Flemish Brabant

Flemish Brabant Official name is Provincie Vlaams-Brabant (Dutch). (, , ) is the youngest and smallest province of the Flemish Region, one of the three regions of Belgium. It covers the Dutch-speaking northern part of the former province of Brabant. Flemish Brabant also completely surrounds the Brussels-Capital Region, which forms an enclave within the territory of the province.

Its capital, and also the largest city of the province, is the university city of Leuven (, often used in English).

History
Flemish in Flemish Brabant means that it is in the Flemish part of the former province of Brabant of Belgium. Brabant was an old region, the Duchy of Brabant. The word Brabant appears for the first time in the seventh century when the abbey of Nivelles was founded in the pagus Bracbatensis (pagus is a Latin word meaning a very small town, with only few houses).

Flemish Brabant was created in 1995 by the splitting of the former province of Brabant into three parts: two new provinces, Flemish Brabant and Walloon Brabant; and the Brussels-Capital Region, which no longer belongs to any province. The split was made to accommodate the eventual division of Belgium in three regions (Flanders, Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region).

Geography
The province borders on (clockwise from the North) the Belgian provinces of Antwerp, Limburg, Liège, Walloon Brabant, Hainaut and East Flanders.

The province has an area of ; it is about  long (east-west direction) and about  wide (north-south direction).

It has a population of about 1,173,000 in 2022.

The province is divided into two districts (arrondissements in French and  arrondissementen in Dutch) with 65 municipalities.

The main rivers of the province are the Dyle, the Demer and the Zenne.

Administrative divisions
The province of Flemish Brabant is divided into two districts: Halle-Vilvoorde has Brussels in its middle and, therefore, is mainly a residential area, but it also has large industrial zones; the other district is Leuven, centered on the city of Leuven.


+ Municipalities by arrondissements,with their numbers in the map Halle-Vilvoorde  Leuven 190px
 Affligem (2)
 Asse (3)
 Beersel (4)
 Bever (8)
 Dilbeek ()13
 Drogenbos (14)
 Galmaarden (15)
 Gooik (18)
 Grimbergen (19)
 Halle (21)
 Herne (23)
 Hoeilaart (25)
 Kampenhout (28)
 Kapelle-op-den-Bos (29)
 Kraainem (33)
 Lennik (35)
 Liedekerke (37)
 Linkebeek (38)
 Londerzeel (40)
 Machelen (42)
 Meise (43)
 Merchtem (44)
 Opwijk (45)
 Overijse (47)
 Pepingen (48)
 Roosdaal (49)
 Sint-Genesius-Rode (52)
 Sint-Pieters-Leeuw (53)
 Steenokkerzeel (54)
 Ternat (55)
 Vilvoorde (60)
 Wemmel (61)
 Wezembeek-Oppem (62)
 Zaventem (63)
 Zemst (64) 190px
 Aarschot (1)
 Begijnendijk (5)
 Bekkevoort (6)
 Bertem (7)
 Bierbeek (9)
 Boortmeerbeek (10)
 Boutersem (11)
 Diest (12)
 Geetbets (16)
 Glabbeek (17)
 Haacht (20)
 Herent (22)
 Hoegaarden (24)
 Holsbeek (26)
 Huldenberg (27)
 Keerbergen (30)
 Kortenaken (31)
 Kortenberg (32)
 Landen (34)
 Leuven (36)
 Linter (39)
 Lubbeek (41)
 Oud-Heverlee (46)
 Rotselaar (50)
 Scherpenheuvel-Zichem (51)
 Tervuren (56)
 Tielt-Winge (57)
 Tienen (58)
 Tremelo (59)
 Zoutleeuw  (65)

Population by arrondissement
Population x 1,000 (on 1 January since 1980).Institut national de statistique - Direction générale Statistique et information économique

Arrondissement1970 ¹1980 ¹1990 ¹200020102020Halle-Vilvoorde 418 514 534 558 593 644Leuven 389 412 430 456 483 512Province of Flemish Brabant (807) (926) (964) 1014 1077 1156

The province of Flemish Brabant did not exist before 1995.

References

 Other websites 

 Official web site of the Flemish Brabant province