Talk:Flanders

message: The intro of section 'History' had just gotten a subtitle: 'Early history'. This put my attention to its factual inaccuracies, which I corrected. To avoid needless changes, let me point out that at the height of the roman empire, indeed Belgica was the most northeastern province. Then around the start of the decline of the empire the province became subdivided so that Germania Inferior became the most northeastern province. That however, was well after Julius Caesar's references in 'De Bello Gallico' to the Belgiæ, which are the earliest (well-known and often referenced) historical records on the areas that later became County of Flanders as well as still later the Belgian region Flanders. — SomeHuman 25 Aug2006 15:38 (UTC)
:Pardon my ignorance but how can Flanders be the most north-EASTern part of the Roman empire when all of Italy is east of Belgium? I feel like changing that to simply "northern" if nobody minds. Cutelyaware (talk) 06:54, 23 March 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Belgica

message: * An anonymous user changed 'Although _many_ Flemings identify themselves more with Flanders than with Belgium;' to '_some_ Flemings'. I think this is a good change Bask
: Given that the percentages of Flemings favouring independence has risen from 20-25% typically to just over 50% in a recent poll early 2006, it looks just the other way round to me.
* An anonymous user changed 'More importantly _the_ experiences of the Dutch speaking soldiers on the front lead by French speaking officers catalysed Flemish emancipation.'. to '_some_ Dutch speaking'. I changed it to '_many_ Dutch speaking' Bask
: probably more accurate indeed.
I don't know if my remarks fit here but I'll make them anyhow. The Treaty of Verdun (843) which divided the empire, fixed the eastern border of what later became the county of Flanders at the Scheldt. To the east was the duchy of Brabant, which invluded the "marquisat" of Antwerp and had Brussels as its capital. The germanic language spoken in Brabant was not flemish but "diets" (thiois in French). In 1356, the troops of of the count of Flanders invaded and occupied Brusssels for a few months until they were expelled by its inhabitants under the leadership of the alderman Everard 't Serclaes (cfr the article on him in Wikipedia).   —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.247.189.83 (talk) 16:16, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Many, some, the 

message: I don't know if it's an appropriate source for citation but it is mentioned in the Encyclopedia Britannica article for Flanders. -71.202.124.173
that is really cool  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.61.250.242 (talk) 20:58, 14 December 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Vlaanderen meaning "flooded land"

message: I find the introductory paragraph very obtuse. Could it be made somewhat clearer? If there are necessary pieces stuffed in there that can come out and dealt with later, it might help. It is just very turgid. Thanks.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.12.68.2 (talk) 21:58, 27 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Intro paragraph 

message: This article should certainly include  because this flag is very much used in Flanders and by the Flemish goverment state.
Whoever ever watchs a (european) cycling race must have seen this flag.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by David-bel (talk • contribs) 17:56, 4 June 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Flag of Flanders 

message: The current map of Flanders is incorrect. See  for details. If someone knows how to fix it, please do. Cheers, Van der Hoorn (talk • contribs) 19:36, 24 March 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Flanders lacks a little piece (Voeren) but Wallonia too (Comines). Is it absolutely important? These maps are something such an abstract? I think. Comines is in Flanders and Voren is in Wallonia but... I don't say that I am in favour of these locations! Hartelijk, José Fontaine (talk) 19:50, 24 March 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I'll ask the creator to deal with it. Oreo Priest talk 21:47, 24 March 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I think The Creator may be a little busy...Buster7 (talk) 04:04, 1 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Incorrect map 

message: What is meant by this sentence: "The use of the name Belgium in the legal name of only one Community has led to enormous political discourse throughout Belgium". --78.21.166.174 (talk) 08:52, 10 September 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: It was unclear to me too at first. It means one is called Flemish community (Vlaamse Gemeenschap) while the other is called of French community of Belgium (communauté française de Belgique). Correjon (talk) 00:08, 1 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Confusion 

message: What is this statement close to the start of the article supposed to mean: For centuries, Flanders has served as the crossroads between the French, German, and British civilizations. It seems very woolly. Would we be better without it? Van Speijk (talk) 14:35, 9 July 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: It probably would be; it doesn't seem to have that much substance. Oreo Priest talk 19:23, 12 July 2011 (UTC)
replies: text:  Yes, I agree. I'll remove it. Van Speijk (talk) 20:16, 13 July 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Crossroads of civilisation? 

message: I think there are some errors in the following fragment, found in the subsection 'Historical parts of the County of Flanders': 
In 17th and 18th century, king Louis XIV of France captured more French-speaking areas in southern Flanders still referred to as French Flanders or la Flandre Lilloise. French Flanders contains the departements Nord and Pas de Calais), comprising the arrondissements of Lille and Douai.  
There are several errors here: Louis XIV captured of course areas that were Dutch-speaking at that time; the areas he occupied now make up the totality of French Flanders, not only Flandre Lilloise; and French Flanders is surely not the same as the two departements Nord and Pas de Calais. --Blancefloer (talk) 08:23, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Louis XIV captured 'French-speaking' areas? 

