I'd like to tell you about a country that lies next to the north sea.
A country which I seem to be very much attached,
even if i'm looking down on it, quite literally.
It's one of the world's most densely populated countries.
If this is not evident from the air,
what is apparent though
is an abundance of green.
Why don't you come and join me on this flight ?
This country is called Belgium
and it's very old.
The earliest trace of human presence found here,
a primitive stone tool,
dates back to prehistory,
eight hundred thousand years ago.
The belgians,
that's how the roman emperor and general,
Julius Caesar,
refer to the northern inhabitants of Gaule.
After he conquered that territory,
but not without resistance,
he started to build trade routes.
These roman roads are still evident to this day,
such as the one that leads to Tongeren,
the town of the legendary Ambiorix, who fought the Romans.
Thanks to the roads, the Romans built
international trade was able to flourish.
Later on, the belgians became conquerors themselves.
From Bouillon,
there was crusades against the Islamites
who had conquered Jerusalem.
Villages sprang up.
From the tenth century on,
some of these villages grew into beautiful cities
with impressive church spires,
such as Tournai and Malines.
Liège,
the largest city in the south of the country,
developed along the river Meuse.
Namur was built where the Sambre and Meuse meet.
The fact that cities often developed along rivers was not a coincidence.
Thanks to shipping,
they had become trade routes.
The port cities of antwerpen and Ghent
developed along the banks of the river Scheldt.
In the early middle ages,
Bruges which was one of the most important cities in the world.
And in the nineteenth century
Liege, was nicknamed the « fiery city »,
thanks to its industrial activity,
mainly in the steel and glass industries,
which flourished at the time.
Belgium clearly has a very religious past.
Evidentiary the numerous church spires,
as well as the number of abbeys.
These were not use just for praying though.
Beer and wonderful cheeses was made there and they still are.
But the abbeys were much more.
They were also thriving centers of knowledge and literature.
Some abbeys did not survive the french revolution
and were razed to the ground.
Belgium has a staggering number of castles,
most of which are sparkling gems,
that can only be viewed properly from the air.
I'm now flying over the castle of Gaasbeek
with its magnificent italian gardens.
Castles were built in a variety of different period's style.
They can be renaissance palaces, medieval forts,
and in most cases they remain in excellent condition,
but not all of the time.
Now, if you thought chateaux only to be found along the Loire,
you should definitely visit belgium.
In the wonderful rolling countryside of Brabant,
along the linguistic border,
a remarkable monument can be found at Waterloo.
A lion on top of an artificial hill,
marks the spot where, in eighteen fifteen,
a coalition of european troops beat Napoleon's armée.
The vanquished French Emperor was exiled to the island of Saint Helena.
War was so simple, at those day.
The Dutch King, William the first,
who ruled the country at the time,
had the monument erected in honor of his son,
the Prince of Orange,
who was wounded during the battle.
Brussels,
fifteen years on,
in eighteen thirty, following an operetta
inspired revolution against dutch rule,
the state of Belgium was established.
It was to be a constitutional monarchy,
with a king as head of state.
The country is divided up into two main linguistic communities,
one dutch and one french.
But german is also spoken in a very small region.
In the second half of the twentieth century,
the state structure was overhauled
and belgium was given the federal government.
Belgium second king,
leopold the second, wanted to make his mark
on the country's history with splendid buildings
most of which can be found in brussels.
They date back to his time
and they rival of those in any other major european city.
He designed grounds of the castle of Laeken.
He had beautiful greenhouses erected.
and started an impressive collection of exotic plants.
The « Canal du Centre » in Hainaut
boasts four little locks for shipping
incredible nineteenth-century constructions
which UNESCO displaced on the world heritage list.
The polders of West Flanders
played a major role in world history
for it is there that hundreds of thousands of soldiers died in the trenches
during the first world war.
The charming city of Ypres was flattened
as were the surrounding villages
For the first time in history
poisonous gas
known as « yperite »
was used in the battle.
The rivers that I'm crossing right now,
the Yser,
featured prominently in the last throes of the war.
The belgian king Albert the first had the locks of the river Yser by Nieuport open.
Gradually the area where the germans had taken a position was flooded.
This marked the beginning of the end of the war.
There are museums dotted around the whole of this region
and sections of the trenches such as the so-called « Trench of Death »
been preserved
for future generations.
