Abstract
The Neanderthal Mousterian culture of the Ardennes region produced flint tools between 80–35,000 years ago. Omalien tribes of the early Neolithic period (5–4000 BC) developed settled agricultural practices, sophisticated tools and decorated black pottery. The Bronze Age Hilversum culture left evidence of contact overseas in Wessex, southern England. During the pre-Roman period Celtic and Germanic tribes moved across the region. Much of northern Gaul and southern Britain was settled by a Celtic group known as the Belgae, forming numerous tribes including the seafaring Morini and Menapii in what is now Flanders and the bellicose Nervii in Artois. In alliance with Germanic and other Belgic tribes, the Nervii led resistance to the invasion of Julius Caesar in 59 BC, succumbing five years later. Roman control was extended as far north as the Rhine and the area divided into the provinces of Gallia Belgica and Germania Inferior. Several tribes survived as Roman administrative civitates.
Further Reading
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Service Fédéral d’Information. Guide de l’Administration Fédérale. Occasional
Arblaster, Paul, A History of the Low Countries. 2nd ed. 2012
Blom, J. C. H. and Lamberts, E. (eds) History of the Low Countries. Revised ed. 2006
Deprez, K., and Vos, L., Nationalism in Belgium—Shifting Identities, 1780–1995. 1998
Deschouwer, Kris, The Politics of Belgium: Governing a Divided Society. 2nd ed. 2012
Fitzmaurice, J., The Politics of Belgium: a Unique Federalism. 1996
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National library: Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, 4 Boulevard de l’Empereur, B-1000 Brussels.
Website (Dutch and French only): http://www.kbr.be
National Statistical Office: Institut national de statistique, North Gate, Koning Albert II-laan 16, 1000 Brussel.
Website: http://statbel.fgov.be
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(2023). Belgium. In: The Statesman’s Yearbook 2024. The Statesman's Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-96076-7_27
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-96076-7_27
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