Belgium is a country, which situated in northwest Europe. The Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and France surround it. Belgium is the most populous country, which has a population of more than ten million people. In Belgium, mainly two languages are spoken they are Dutch and French. Brussels is the capital as well as largest city of Belgium.

Belgium derives its name from the Latin name of the most northern part of Gaul, Gallia Beligica named after a group of mostly Celtic tribes, Belgae. Recently, Belgium was a founding member of the European Union, hosting its headquarters, as well as those of many other major international organizations like NATO.

Before the past two millenniums, the region, which is now called as Belgium, has seen significant demographic, political and cultural upheavals. In the 1st century BC, the Roman Republic conquered this region. During the 5th century, the Germanic franks arrived at this region. The Franks established the Merovingian kingdom, which became the Carolingian Empire in the 8th century. During the middle Ages, the Low Countries was split into many small feudal states. The house of Burgundy as the Burundian Netherlands united most of them in the 14th and 15th centuries.

The Eighty Years War divided the Seventeen Provinces into the United Provinces in the north and the Southern Netherlands in the south. The Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs ruled the southern provinces. The Southern Netherlands was conquered b French. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars were occurred in 1815, the reunification of the Low Countries as the United kingdom of Netherlands.

The 1830, Belgium's Revolution led the country to the establishment of an independent, Catholic and neutral Belgium. In 1831, Belgium became a constitutional monarchy under the rule of Leopold I. During the 19th century, Belgium was invaded by Germany in 1914 and again in 1940. The Belgian Congo achieved its independence in 1960 during the Congo Crisis.

After the Second World War Belgium joined NATO and together with the Netherlands and Luxembourg, it established the Benelux group of nations. Belgium is also founding member of the 1951 established European Coal and Steel Community and the 1957 established European Economic Community and European Atomic Energy Community. In Belgium, today there are the headquarters of NATO and maximum part of the European Union's institutions and administrations, which including the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the extraordinary and committee sessions of the European Parliament.

Belgium is situated at the center of one of the world's most highly industrialized regions, so it can get economic benefits. The Belgium economyis heavily service-oriented and shows a dual nature with a dynamic Flemish part with Brussels as its main multilingual and multi-ethnic center and a GNP/person which is one of the highest from the EU. In 1800, Belgium faced the Industrial Revolution. Liege and Charleroi got fast development of mining and steel making, which flourished until the mid-20th century. During 1840, the textile industry of Flanders was in severe crisis and there was severe starvation Flanders during 1846 to 1850.

After Second World War, in Ghent and Antwerp the chemical as well as petroleum industries were greatly expanded. In 1973 and 1979 there was oil crises in Belgium. Moreover, the Belgium steel industry has experienced serious decline. In the 1980s and 90s, the economic center of the country continued to shift northwards to Flanders. Today, industry is concentrated in the populous Flemish area in the north.

At the end of the 1980s due to Belgian economic policies economy faced government debt of about 120% of GDP. Today, budget is in balance and public debt is equal to 94.3% of GDP. According to 2004 estimate the total GDP was about $316.2 billion and its per capita was about $31,400.

According to the law of 1963, there were three official languages in Belgium: Dutch, French and German. Dutch was recognized as the official language in the north. Approximately 58% of the total population is Dutch-speaking. French was recognized as the official language in the south and about 41% of the country is French speaking. While German was recognized as the official language along the eastern border, which is speaking by less than 1% of the total population while 8% of the country's population is officially bilingual, means they speak both French as well as Dutch Brussels evolved from a mainly Dutch speaking city when the Belgian state became independent in 1830, with at that time only French as an official language. A large majority of its population is registered as Francophone. There are minor differences in vocabulary between the Dutch and the French.