Koninkrijk België Royaume de Belgique Königreich Belgien
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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 694m.
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.
Densely populated Belgium is located at the heart of one of the world's most highly industrialised regions. The first country to undergo an industrial revolution on the continent of Europe in the early 1800s, Belgium developed an excellent transportation infrastructure of ports, canals, railways, and highways to integrate its industry with that of its neighbours. One of the founding members of the European Union, Belgium strongly supports deepening the powers of the EU to integrate European economies. Belgium became a first-tier member of the Euro, the single European currency, in January 1999 and the Belgian franc was completely replaced by euro coins and banknotes in early 2002.
With exports equivalent to about two-thirds of GNP, Belgium depends heavily on world trade. Belgium exports twice as much per capita as Germany and five times as much as Japan. Belgium's trade advantages are derived from its central geographic location, and a highly skilled, multilingual, and productive work force.
The population density is the second-highest in Europe, after the Netherlands.
There are three official languages, Dutch, French and German. More than half of the country is Dutch speaking (55%), French is the second largest (44%), German is spoken by a minority (1%). Brussels, the capital, is mostly French speaking, but officially French/Dutch bilingual.
This country is well known for its art, its great architecture, its beer, its food, and its chocolate.
The beer with the most prestige is that of the Trappist[?] monks.
Technically, it is an ale and traditionally each abbey's beer is served in its own glass (the forms, heights and widths are different).
The inhabitants of this country have a reputation for loving French fries. The fried potato strips are sold at many small shops and stands (often at train stations) and are known locally as frieten in Dutch and frites in French (not identified as French, though).
Many great French authors went to Belgium for refuge.
One of the great athletes of Belgium and the world was the cyclist Eddy Merckx. He won the Tour de France 5 times.
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