message: Club Brugge, Cercle Brugge, Kortrijk, Zulte Waregem, Oostende, Roeselare, Gent, Lokeren, Antwerp, Royal Antwerp, Beerschot AC, Mechelen, Lierse, Westerlo, Genk, Sint-Truidense, Lommel, Aalst, Denderleeuw, Leuven, Waasland-Beveren,(and in the past, Geel)... What else? What about Brussels-teams? What about Anderlecht? What about FC Brussels? Böri (talk) 10:45, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Individual sports teams shouldn't be included at all. Oreo Priest talk 04:30, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Flemish football teams 

message: Flanders is something isn't it? At the moment we have a WP:REFERS problem where Flanders today normally refers to this, and historically it referred to that. Usually only disambiguation pages, or articles about a term (such as Gay (term)) use "refers". I understand it has shifting boundaries, but all boundaries shift. The Poland article doesn't begin "Poland today refers to...".
:Today Flanders normally refers to one thing, but neither officially so nor exclusively so. Though the many uses of the term are related, they are not so different as to justify dismissing them with a disambiguation link. Especially in their histories, they are intertwined, and this article addresses the shared history and present-day Belgian Flanders. I'm concerned that the language 'Flanders is a region in Belgium' not only fails to capture the nuance, but seems to actively exclude other things covered in this article. Oreo Priest talk 08:21, 17 June 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: The point being made about WP:REFERS would imply splitting the article into different ones about the "different meanings", but the problem there is that the meanings never strictly split from each other, but rather merge into each other, and have evolved one from the other. They overlap, and to explain one, requires explaining the other, meaning that the resulting articles would cover very similar information. Indeed, one of the articles would effectively be the history article which we already have. I would also point out that the opening sentence has no "WP:REFERS" issue, and what is being pointed to is a later sentence in the lead which points to a broader historical context. So all in all I see no major actions necessary?--Andrew Lancaster (talk) 05:19, 18 June 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Well put. I'd also like to emphasize that WP:REFERS is a sylistic guideline, which points out that it is usually poor style to use the word 'refers'. Here, there is not only a stylistic reason, but also an important semantic reason we use the word 'refers'. With this in view, non-conformity to the broad style suggestion should not be any reason for concern. Oreo Priest talk 08:40, 18 June 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes and that is a common misreading of such guidelines, indeed. But there are enough places in WP content guidelines where it is at least implied that having this type of situation might be a sign that an article could be improved by being split. So I was jumping directly to the question of whether this is such a case. At first sight, I do not believe it is.--Andrew Lancaster (talk) 13:33, 18 June 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Flanders is .... 

message: Beyond the fact Flanders is nether a community or a region, Flanders and Flemish Region treats both subjects as synonymous of the same thing. AdjectivesAreBad (talk) 21:54, 21 August 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: They are not the same thing, except that sometimes the first term can be used very loosely and broadly to include the second one. This does not work in reverse. The second one is a very specific political thing and is not normally referred to as "Flanders".--Andrew Lancaster (talk) 16:16, 23 August 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: I know they are not the same thing, but the articles treat them like they are. AdjectivesAreBad (talk) 02:06, 24 August 2015 (UTC)

text: BTW, by what people normally refers, there should be a good chunk of Flanders in France too. AdjectivesAreBad (talk) 07:37, 24 August 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Historically yes. In modern books one sometimes seems reference to French Flanders. Obviously if someone only uses the word Flanders and does not define it, they will rarely be thinking of the bit in France. Anyway, back to the subject if there are specific bits where Wikipedia is getting this wrong we should fix it. I did not see it at first sight.--Andrew Lancaster (talk) 09:32, 24 August 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Don't you think the infobox is misleading? It's just a copy of the one in Flemish Region. AdjectivesAreBad (talk) 19:44, 12 September 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: It does not seem to be an exact copy. For example it mentions that the map shows "Present-day Belgian Flanders", and "other contexts", which clearly alerts readers to other possible meanings?--Andrew Lancaster (talk) 12:31, 14 September 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: Flanders or Flemish region

message: The opening paragraph ends with although Flanders is competent only in Brussels' culturally related matters and shares this competence with Wallonia. What on earth does this mean? Can someone figure out what they were trying to say and rewrite it?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.8.237.220 (talk) 04:51, 8 December 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Indeed. It only makes sense if you think from a translation. Competence in the languages of Belgium would refer to the empowerment or mandate to overlook an certain thing, not skill or ability. I will try to make it more native English. :) --Andrew Lancaster (talk) 09:10, 8 December 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: What??

message: I don't have the time right now, but shouldn't this article have an art section? After all, our painters from 15th to 17th century are one of the things Flanders is best known for abroad... We now have one sentence and no pictures about this! Fram (talk) 14:36, 18 January 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: I guess Flemish art with have its own article? I think it is mentioned, but a problem with expanding too much here is that Flemish art is not directly connected to the same concept of Flemish that this article deals with? Flemish can mean the coastal county, or all of Dutch speaking Belgium, or it can mean the "cultural" style which was not really restricted to the coast or to Belgium.--Andrew Lancaster (talk) 20:58, 18 January 2018 (UTC)

text: BTW this was not meant to say "no way", but only that it should be done in a short way with good linking to bigger articles. Flanders in its various ways is obviously a key connection to Flemish art.--Andrew Lancaster (talk) 21:10, 18 January 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Art 

message: Even though it is not the biggest part of Belgium by area, it is the area with the largest population (68.5%). 7,876,873 out of 11,491,346 inhabitants of Belgium, live in the Flemish part (Brussels included).
Does it make sense to include Brussels here, when it is not part of the Flemish region and the infobox on the side does not include it? 2602:306:CFEA:170:F582:899:B45A:29AA (talk) 03:29, 15 June 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Brussels included" 

message: Why is Flanders also mentioned in french in the title? Falco iron (talk) 02:10, 23 January 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  French in title