Fun Facts About Belgium!

· Belgium is famous for their beer, chocolate, waffles, and French fries with mayonnaise.

· Despite their name, French fries originated in Belgium!

· Traditional Belgian dishes are “steak and fries with salad” and “mussels with fries.”

· Other than France, Belgium holds the most Tour de France titles.

· Belgium houses many different castles.

· They have many different shows and parades based on their folklore; it is a very important aspect of their culture. 

· Linguistically, Belgium is split in half. Flanders is in the north, where you would speak Flemish. Wallonia is in the south, where you would speak French. (This division is just south of Brussels) These two groups have a national pride, however they do not get along with one another.

· “Brave Little Belgium” was a propaganda slogan used during WWI to aid the Belgians who were overrun by the Germans.

· Brussels houses the head of NATO and the EU Headquarters!

· Jacques Brel was an iconic singer in the 1960s-70s.
 
· Belgium was occupied by many types of people throughout its history, including: Romans, Franks, Vikings, Spanish, French, Germans, Austrians, and Dutch.

· In 1958, the universal exhibition in Brussels, “The Atomium” symbolized that Belgium was reinventing itself after WWII.

· Antwerp has invented itself as a leader in fashion.

· Antwerp is situated on the Scheldt River, which is about 70 miles upriver from the North Sea.

· The North Sea, which is the bordering water of Belgium, has many shallow fishing banks. This is due to glaciers which picked up sediment (dirt and rocks) as they moved from the north to the south (towards the northern coast of Europe). Once the glaciers reached land, they melted off and dropped the sediment. The sediment created the shallow fishing banks. In addition, the glacial path left deep areas from where the sediment originated from.