband in the Netherlands to the north of France. It is called the Burgundian life style.
And thats why I am proud to be Belgian !
Thank you for watching something about my country
Thanks for the publicity bro! Shout from Brussels!
8:19 I can see that castle "Gravensteen" from my window 😁😁
i was a bit bored with this movie about Belgium (not with your reactions to it) Dont get me wrong i love our green and sceneries. They make it look like its almost a midieval country with some steel plants , agriculture and a few container ports..... Belgium is also worldwide highly praised for nanotechnologie , integrated circuit (chip) research (intel and amd couldnt make their advanced chips without a company like Imec in Leuven) , cancer and m.s. developments etc.... why you did see for instance Italian gardens etc.... is becouse half of Belgium was in the middle ages a trade route for the most of europe (italy, spain, france, germany etc) just like it is today... becouse it lies so close to so many other countries it was and is used as a lets call it "trade centre" . Greetings from Belgium, Peter ps: try a Duvel beer if you get the chance :)
Charlie you are not a dumb American. You are a man who learn every day about history. You are a great guy.
flanders has a lion and wallonia has a rooster.
In May, in Arlon, we celebrate Maitrank : a local beverage made out of marinated herbs into white wine, cinnamon, pepper, cognac orange slices.
11:54 The Italian Gardens in Gaasbeek castle are probably part of the castle "renovations" done by the last private owner of the castle, Marie D'Arconati - Visconti, widow of an Italian count (he didn't last long).
what an amazing guy! gives credit to original video creator, amazing intro. got all the info I wanted to know at the start. and all that in the first minute. idk if you upgraded. but you can hear the audio quality drop from the moment you press play, i would recommend getting headset/earbuds.
It 's beautiful! Greetings from the Netherlands! 🇳🇱
Hi Charlie. First view and first comment from your favorite Belgian resident! :) Next month there's a bier festival in Tongeren called 'AmBIERix'! Now you get the joke! It'll be right beside that big tower called the 'Basilique' (Meause is called 'Maas' when it gets to the Dutch speaking regions.) 'Razed to the ground' = 'destroyed/burnt' Lots of Belgians went on pilgrimage to Rome and came back with designs.
Hey fellow Limburger, we have a bier festival in 2 weeks.. 🍻
Date and location? (I have bier to sell!) LOL!
@@antiqueinsider Opglabbeek, near Genk, I make my own Italian liqueurs 😂
Thank you Charlie ! Nice to see someone interested in our small country :)
The lion stands for Flanders. Not the Netherlands. Flanders want to become an independent state.
So my uncle is a historian with flemish and dutch roots. He said to me that the Flemish pleople wanted to stay with te dutch in 1830. But at the time the Walloon bourgeoisie had in every major city the power and the flemish were small farmer who had nothing to say.. the walloon didnt like the dutch but needed land, so they just took flanders with it… you wil never find this info on the internet or not easy
Your uncle sounds like a VB voter conspiracy theorist
Yeh , I rather hear a second or third or more opinions , before believing one uncle who didn’t like “de vuile walen “
It is great to see how you are growing, and getting more knowledgeable.... There is a real difference between older and newer video's, thumbs up.
In the trenches of death, the reason it looks like a ziplock is because when a grenade lands in it. The grenade gets blocked by the walls in the curve and doesn't kill as many men as it would've been in a straight line
8:32 I live in the city with the castle in the center, it’s called Ghent. It’s a really old and very neat looking city. You should look it up sometime.
13:47 Brabant represent!! Maybe you should also make a video about the First World War. It’s really interesting, world war 1 was mostly being fought in Western Belgium & northern France. It showed how brave our country was in trying to defend it. 20:31 i visited this cemetery once. It’s really chilling to see how many soldiers there are laying here. th-cam.com/video/3ypFeoDIsns/w-d-xo.html maybe this is a good video
The Lion is often mentioned/used in the heraldry of the Flemish, the most common is the Black lion on a yellow/gold field...
