Basic Belgian Geography Trivia Quiz

Answer: Liege

The top of Belgium is the Signal de Botrange, at an elevation of 694 m or 2,277 feet above sea level. The Signal is located on the territory of the village Weismes, in the German speaking community of Belgium.
The Signal has been equipped with an observation tower so that visitors can climb above the symbolic height of 700 m.
According to the common British differentiation between a hill and a mountain (notably that a mountain should exceed 2,000 feet), the Signal de Botrange is one of the very few Belgian mountains. Other Belgian mountains from high to low are the Weisser Stein in Büllingen (2,267 feet), the Baraque Michel (2,211 feet) and the Baraque de Fraiture (2,139 feet).

The province of Liege also contains the most eastern point of Belgium. The province of Liège is mainly francophone, but all germanophone communities in Belgium are situated in this province.
Capital of the province is the city of Liege.

Answer: West-Flanders

The lowest point in Belgium is the hamlet called De Moeren in Furnes, in the southwestern corner of Belgium - next to the French border. De Moeren reaches a depth of 3m (10 feet) below sea level.

The province of West Flanders had a very sad history during the First World War. The front line between the Germans and the allied armies went through the south part of West Flanders, from Nieuwpoort (at the North Sea) via Dixmude and Ypres to the French border near Armentieres.
One of the tourist top locations in West Flanders is its capital city Bruges.

Answer: Antwerp

The province of Antwerp has the most northern point of Belgium, most notably Dreef - a hamlet of the town of Hoogstraten.

But more interesting is the twin municipality of Baarle-Hertog (Belgium) and Baarle-Nassau (Netherlands). Although the whole of this double municipality is surrounded by Dutch territory, there are twenty-odd parcels of land that form part of Belgium. And to make the confusion even greater, a number of the Belgian enclaves in the Netherlands contain Dutch counterenclaves.
The complications of these borders are most clearly visible in one of the local pubs, where the border (indicated with white bricks) runs through the customers' room.

The capital city of the province of Antwerp is the city of Antwerp, which also contains the most important harbour in Belgium.

Answer: Luxembourg

The Belgian province of Luxembourg borders on the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Capital city of the province is Arlon. The province of Luxembourg is the largest Belgian province, but also the least populated one.

The most southern point is in Torgny, a small hamlet in the municipality of Rouvroy. Torgny is also the hamlet furthest away from the Belgian capital Brussels.

Answer: Namur

The province of Namur has a capital city of the same name. Because of its central place in the francophone part of Belgium (Wallonie), the city of Namur was also chosen as the capital of Wallonie.
The province of Namur borders all the other francophone provinces: Hainaut to the west, Wallon Brabant to the north, Liege to the northeast and Luxembourg to the east. The south of the province of Namur borders on France.

Answer: Limburg

The largest lake in Flanders is the Schulens lake, with a surface of 90 ha (222 acres) in normal circumstances. In case of heavy downpour, the Schulens lake can expand to 150 ha (370 acres).
The Schulens lake is manmade, and the ground excavated from this place was used to build the E314 highway between Lummen and Aarschot.

The province of Limburg has its capital city in Hasselt. The province was named after a medieval duchy that had its territory fully in the present province of Liege.

Answer: Flemish Brabant

From independence in 1830 up till 1995, Belgium counted nine provinces. The province of Brabant comprised Belgium's capital city Brussels.

In 1995, the province of Brabant was split into the unilingual provinces of Flemish Brabant and Walloon Brabant, and the extra-provincial territory of Brussels with 19 linked municipalities. Capital city of Flemish Brabant is the city of Leuven.

Brussels and its 19 linked municipalities is now a bilingual region (French - Dutch), whilst the other regions are Flanders (unilingual Dutch) and Wallonie (bilingual French - German). Each region has its own government, mostly occupied with economical matters. To complicate matters, there are also three unilingual communities (Flanders, Wallonie and the German community), of which the separate governments deal mostly with cultural affairs.

Answer: Hainaut

Saint Waltrude or Saint Waldetrudis died in 688, on April 9 - which also is the day on which she is venerated. She was a noble woman, married to the Count of Hainaut. In 656 she became a nun and soon founded her own abbey, Sainte Waudru - around which abbey the city of Mons began to grow.
Mons is the capital city of Hainaut, and thus of course the province elected Saint Waltrude for the provincial patron saint.

By the way, most family members of Saint Waltrude were also canonised: both her parents, her sister, her husband, and three out of four of her children.

Answer: East Flanders

The Lys basin is especially picturesque in the vicinity of the villages of Astene and Sint-Martens-Latem. Many painters and sculptors found a home in this part of the Lys basin, and were inspired by the typical landscapes in this specific area. Although art historians usually speak of the Latemse school ("school of Sint-Martens-Latem"), the different artists went more or less their own way.
Notable artists from this part of East-Flanders are George Minne, Valerius de Sadeleer, Gustave van de Woestyne, Constant Permeke, Albert Servaes, Frits van den Berghe and my favourite Emile Claus.

The capital city of East-Flanders is Ghent, with many touristic highlights.

Answer: Walloon Brabant

Walloon Brabant was created in 1995, when the former province of Brabant was split into three parts: the unilingual provinces Flemish Brabant and Walloon Brabant, as well as the (bilingual) non-provincial region of Brussels plus 19 surrounding villages.
Wavre was chosen as capital city for this new province. The history of Wavre can be traced back to 1050, although there should have been already some Roman settlement on the same spot.