The Kingdom of Belgium, situated in Western Europe, neighbouring France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, is a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch. The country’s king, only a moral leader, cannot take any official action without the approval of a minister.

Belgium’s rich history has influenced the cultures of Austria, France, Germany and Spain. It is one of the oldest European countries and, as such, keeps the traditions of the Old Continent. The name ‘Belgium’ originates from around 900 BC, when the Celtic tribe called Belgae settled in ancient Gaul. In 52 BC, Julius Caesar, the Roman military and political leader, conquered the territory of Belgica and put the country under Roman rule. For some 300 years, Belgium was a province of Rome.

As Rome’s power began to wane, Attila the Hun, around AD 300, invaded the lands of present-day Germany, provoking the movement of the German tribes, called Franks, in northern Belgium. Some 100 years later, the Franks took possession of Belgium. The Frankish king Charlemagne (Charles the Great) had a very successful reign, as he ruled a large part of Europe and was crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. The Roman Empire covered nearly all of continental Europe from AD 800 to 1806, with exception to Spain and Scandinavia. After the death of Charlemagne, the Empire separated into self-ruling feudal principalities.

In the late 1300s, Belgium fell under the rule of King Philip the Good, of Burgundy, which was an independent kingdom. The Low Countries (Netherlands’ lands around the delta of Rhine, Scheldt and Meuse rivers) became Habsburg territory as well, when the granddaughter of Philip the Good, Mary of Burgundy, married Maximilian I. Their son was Philip I the Handsome, of Castile. Philip married Juana the Mad, the daughter of the Spain’s rulers Ferdinand and Isabella. In turn, the Holy Roman Empire unified with Spain under the Habsburg Dynasty. Their son, Charles I, was king of Spain (1516–56) and Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor (1519-58).