Hi Charlie, i don't think he said may but maine, in maine we Belgians know how to enjoy life. (not me necessarily) love the video though, always happy that other nationalities learn about us and I even learned a few things as well. thanks
*main ;)
22:17, this is not a natural hill but a "terril", so an artificial hill, formed by the ground, stones, pebbles, some dirty coal, formed by the activities of the mines. The height can be 150 m or more. Many are now so covered by plants and trees that it's an attraction to climb and walk on them.
Thxx for this superb video and nice comments about my country
17:04 It'a a japanese garden :) I saw it when I visited the Royal greenhouses, they are absolutely beautiful!
The building is named the Japanese Tower and is located in the Japanese Garden.
IF you are considering moving to belgium, i suggest you look into Limburg. If you pick a place say Genk, or Hasselt you have nearly direct connections to the international airports as well as all major cities, not to mention the railway that can take you onward into the Netherlands, Germany and France. Plus the region is insanely beautiful, a nice mixture of villages, cities and rural. Especially in spring whenthe blossoms are blooming. On top there is a lot of bicycle routes like the blooming routes.
I'm actually one of the engineers that make sure those cycling races get shown on TV 🙂 Responsible for the wireless cameras and comms.
The Chinese looking tower next to the king's palace in Brussels was erected in 1958 during the international exposition. It is called ''la tour japonaise'' (japanese tower) by locals.
No, it was erected in 1901 , just check wikipedia , if it's not to much asking .
@@jme104 thanks for the correction. I lived in Brussels and I just realized now that I was repeating a false info about the Asian site in Laeken.
that is ambiorix on that statue! and the meuse river flows from france through belgium into the netherlands, Rotterdam, the second largest city of the netherlands is located at that river too...
Hey Charlie, if you decide to come to Belguim, there’s always a hot chower at my place.
😁 well, there's some Belgian hospitality for ya 😄
29:47 made you think of a Mondriaan painting probably.
Btw drones didn't exist yet when this was filmed.
Because in may, it's springtime. Everyone goes out for friends, beer and bbq's.
The orange roof tiles are pottelberg, the black is slate stone and the grey is most likely eternit asbestos tiles but the oldest buildings have Boomse pannen on the roof.
That skyscraper part around 26:40 is Brussels. Many cities in Europe do have high buildings, but not that high as in the US. Mostly it is just a part of the center, or, like Rotterdam where a huge part was rebuild after WW 2. So when you see a skyscraper, don't be alarmed, it is minor to the old city structures.
Fun fact if you take a map and put a circle on it with the center Brussels and Antwerp on the circumference. You"ll find every major city on this circumference due to the fact that they were build at a 1 days chariot ride from Brussels
The flying thing is called a "Paracopter/Paramotor", basically a giant fan that allows you to fly around while seated ^^
That place in the video at 32:49 was called 'Jubelplein in the center of Brussels. In the old buildings you can find now museums and the army museum of Belgium with a huge exposition about the first en second world war. It also contains a airplane museum and a army tank museum. Check it out. It's only a hour drive from Limburg. 👍
This is actually an old video, I believe from 2005. Drones weren't really a thing for shooting this. All was shot through helicoptre or MLA.
Man, this is a pretty "old" video considering they were still building the new Liège-Guillemins train station.
As for cycling being more of a hobby than a mode of transportation, this is definitely true in (most of) Wallonia. My city alone is on a 4% slope, so outside of my direct neighborhood, everywhere else involves climbing one way or another, and people aren't too keen on punching it for work all out of breath and sweaty (or going back home with a big hill to climb). This is why the RAVeL (Wallonia's network of slow paths) is mostly designed with cyclotourism (and trekking since they aren't exclusively cycling paths) in mind, not so much commuting. Most of the network is composed of old towpaths along the rivers (ie. mostly flat) and abandoned railway/vicinal tramway lines in forests and the countryside (the Vennbahn being the most famous). It's nice, safe and scenic for a day out with the family or whatever, but very few people are using it to commute unless they both live and work in the valley (and the distance isn't too crazy).
