Flemish people
In Belgium in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the dominant language for education, literature and politics was French as this was the language of the elites at the time. The majority of the people in Flanders, the northern part of the country, spoke Dutch. The northern part was financially helped by the southern to develop. In the second half of the 19th century a movement started that sought to elevate the status of Dutch in society and emancipate the Flemish people. At the two universities in Flanders (the Catholic University of Leuven and the State University of Ghent) Flemish students started to organize themselves in societies.