Belgium, Nation State or Artificial State?
The Kingdom of Belgium is a relatively young state, which emerged in the heat of the liberal revolutions of the 1830s. It is even more recent than the Spanish-American states that emerged from independence from Spain. Since the mid-twentieth century we have observed a growing tension between the Flemish and Walloon communities that threatens the disintegration of the State. Is it possible that these communities have overcome the concept of the Belgian nation, or is it that such a nation has been an illusion created by a circumstantial alliance of Flemish and Walloons that is coming to an end? The following essay will attempt to shed some light on these questions by tracing the history of this peculiar State.
Ancient Age
The first recorded settlements in the territory of present-day Belgium date back to a few centuries before Christ. In the 2nd century BC, the Republic of Rome began the conquest of Gaul, which culminated in the mid-1st century BC with the establishment of the province of Belgium in northern Gaul. This province is the border between the Germanic world and the Latin Roman world, and the germ of the division that still exists today between the Flemish community, similar to the Dutch culture, which is a direct descendant of Germanic, and the Walloon community in the south of Belgium, which is more Romanised and therefore has Latin roots.
