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Why Belgium Is So Divided: The Dutch And French Culture Split
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Mar 31, 2025
Belgium is a unique country in Europe. While most countries speak their own language, Belgium is actually divided mostly by Dutch and French (with a smidge of German thrown in for good measure). But while some other European countries share a language divide, only Belgium seems to have a continuing issues around it. Here's why Belgium is so divided and how it got that way in the first place.
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Europe is home to almost 50 independent countries
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And while each one has a complicated history that's been made up of many smaller states before it
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Belgium is perhaps the only European country today that is actually kind of two equally large countries
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Here's why Belgium is so divided by language. Hello and welcome to Geography by Jeff
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Today we're off to Europe. More specifically, we are going to dive pretty deep into the small northwest country, Belgium
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Now, if you're completely unfamiliar with Europe, you should know that every country in Europe
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has kind of a messy history. And today's video on Belgium is not intended
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to take a specific side in the never-ending debate on Belgium's future. We're just exploring why it's so divided
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But before we get to today's episode, as usual, be sure to check out my podcast
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Geography is Everything with Professor Hunter Shobi. If you're a fan of geography
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this is literally the podcast for you. This week, we are finishing off our two-part series
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on the potato, and next week, we're tackling skyscrapers. You can listen to every episode right here on YouTube
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Substack where there's exclusive content, or whatever app you use to listen to podcasts
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Like all European countries, Belgium has a complicated history that's way too long for
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this video. So we're going to skip a bunch of it and jump right to the early 1800s when much of
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modern-day Belgium we know has its foundation. But take note here that a lot occurred beforehand
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that influenced everything we're talking about in this video. We're just not able to cover it all
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The Belgium we know today was really the result of one big event, the collapse of the French First Republic
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and the subsequent reunification of the Lowland countries into the United Kingdom of the Netherlands
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Prior to this moment, the entire Lowlands region was under control by various European powers such as France
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Spain, Austria, and even the Roman Empire all the way back when Julius Caesar first conquered the area
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But with the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the southern portion of the country, primarily Flanders and Wallonia today, began to form their
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own national and combined identity. You see, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands was ruled by
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William I, and William was from The Hague in the northern region of the country. This meant that
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William was also part of the Dutch Reformed Church a Protestant church not a Catholic one And the southern regions of Flanders and Wallonia were still predominantly Catholic This sparked the initial and notable difference between the North and the South Along with not being of the same religion which was a huge deal back then
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the country was not divided up fairly. For example, the Belgian regions of the country
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were underrepresented in the General Assembly. And because of this and William I's preferred
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capital location, the majority of institutions were based in the North. This meant services
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were not spread equally. But at the same time, the public debts of the north, approximately 10 times
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the size of the south's debts, had to be paid back by those living in the southern region
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This obviously wasn't thought of as fair by the south. And from there, things just got worse
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In 1823, a reform was passed to make Dutch the official language in the south. This reform was
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met with strong opposition from the upper classes who, at the time, were mostly French-speaking
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Those in Flanders and Wallonia greatly disliked this reform. Wallonia, for the obvious reason that
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they spoke French, but Flanders spoke its own dialect of Dutch that was going to be disallowed
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as well. Basically, everyone in the South was incensed by this. In June 1830, the reform was
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retracted, but by then, it was far too late. In August of 1830, riots broke out in Brussels
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which the Dutch weren't able to quell, mostly because their southern troops deserted en masse
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Unable to stop the uprising, the European powers of Austria, Britain, France, Russia, and Prussia
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came together in London, where, at the end of it, they ultimately supported and guaranteed the right
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for an independent Belgium to exist. The Netherlands, of course, would not accept this
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agreement initially, but would ultimately recognize Belgium in 1839. Since then, Belgium has been a
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single, unified country, kind of. Today, Belgium is not only an independent country, but is also
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the primary home of the European Union. This is interesting because the European Union is
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fundamentally about bringing the disparate European countries under a single umbrella. But Belgium itself has some serious issues around unity. But before we get into why Belgium is
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divided in half, if you're enjoying this video, hit that subscribe button. More fun
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geography videos are just a click away. As it turns out, language is a huge part of
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any sort of national identity. The French speak French, the Germans speak German
