United States of Belgium Timeline: Long Live The Republic
Verenigde Staten van België OTL equivalent: Belgium, Netherlands, French Flanders | ||||||
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| Motto: Voor Vrijheid en Gelijkheid (For Freedom and Equality) |
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| Anthem: De Vrije Republiek (The Free Republic) |
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 Location of Belgium in Europe
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| Capital (and largest city) | Antwerp | |||||
| Official language | Belgian | |||||
| Religion | Secular state 69% Irreligious 25% Christian 1% Asatru 5% other |
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| Demonym | Belgian | |||||
| Government | Federal presidential constitutional republic | |||||
| - | President | Jonas De Ridder | ||||
| - | Vice President | Helena Mathijsen | ||||
| - | President of the Senate |
Johan De Wolf | ||||
| - | President of the Chamber |
Dirk Casteels | ||||
| Legislature | Congress | |||||
| - | Upper house | Senate | ||||
| - | Lower houses | Chamber of Representatives National Assembly |
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| History | ||||||
| - | Declaration of Independence from France |
1774 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 68,000 km2 23,552 sq mi |
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| Population | ||||||
| - | estimate | 42,478,000 | ||||
| - | census | 2018 | ||||
| GDP (nominal) | estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $1,988 billion | ||||
| - | Per capita | $57,651 | ||||
| Currency | Euro (€) (EUR) | |||||
| Drives on the | right | |||||
Belgium, officially the United States of Belgium is a sovereign state in Western Europe. It is bordered by France to the south and Germany to the east.
Etymology[]
The name Belgium is derived from the ancient Roman province of Gallia Belgica, meaning Belgic Gaul, which is itself derived from the Latin Belgae, a Germanic tribe. The etymology of Belgae is unknown.
Belgium's predecessor states, the former Kingdom of Belgium and later Empire of Belgium and the region of present-day Belgium before it existed as a unified entity, were sometimes referred to in English as the Netherlands or Netherland. These names more often denoted the region Belgium was situated in and not the country itself and are no longer used to refer to the country. There are sometimes still used when meant to denote the region instead of the country.
From the late modern period, the region of present-day Belgium was sometimes called Dutchland and its people Dutch. This came from the term Low Dutchland, which referred to present-day Belgium, while High Dutchland (or just Dutchland) referred to Germany. As Belgium was part of the Kingdom of Germany for a long time of its history it was often seen as just a part of Dutchland. As the name Germany became the sole term referring to Germany, Dutchland sometimes was used to refer just to Belgium. However after Belgium regained its independence as a republic, the Belgian government urged people not to use the term Dutch but Belgian instead. The terms Dutch, Dutchland, Netherlands or Netherlandish are no longer in general use (except in historical context) and are now deemed archaic or humorous.