Maybe things will change with the introduction of electric bikes and scooters which make slopes less of an issue, but it would still take quite a while (years, if not decades) before we have a safe extended network people might consider using to commute.
Finale some Belgium episode you have to do more.bthe castle is my city gent..one of the most beautiful city in Belgium..maby you can look a video about gent
Yes hahaha, facts
Born with a brick in your stomach refers to belgians wanting to own their home asap
He ends with a cliff hanger so you have to come here and find out how to party here ;)
Do you know we, Belgian, founded New York? That we were in the most famous troops of your civil war ? That many places in the states are named by their Belgian first settlers like Namur or Brussels ?
Please come and vist Belgium, and try to visit each province, they all got there specific beauty, nature, culture, art, industrial heritage, and delicious foods and drinks.
And public transport allows you to see a lot.
As a Belgian I traveled the east cost of the USA, from New York down to Texas , and I was impressed by all the regional cultural differences, even for a young nation.
And I feel after a month that I only scratched the surface, but you have to go there your self to see, feel and taste, and Belgium is no different.
And although small you'll get only a glimpse of Belgium even if you stay a month.
But the video you chose, was a good starting point…
I believe he said "in the main" which is another way to say "typically" or "commonly" for example. in the main summers are hot.
This video is from 2013, so a lot of the footage can also be from 2012. That is the reason for the 360p image. I don't think he is flying a drone, 10 years ago it would be a helicopter and the small personal aircraft you see at the end.
Ah wow, I literally thought it was from 2003 or something.
They do amazing things with glass in Belgium..
Not in May but in Maine (overall)
@@mynameiskal sorry 😞
22:14: it's a terril (slag heap in english)
The thing he's flying is an Ultra Light, it's pretty much a cage with fabric wings and a lawnmower engine strapped to the rear.
17:00 It's the Japanese Tower in the king's garden. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museums_of_the_Far_East
26:23 It's the Northern Quarter in Brussels. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Quarter,_Brussels
Belgium is the best! The music (!!! techno, new beat, breakcore), the history, the (belgian, don't you dare call 'em french~ : we invented AND perfected that potato fried) fries, the beer, the chocolate (these things are just what we call basic), the bread, the people,.... I can go on forever (Antwerpian here)
the thing we saw them flying in the earlier shot probably = Deltavlieger met motor aka hang gliding with a motor.
The meuse River has its origin in France, goes through Belgium and next to the Netherlands to end in the North sea
Thanks for learning about out little country. The lion is the symbol of Brabant, which is also on or flag in Brabant.
a bit of both, in the late middle ages there were quite a few italian merchants and bankers living in Flanders, also flemish and italian artists had an influence on eachother in the early renaissance period (1350-1450). the northern half of Italy and the northern half of flanders were the richest, most populated areas of Europe at that time.
Thank you for the video!
Your welcome
This cycle culture is also part of the Netherlands, but as a sub-culture, it is part of a sports culture. The Tour de France is probably the most well known race in this culture. Many cyclist use Netherlands-Limburg and Belgium for training on hilly and mountainous terrain, with going full blown Alp/Pyrenees style.
the flanders is represented by a lion walonie is a rooster. btw there is a good movie called the lion of flanders its on netflix
The are called Italian gardens because it was at some time just very fashionable to have a particular style of garden . The noble people or owners , wanted to distinguish themselves from their peers or competitors , so they invested and decorated their gardens to a particular style or architecture usually what was in vogue or in fashion at some time . Just google italian gardens
From the ground, Belgium can look very built up as if it's one single dense city almost. The owner of a helicopter company however realised while filming videos for commercial use, that that was not the case from the air. So between jobs, he started creating footage for this movie. Back then drones weren't a thing yet and so it has all been from a helicopter which considering some of the scenes is actually quite impressive.
