Walloon Brabant


Walloon Brabant is a province of Wallonia and Belgium. It borders on the province of Flemish Brabant and the provinces of Liège, Namur and Hainaut. Its capital and largest city is Wavre.
The provincial population was recorded at 403,599 as of January 2019, giving a population density of.

Etymology

The terms Walloon and Brabant are older, and were sometimes used in combination before the coming into existence of the political entity.
Louis de Haynin wrote in 1868, "Belgium is a country between France, Germany and the North Sea. This country is divided in two regions, Flanders and Wallonia. Wallonia is divided in Brabant Wallon, Hainaut, Namur, Liège and Luxembourg.

History

The Battle of Waterloo took place in this province in June 1815.
Walloon Brabant was created in 1995 when the former Province of Brabant was split into three parts: two new provinces, Walloon Brabant and Flemish Brabant; and the Brussels Capital Region, which no longer belongs to any province. The split was made to accommodate the federalisation of Belgium in three regions.

Subdivisions

It has an area of and contains only one administrative district, the Arrondissement of Nivelles, with 27 municipalities.
Nivelles District:
in Waterloo
, aerial view

Economy

The Gross domestic product of the province was 19.3 billion € in 2018, accounting for 4.2% of Belgiums economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 42,300 € or 140% of the EU27 average in the same year. GDP per person employed was 157% of the EU27 average. Walloon Brabant is the wealthiest province in Wallonia.
The University of Louvain is located in Walloon Brabant. The Louvain-la-Neuve Science Park is developing cooperation between industry and UCLouvain and is contributing to regional economic development. It covers 231 hectares spread over the area of the town of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve and the municipality of Mont-Saint-Guibert. The main areas of activity are life sciences, fine chemistry, information technologies and engineering. The park is made up of 135 innovative companies, 4,500 employees, and the university's business incubator.
A part of the Walloon industrial power was based in the Sillon industriel with the steel industry of Clabecq, which has operated to the present. The Ronquières inclined plane is on the Brussels-Charleroi Canal which passes through the province, connecting connects Charleroi, one of the main cities of the Sillon industriel, with the Capital of Belgium and the Port of Antwerp. Piétrain is a breed of domestic pig taking its name from Piétrain, a little village of Jodoigne in Walloon Brabant. The most important town of this province is Nivelles, which has the Collegiate Church of Saint Gertrude and its westwork.
In Rixensart, the company Recherche et Industrie Thérapeutiques is one of the world's leading vaccine manufacturers, supplying around 25% of the world's vaccines:
GSK Biologicals employs a little over 5,300 persons on the Walloon sites of Rixensart, Wavre and Gembloux. The company distributes 36 doses of vaccines every second.

The castle of Corroy-le-Château, one of the best conserved castles of this period in Northern Europe was bought by 21st-century Flemish artist Wim Delvoye for EUR 3.3 million. He is planning to convert the Corroy-le-Château into a museum of modern art.

International relations

Twin towns and sister cities

Walloon Brabant is twinned with: