Planckendael

The Flemish Community (Dutch: Vlaamse Gemeenschap [ˈvlaːmsə ɣəˈmeːnsxɑp] ; French: Communauté flamande [kɔmynote flamɑ̃d]; German: Flämische Gemeinschaft [ˈflɛːmɪʃə ɡəˈmaɪ̯nʃaft]) is one of the three institutional communities of Belgium, established by the Belgian constitution and having legal responsibilities only within the precise geographical boundaries of the Dutch-language area and of the bilingual area of Brussels-Capital. Unlike in the French Community of Belgium, the competences of the Flemish Community have been unified with those of the Flemish Region and are exercised by one directly elected Flemish Parliament based in Brussels.

The Flemish Region (Dutch: Vlaams Gewest, pronounced [ˌvlaːms xəˈʋɛst] ), usually simply referred to as Flanders (Dutch: Vlaanderen [ˈvlaːndərə(n)] ), is one of the three regions of Belgium—alongside the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region. Covering the northern portion of the country, the Flemish Region is primarily Dutch-speaking. With an area of 13,522 km2 (5,221 sq mi), it accounts for only 45% of Belgium's territory, but 57% of its population. It is one of the most densely populated regions of Europe with around 490/km2 (1,300/sq mi). The Flemish Region is distinct from the Flemish Community: the latter encompasses both the inhabitants of the Flemish Region and the Dutch-speaking minority living in the Brussels-Capital Region.

Flanders (UK: , US: ; Dutch: Vlaanderen [ˈvlaːndərə(n)] ) is the Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, language, politics, and history, and sometimes involving neighbouring countries. The demonym associated with Flanders is Fleming, while the corresponding adjective is Flemish, which can also refer to the collective of Dutch dialects spoken in that area (or, less commonly, the Belgian variant of Standard Dutch). The official capital of Flanders is the City of Brussels, although the Brussels-Capital Region that includes it has an independent regional government. The powers of the government of Flanders consist, among others, of economic affairs in the Flemish Region and the community aspects of Flanders life in Brussels, such as Flemish culture and education.Geographically, Flanders is mainly flat, and has a small section of coast on the North Sea. It borders the French department of Nord to the south-west near the coast, the Dutch provinces of Zeeland, North Brabant and Limburg to the north and east, and the Walloon provinces of Hainaut, Walloon Brabant and Liège to the south. Despite accounting for only 45% of Belgium's territory, more than half the population lives there – 6,653,062 (or 57%) out of 11,431,406 Belgian inhabitants. Much of Flanders is agriculturally fertile and densely populated at 483/km2 (1,250/sq mi). The Brussels Region is an officially bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. Flanders also has exclaves of its own: Voeren in the east is between Wallonia and the Netherlands and Baarle-Hertog in the north consists of 22 exclaves surrounded by the Netherlands. Not including Brussels, there are five present-day Flemish provinces: Antwerp, East Flanders, Flemish Brabant, Limburg and West Flanders. The official language is Dutch. The area of today's Flanders has figured prominently in European history since the Middle Ages. The original County of Flanders stretched around AD 900 from the Strait of Dover to the Scheldt estuary and expanded from there. This county also still corresponds roughly with the modern-day Belgian provinces of West Flanders and East Flanders, along with neighbouring parts of France and the Netherlands. In this period, cities such as Ghent and Bruges of the historic County of Flanders, and later Antwerp of the Duchy of Brabant made it one of the richest and most urbanised parts of Europe, trading, and weaving the wool of neighbouring lands into cloth for both domestic use and export. As a consequence, a very sophisticated culture developed, with impressive achievements in the arts and architecture, rivaling those of northern Italy. Belgium was one of the centres of the 19th-century Industrial Revolution, but this occurred mainly in French-speaking Wallonia. In the second half of the 20th century, and due to massive national investments in port infrastructure, Flanders' economy modernised rapidly, and today Flanders and Brussels are much wealthier than Wallonia, being among the wealthiest regions in Europe and the world. In accordance with late 20th century Belgian state reforms, Flanders was made into two political entities: the Flemish Region (Dutch: Vlaams Gewest) and the Flemish Community (Dutch: Vlaamse Gemeenschap). These entities were merged, although geographically the Flemish Community, which has a broader cultural mandate, covers Brussels, whereas the Flemish Region does not.