I live in Eastern Belgium -in the Ardennes where the Battle of the Bulge took place. We are mostly a rural and forested area, and no big city. So, yes, Belgium is heavily populated with a large urban population to , roughly, the north and west of the Meuse River. Cross this river and welcome to our hilly land of deep forests and green pastures - about one third of the Belgian territory still.
The river Meuse is the Maas as is in Maastricht! 😁
Rotterdam was the biggest port and now it's in third place in the world, but still the biggest in Europe.✌🏼
Ah, I got confused in the video, because I also thought that Rotterdam wasn't the biggest in the world (still biggest in Europe 😁). The video is indeed so old.
3:25 Actually, the claim of 1000 years of occupation in the U.S. is historically inaccurate. Continuous European settlement began around 400 years ago, with places like St. Augustine (1565) and Jamestown (1607). Norse exploration around the year 1000 in parts of Canada was brief and did not lead to lasting colonization.
You know a lot and make very interesting links. Great!
Belgium had a lot of rich people from all over Europe during the ages cause it was the center of world trade. We even had the first stock markets. So rich italians came and moved closer to the money. They usually asked to bring their country with them through their garden lay-outs. It was the meeting place for parties etc. A lot of work went into those gardens. It was their pride so to speak.... To answer your question about it xD
Haaa, so glad he mentioned my hometown Ypres... 😻😻
In the main. Not may 😉❤️
roman roads are easy to spot . the are straight and when you come close to a city centre the first thing you see is the top of the church right in front of you
Leffe is good beer, but have you ever tried Geuze, it’s a kind of beer you have probably never tried, and you can store it for years to improve the taste
As one of the smaller European countries, Belgium has a lot to offer in comparison to it's size; beautiful nature, ancient historical sites and lovely architecture... Not to mention it's gastronomical prowess!
Belgium is actually "divided", it has three different language communities; the biggest is in the North, called Flemish(a sort of Dutch) in the South the Wallonic(French speaking) and the smallest one is in the East(which are German speaking)
What many outside Belgium don't know is that our royal family is actually not Belgian at all, but is of German lineage and was "handed" out to the Belgians(by Great Britain and the German state of Saxen-Coburgh )after our revolution against the Dutch who ruled us prior before we got independant...
Fun fact: building like churches have a special roof called ( leiën ) whe had those things in schools to write on them
Belgium is an amazing country , very small but very very beautiful with a rich history and wonderfull people . Our food is great and we enjoy and indulge in it .
Ps if you come to visit , you might want to stay
As a Belgian, there are multiple things I have to say about this video.
1. No, Belgium isn't as old as they make it seem (obviously). But, the idea of a certain union exists since a while ago as the belgians. We've always been refered as "belgians", there was no political or institutional Belgium. We had independent regions under the rule of a king (french, Eglish or whatever), Liège, etc. Then it became the united provinces (that included the actual netherlands). Belgium was born in 1830.
2. As Belgium was born in 1830 and had an exclusively french speaking administration, I would say there was no real attachment to the lion as a symbol. At least until later when the communities, regions, etc were created after the surge of the flemish movement. The lion then became the symbol of the flanders while the french speaking walloon kept the rooster as the symbol of Wallonia.
3. There is no real national identity anymore (if it ever existed). I feel lioke we have a general consensus to say, we are belgian and proud of it. But there are so many differences in culture between the north and south that we identify ourselves more as a Walloon or flemish. However, I'd say that if it's a bit like in the US where, some sates are really attached to their identity and less to the federal status, it's not to the same extent.
1) that means it is exactly as old as he implies it is. The people have lived here longer than the state has officially existed.
2) fun fact, lions used to live in Europe.
3) you're right, this ís everywhere, and Belgium's problems are always blown out of proportion, be it by Belgians who think it's funny to trash on the country, or by uneducated informational youtube channels.
