LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Belgium: Southern Netherlands
built 275 days ago
Belgium's two main tourist attractions are its coast and the Ardennes. The coast's 65 kilometre long stretch of sandy coastline has 15 resorts, each with its own character and unique atmosphere. The sandy beaches are ideal for children. The beaches shelve gently out to sea, and lifeguards ensure everyone's safety. Sunbathers have found that they acquire a healthier tan here than in southern Europe, thanks to the iodine and salt in the air. The Belgian coast offers a wide range of sport and recreation facilities : here you can hire a bicycle or a buggy, or go sailing or fishing.
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In 1998 Belgium was one of only two teams, together with World Champion France not to lose a single game. Three draws in the first round - against Netherlands, Mexico and South Korea - proved not enough to reach the knock-out stage. In 1998 Enzo Scifo and Franky Van Der Elst appeared in their fourth World Cups, setting a Belgian record.
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[J]ust few years later Belgium was taken over by French revolutionaries. It remained under French control until 1815, when French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated by British and Prussian forces at the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium. A United Kingdom of the Netherlands was created, and Belgium, known as the Southern Netherlands, was part of this kingdom. That didn't last long, either.
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After World War II, Belgium joined NATO as a founder member, headquartered at Brussels, and formed the Benelux group of nations with the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Belgium became one of the six founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951,and of the 1957 established European Atomic Energy Community and European Economic Community. The latter is now the European Union, for which Belgium hosts major administrations and institutions, including the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, and the extraordinary and committee sessions of the European Parliament.
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Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe, Belgium is linguistically divided. In the Dutch-speaking northern region Flanders lives 58% of the population. Another 10% inhabits the officially bilingual Brussels-Capital Region, for approximately 85% using French. In this enclave within the Flemish Region ... neither language is the primary one for roughly half of the residents. French is the language in the southern region Wallonia apart from most of the 73,000 inhabitants of its German-speaking Community. This linguistic diversity often leads to political and cultural conflict and is reflected in Belgium’s complex system of government and political history.
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The largest region of Belgium is known as Wallonia, which covers the southern part of Belgium that borders Germany, Luxembourg and the northern border of France. Within this region are the provinces of Hainaut, Walloon Brabant, Namur, Liege and Luxembourg. The main language spoken in this region is Wallonian, a dialect of French.
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