Schiplaken is a village within the municipality of Boortmeerbeek, in the province of Flemish Brabant, Belgium.

Hofstade is a village in the municipality of Zemst, Flemish Brabant, Belgium.

Hever is a village in Flanders, Belgium.

Nekkerspoel is a neighbourhood of Mechelen, Belgium, immediately east of the city. The name means pool of one or more Nekkers or water demons. and it is presumed that in earlier centuries locals taking a shortcut through the marshlands, of which the Mechels Broek is a surviving remnant, may have strayed off safer pathways and lost their lives. In 1904, remnants dating from the La Tène era of a settlement of several wooden houses and an 8.4 metre long oaken dugout canoe were found at a depth of 5 metres.This hamlet was already well-populated and built-up at a time that otherwise mainly a few monasteries were seen outside the city's former walls. Meanwhile, it obtained Mechelen's secondary station on Belgium's major Brussels-Mechelen-Antwerp railway, and the Toy Museum (Speelgoedmuseum) with exhibits covering 7,000 m² in the former furniture manufacturer's Nova building. By the end of the third quarter of the 20th century, sand from nearby rivers had been disposed on a part of the Mechels Broek along the river Dijle. Shortly thereafter sandwinning created two large pools while the remainder physically supports the provincial sports and recreation complex De Nekker, which in summer also offers swimming at the artificial beach in a safe-guarded part of the larger of the man-made pools. Though from beside its main building one may start walking along the Mechels Broek, the latter's visitor centre is at the Mechlinian suburb of Muizen and the nature reserve stretches onto the neighbouring municipality of Bonheiden. Located between the actual hamlet and the sports complex, the 18,000 m² multi-functional events hall named Nekkerhal is widely known for e.g. erotica exhibitions (Mega Erotica Beurs) once in a blue moon but each time with broad media coverage, its regular flea markets (Bras Vlooienmarkt), sports promotion days ('Doe-aan-sportbeurs), and other temporary events drawing public with a specific interest such as informatics or specialty cars, or of a particular profession as for the International Furniture Festival trade market. It had originally been built by the municipality for housing Europe's largest cooperative vegetable auction, when this had outgrown its buildings along Mechelen's minor ring road that replaced the city walls. By the time it was finished however, the auction had moved to the neighbouring municipality of Sint-Katelijne-Waver. Mechelen leaves the property in the care of the Nekkerhal non-profit organization.

Bonheiden (Dutch pronunciation: [bɔnˈɦɛi̯də(n)] ) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the towns of Bonheiden proper and Rijmenam. In 2021, Bonheiden had a total population of 15,177. The total area is 29.27 km2 (11.30 sq mi).

Mechelen railway station (Dutch: Station Mechelen, French: Gare de Malines) is a railway station in Mechelen, Antwerp, Belgium. The station opened on 5 May 1835 on railway lines 25, 27 and 53. The train services are operated by the National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB).

The Basilica of Our Lady of Hanswijk is a Roman Catholic basilica in Mechelen, Belgium. The basilica is a famous place of pilgrimage in Belgium, the statue was crowned on 30 July 1876 by Cardinal Deschamps by request of pope Pius IX.

In the Roman period there was an important settlement (vicus) on the territory of the present-day village of Elewijt (part of Zemst, Flemish Brabant, Belgium). It was located at the junction of a secondary road (deverticulum) with the major Roman road between Tongeren and Boulogne. In the early first century, a temporary military camp was built and not much later a village started to develop. At the end of the second century, the village was ravaged by Germanic tribes, after which it was slowly rebuilt with a completely different ground plan. The vicus continued to exist as a village until the late third century, but did not recover from a second heavy attack at the end of this period. The present-day village of Elewijt developed half a mile south of the center of the vicus and cannot be seen as its successor.

Bethlehem Abbey in the village of Bonheiden, Belgium, is a house of Benedictine nuns of the Subiaco Cassinese Congregation. The monastery was built in 1965 as a Redemptorist house but was transferred to the Benedictines in 1975. The community formerly ran a publishing imprint which produced Dutch translations of the writings of Basil of Caesarea and Athanasius of Alexandria. Since 30 May 2015 the Benedictines have shared the monastery buildings with a lay community (the Moriya Community).