Walloon Brabant

Walloon Brabant Brabant wallon  (French)
Province of Belgium
Flag Coat of arms
Coordinates: 50°40′N 04°35′E
Country	Belgium
Region	Wallonia
Capital (and largest city)	Wavre
Government
• Governor	Gilles Mahieu (PS)
Area [1]
• Total	1,097 km^2 (424 sq mi)
Population  (1 January 2022)[2]
• Total	409,782
• Density	374/km^2 (970/sq mi)
ISO 3166 code	BE-WBR
HDI (2019)	0.948[3] very high · 1st
Website	Official site

Walloon Brabant ^[4] (French: Brabant wallon, Dutch: Waals-Brabant, German: Wallonisch-Brabant, Picard: Brabant walon, Walloon: Roman Payis / Braibant walon(e)) is one of the five provinces of Wallonia in the country of Belgium.

History

Walloon in Walloon Brabant means that it is in the Wallon 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^[5] (pagus is a Latin word meaning a very small town, with only few houses).

Walloon Brabant is the youngest and the smallest province of Belgium. The province was created in 1995 when the former province of Brabant was split along the language border in three parts: a Flemish part (Flemish Brabant), a Wallon part (Walloon Brabant) and the Brussels Capital Region, which no longer belongs to any province.

Geography

The total area of the province is 1,097 km² (423.6 sq mi) with a population of about 410,000 in 2022.

The province is very flat and the highest point is in Genappe, with an altitude of 170 m (558 ft) above sea level.

Also the geographical centre of Belgium is in the province, in the municipality of Walhain.

The province has an elongated shape and measures from east to west about 90 km (56 mi) and about 40 km (25 mi) from north to south.

The capital is Wavre; it is much more centrally located than the old capital, Nivelles.

Administrative division

The province of Walloon Brabant has only one arrondissement that is divided in 27 municipalities.

Arrondissement Nivelles
Beauvechain Braine-l'Alleud Braine-le-Château Chastre Chaumont-Gistoux Court-Saint-Étienne Genappe Grez-Doiceau Hélécine Incourt Ittre Jodoigne La Hulpe Lasne	Mont-Saint-Guibert Nivelles Orp-Jauche Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve Perwez Ramillies Rebecq Rixensart Tubize Villers-la-Ville Walhain Waterloo Wavre

Population by arrondissement

Population x 1,000 (on 1 January since 1980).^[6]

Arrondissement	1970	1980	1990	2000	2010	2020
Nivelles	235	286	315	350	380	406
Province of Walloon Brabant	(235)	(286)	(315)	350	380	406

The province of Walloon Brabant did not exist before 1995.

References

1. "Bodembezetting volgens het Kadasterregister". statbel.fgov.be.
2. "Structuur van de bevolking". statbel.fgov.be.
3. "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab".
4. Official name is Province du Brabant wallon (French).
5. "Histoire". Province du Brabant wallon (in French). Archived from the original on 1 September 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
6. Institut national de statistique - Direction générale Statistique et information économique

Other websites

• The province's official site