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and the Japanese speak Japanese None of this is very surprising Even the United States which has no official language is still dominated by the English language But Belgium is not like this at all
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In fact, the country is almost equally divided in half by two dominant languages, Dutch and French
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And to complicate matters even further, some Belgians in the East speak German
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So really, the country has three languages, two of which are constantly vying
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for dominant control of the country. And to be fair to all parties involved
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really each region is speaking specific dialects of the primary language. Flemish, for example, is not exactly like Dutch
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But while language has led the divide between the country, as it turns out, it kind of boils along industry and economy too
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In the 19th century, the French reigned as the only official language in the country
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due to it being spoken by the wealthy, coal-rich south. This meant that the southern region of Wallonia
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had more power and say in national politics and culture. But in the 20th century, the situation was reversed
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Coal mines in Wallonia were depleted, and created a lot of poverty, while a commercial boom in the Dutch-speaking north empowered
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Flemish pride and linguistic assertiveness. In this way, language was merely the vessel by which
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nationalistic pride flowed through. These tensions were further exacerbated by the German occupation
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of Belgium in both world wars, as the Germans employed a divide-and-rule strategy wherein
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they promoted the linguistic divide. All of this today has combined to create an interesting
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situation within Belgium where some are proposing a formal partition. In 2007, Belgium faced an interesting problem
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The country could not get a coalition to form a government that would effectively lead the country for 196 days
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Because of this, there were renewed calls for a partition of the country of Belgium that has lasted well into today
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Though notably, it's mostly made by far-right parties. Regardless, the hypothetical partition of Belgium
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is something that is legitimately discussed from time to time. Basically, it boils down to partitioning the country based on linguistic lines
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There have been calls for Flanders and Wallonia being made into fully independent countries
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despite the fact that both regions receive a fair amount of autonomy today. There have even been calls for Flanders and Wallonia to join the Netherlands and France
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respectively, though these calls are never taken too seriously. But this kind of partition leaves out two very important things
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Brussels and the Eastern German-speaking communities. Brussels the capital of Belgium currently exists within Flanders but as its own separate region In fact most people speak French within Brussels today despite it being surrounded by a Dutch region which leaves the city in an interesting situation under a hypothetical partition
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Does it join with Flanders where it would be linguistically in the minority? Does it join
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Wallonia as an exclave where it would be entirely surrounded by the country of Flanders? Or does it
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become an independent city-state as some suggest? And as for the German-speaking communities in the
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East? Well, it seems no one thinks about them much at all. Given their linguistic minority status
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within Belgium, it seems most who openly speak about partitioning Belgium assume that it would
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be absorbed into Wallonia, where it would continue to be a minority province, or it would be absorbed
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into either Germany or Luxembourg. Regardless, it seems that few ever consult with this region
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when discussing future plans for a partitioned Belgium. All that's to say, it seems like all
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this talk of partitioning Belgium is for nothing. Recent polls have found, time and again, that most
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Belgians in all regions favor sticking it out together rather than undergoing any formal split
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Today, Belgium is home to approximately 11.5 million people, and of those 11.5 million
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about 59% speak Dutch as their primary language, 40% speak French, and 1% speak German. But Belgium
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perhaps more than most other European countries, is a true polyglot nation. Many Belgians today
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they speak both Dutch and French, as well as some combination of English, German, Spanish
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and other dominant European languages. And while the country does appear able to weather
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the constant discussion of partitioning, its political situation is still rather shaky
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In the 2019 election, far-right Flemish nationalist parties gained many seats in parliament
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Meanwhile, the French-speaking Wallonian parties that gained seats were heavily on the socialist side of the spectrum
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This political divide has been exacerbating linguistic tensions in the country once again
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Where might it all lead? Only the Belgians can say. Europe in general is a hodgepodge of cultures and languages overlapping each other constantly
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But Belgium is a fascinating country above and beyond. It both proves that a country can exist with competing cultures and languages
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while also proving that doing so will undoubtedly lead to tensions. If nothing else, it's a fascinating case study in nation building
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I hope you enjoyed learning more about Belgium and its geographic and linguistic divide
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If you did, please subscribe to my channel. And if you want to watch more of my videos, you can do so here
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Thanks for watching. See you next time
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