Belgium: landmarks, animals & facts for kids

Belgium is a small country in Western Europe, between France, the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg, with a short coastline on the North Sea. Its capital is Brussels, and about 12 million people live there. Belgium is known for chocolate, waffles, fries, comic books, medieval towns, and for being home to the main offices of the European Union and NATO.

On My Earth Toy you can see the Atomium in Brussels, a giant model of an iron crystal made of nine shiny steel spheres joined by tubes. It was built for the 1958 World's Fair, and visitors can ride escalators between the spheres.

Geography and nature

Northern Belgium, called Flanders, is low and flat, with farmland, canals and old trading cities such as Bruges and Ghent. Southern Belgium, called Wallonia, rises into the hilly, forested Ardennes, with rivers winding through deep valleys and caves. The coast is short, about 67 kilometres, lined with sandy beaches and dunes. The port of Antwerp, on the Scheldt River, is one of the biggest ports in Europe.

People, languages and culture

Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, spoken mainly in Flanders; French, spoken mainly in Wallonia; and German, spoken by a small community in the east. Brussels is officially bilingual. Belgium is famous for comics: Tintin and the Smurfs were created by Belgian artists. Food is a big part of life, from chocolate pralines and waffles to fries served with mayonnaise. Many towns hold colourful carnivals and parades.

History in a nutshell

The area was once the meeting point of many powers, and so many battles were fought here that it was called the 'battlefield of Europe'. Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, near Brussels, in 1815. Belgium became independent from the Netherlands in 1830 and chose its own king. It was invaded in both World Wars. After World War II it helped found the organisations that became the European Union.