The third point is pretty common around the world in reality. We display an "identity" relative to scale. When you're in Belgium? You're a walloon, flemish.... In Flanders? You're from Antwerpen, or Brugge, etc. Outside of the country? You're Belgian. The French are the exact same if not worse (been living in France for 7 years now. They're not French. They're Sarthois, Parisien, Normands, ... not to count the BIG ones in terms of identity (Corsica, Brittany, Alsace, Pays Basque...). Nobody would say "the french have no national identity".
Regarding the first point, it's debatable. There were around 15 or so tribes of Gauls that inhabited specific areas around modern Belgium and the Netherlands (and french Flanders). The entities controlling said lands surprisingly didn't change borders that much. An argument could be made about distinct cultures/people. It's very shallow and ancient for sure, but it still exists.
There is much more than you know. In the Roman Era the tribes were already named Belgian. Have a look at the Belgian Lion map. And read about United Belgium States. We were, are and will always be Belgians. Wallons and Flamands worked together well until some people tried and managed to create anger
@@eurorpeen "Wallons and flamands" worked together... I have an issue here flanders existed before Walonia. The Flemish existed since the Middle Age but Walonia existed waaay later. It's definetely not as simple as, de Always worked together and some people are trying to divide us now.
Our territory was called the united provinces at some point and we were part of the Netherlands. But before that where our territories were administratively united, they were under independant lords. While you had some that were under French rule, others were fighting them in the north. Liège was part of the Saint-Empire, while regions like Namur, Mons, or the Flanders were independent and had mixed loyalties. To the French, to England. It's never as simple as : de were always United. Just like France, we weren't.
However, you're right, I don't know much about the Belgian tribe. But, since that time, did people really think that Belgians were a thing ? As I said, we are closer to the United States' system than ever before, but juste like them, before we existed people were attached to their local lords and not really to the higher autorities. The idea of nations is recent in the History of mankind and we must not fall into the trap that leads to misinterpretation of events into a nalionalistic sense. Because, for the people at the time, it simply didn't exist.
@ncormontagne it s not as simple as you want to tell. "Flanders" was not really a thing, not any more than Wallonie. There was a lot of different territorial unities in that part of Belgium. Have a look at Bataille des éperons d or. France invaded and took à lot of our territories yes. You can say that for every old country. Do you know 1830 was not against being ruled by the Netherlands?? It started like a protest to make the King aware of the problem. It s not before well after that it became a revolution. You should study more history, there are plenty of surprises there
that very last thing was poorly translated to english, if you translate the subtitels it says "because believe me, above all else they know how to enjoy live" but he's saying "because believe me, in the main, they know how to enjoy live"
Great thumbnail bro🙌 Gonna watch the video now!
@@ItsCharlieVest I sure did!
Lots of Dutch and Belgian town squares and parks/gardens were designed by Italian designers. They were just the best at it so local governments would bring in Italian masons and gardeners for their projects.
Probably the greatest cyclist of all time was a Belgian, Eddy Merckx, 3 world championships, 5 tour de Frances, 5 Tour of Italy's and one tour of Spain. His nickname was the cannibal
I really enjoy your journey through European history. And it certainly makes you realize that knowledge is like a balloon: the more you blow it up the more it makes contact with the outside world. In other words the more you know the more you realize that there a lot of thing you don't know enough about... Keep on digging...
Yeah, it's a petty Belgium, Luxembourg an the Netherlands spit up. Very good comments👍👍
They were never really united... For every point about Belgium being "artificial" you could throw one right back about "reunification" being just as artificial if not more. And that from Antiquity onward.
The strange black mountains in Charleroi are colliery spoil heaps. Imagine, this is the waste of coal veins. Coal was 40% of what was extracted from the Earth. There are still 250 colliery spoil heaps in Wallonia.
The lion is the symbol of Flanders and the rooster is the symbol of Wallonia Brussels has the fleur de lis as symbol.
"In the main"
All months are great here.