Another image typical of this region are the military cemeteries
with white tombstones,
the best-known being « Tyne Cot Cemetery »
in Passendale.
During the second world war too
tough battles was fought on belgians soil.
Right at the very end of this war,
germans tried to turn the tide and launched that ardennes offensive.
In the battle of Bastogne,
the allied forces managed to bring the german offensive to a standstill
however,
for more than one hundred thousand casualties on both side.
As a token of gratitude to the americans who lost tens of thousands of troops there,
Belgium had a war memorial build in Bastogne.
nineteen fifty-eight,
the second world war seem to have been forgotten
Brussels held an unprecedented welfare
which unique monument was erected
the « Atonium »,
reflecting mankind's optimistic view
of future development.
The south of the country, thanked its prosperity to heavy industry,
chiefly the coal industry, in region surrounding Charleroi.
For a long time,
the steel industry was a pillar of the economy in Wallonia,
although economic activities in that area are now taking a different direction.
What is striking,
certainly when the country is view from above,
is the impressive infrastructure.
Belgium boasts an incredibly dense network of motorways and railways.
The government is making every effort to divert freight traffic to canals
as much as possible,
for be easier eminently well placed to establish perfect links with ports,
including foreign ports.
The port of Antwerpen is a world ranking fort.
ranked fifth in world.
and an important artery is the belgian economy.
Container transport has been increasing for years,
and docks and mooring places
are still being added to this day.
In the major port of Zeebrugge
growing number of cars are being loaded and downloaded.
Belgium's unique lock-lifts process thousands of ships every year.
With the high-speed train though
you can get to paris or london in next to no time.
And the number of passengers of the national airport of Zaventem
continues to grow,
year-on-year.
As I've said,
this is a small and densely populated country,
with an extensive road network
and lots of industry.
yet there's still a good deal left over
for nature and agriculture,
and opinion polls show
that people want to keep it that way.
In many places,
this agricultural activity produces attractive landscapes.
Typical are the small hardly shaped plots of land.
Often this land pattern hark back to the middle ages.
Perhaps with the very reason that nature and green area are threatened
by economic activity,
concerned about the environment has grown enormously.
In recent years,
the government has invested
more and more in green areas,
so the belgium is now being given more protective nature reserves.
Many having been lost in the recent past.
Every belgian is born
with a brick in his stomach, the saying goes,
and all the raw material for building
can be found just under the surface.
Heavy industry is mainly to be found above the surface,
for example this steel giant to the Ghent region.
This is good news for the car assembly sector.
Every year major manufacturers produce some one million cars.
It's not only Zaventem that handles
increasing numbers of passengers,
regional airports are also gaining ground.
From the air,
it's mainly the large businesses that are visible.
But this country contain numerous
small and medium sized enterprises for its prosperity
as these are where a majority of employees find job
And what they all these people get out to during the weekend ?
Well, if it's sunny, it seems that they all head for the coast,
even though it's only sixty five kilometers long.
Apparently,
it's not just the caribbean that attracts cruise ships.
The southeast of the country also does its bid to draw the tourists.
It is hardly young belgians
who hasn't enjoyed a camping holiday in the Ardennes.
At the risk of repeating myself
I'm flying above some wind turbines
more evidence of growing environmental awareness.
Since belgium has eighteen universities
and some fifty colleges of higher education,
they must be quite a few bright sparks who are looking at how the environment
can be reconciled with the economy, among other things.
The historical town of Leuven host the country's oldest university
dating back as it does to the fifteenth century.
Since belgium has no fewer than eight university hospitals
universities and medicine go hand-in-hand.
Brussels is not only the capital of this country
but also of the whole of Europe, in a way.
So this is where the EU's largest decision-making body is based.
That is if this was not enough NATO also has its headquarters in brussels.
Belgians like to go cycling at the weekend.
And even if they don't actively participate,
they like to watch cycle rallies,
which are never far away.
From early spring to late autumn,
there are cycling races virtually every week.
And they can watch the main ones, live on television.
small wonder
that belgians has produced so many exciting champions.
We're now about to land.
I've tried to give you a detailed description of this intriguing country
but of course
I've had to leave a lot out.
A word of advice before we part.
When you visit you might notice that
Belgians can be brought the critical of their own country,
but all in all,
they'd like living here,
because believe me,
in the main,
they know how to enjoy life.