Taking of Diest (1580)

Diest (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈdist] ) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. Situated in the northeast of the Hageland region, Diest neighbours the provinces of Antwerp to its North, and Limburg to the East and is situated around 60 km from Brussels. The municipality comprises the city of Diest proper and the towns of Deurne, Kaggevinne, Molenstede, Schaffen and Webbekom. As of January 1, 2006, Diest had a total population of 22,845. The total area is 58.20 km² which gives a population density of 393 inhabitants per km².

Schaffen Air Base (ICAO: EBDT) is a Belgian Air Force Base, located 2.1 km (1.3 mi) north-northeast of Diest in Flemish Brabant, Belgium. The airfield is currently the Training Center for Parachutists (TrgC Para) of the Belgian ParaCommandos.

The Gete (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɣeːtə]; French: Gette) is a river in Belgium which flows south to north. It is a left tributary of the Demer. The Gete is formed by the confluence of the rivers Grote Gete ("Large Gete") and Kleine Gete ("Small Gete") near Budingen. From Budingen the river continues for 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) to the city of Halen, where it flows into the Demer. The river was the historical border between the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and the Duchy of Brabant. The source of the Grote Gete is situated in the village of Perwez. The length of the river to Budingen is 51 kilometres (32 mi). The river flows through Jodoigne, Hoegaarden and Tienen. The source of the Kleine Gete is in the village of Ramillies. It flows through Orp-Jauche, Hélécine and Zoutleeuw.

The Basilica of Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel (Dutch: Basiliek van Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Scherpenheuvel, French: Basilique de Notre Dame de Montaigu) is a Roman Catholic parish church and minor basilica in Scherpenheuvel-Zichem, Belgium. The church was consecrated in 1627 and raised to the status of a minor basilica in 1922. It is reputedly the most frequently visited shrine of pilgrimage in Belgium. While the cult on the Scherpenheuvel (or Sharp Hill) is older, its present architectural layout and its enduring importance are due to the patronage of the Archdukes Albert and Isabella and the Counter-Reformation.

Halen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɦaːlə(n)] ), formerly Haelen (Limburgish: Hôle), is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg, to the west of Hasselt. On January 1, 2018, Halen had a total population of 9,461. The total area is 36.29 km² which gives a population density of 261 inhabitants per km². The municipality consists of the following sub-municipalities: Halen proper, Loksbergen, and Zelem. During the First World War, on August 12, 1914, the Battle of Halen took place here near the river crossing of the Gete.

The N2 road in Belgium is a road connecting Brussels and Maastricht passing Leuven, Diest and Hasselt. It starts in Brussels at the Madou crossroad on the small ring, heading northeast as the Chaussée de Louvain/Leuvensesteenweg, which crosses the municipalities of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, City of Brussels, Schaerbeek, Evere and Woluwe-Saint-Lambert in Brussels, and then enter Flanders via the municipality of Zaventem, Flemish Brabant. When the road enters the municipality of Herent it is named Brusselsesteenweg up to Leuven. When it leaves Leuven, the road is named Diestsesteenweg as it leads to Diest. It is then named successively Staatsbaan, Leuvensesteenweg, Diestsesteenweg, Staatsbaan, Leuvensesteenweg and Eduard Robeynslaan. When leaving Diest and entering Halen, the road enters the province of Limburg. At this point, the road (named Halensebaan) crosses the European route E314. The subsequent names of the road are: Staatsbaan, Grote Baan, Diestsesteenweg, Steenweg, Diestersteenweg, Kuringersteenweg. Just before entering Hasselt, the road crosses the European route E313. When leaving Hasselt, it is named Diepenbekerweg, then Steenweg, Kapelstraat, Wijkstraat, Grendelbaan, Tipstraat, Beverststraat, Holt, Hasseltstestraat, Brugstraat, Maastrichterstraat, Bilzerbaan and Tweede Carabinierslaan. It then enters the Netherlands. The road crosses in total 19 municipalities. 5 in the Brussels-capital Region, 8 in the province of Flemish Brabant and 6 in the province of Limburg. Full municipality list is available below, main municipalities are in bold.

Landwijk Castle is a castle in the municipality of Herk-de-Stad, Belgium.

Kortenaken (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈkɔrtənaːkə(n)]) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the towns of Hoeleden, Kersbeek-Miskom, Kortenaken proper, Ransberg and Waanrode. On January 1, 2014, Kortenaken had a total population of 7,881. The total area is 49.06 km² which gives a population density of 160,63 inhabitants per km². Every year in August there used to be a three-day festival in Kortenaken, named Boerenrock, with electro music on Friday, rock music and a party on Saturday, and on Sunday music aimed at children and their parents. The final edition of this festival took place in 2016.

Scherpenheuvel-Zichem (Dutch pronunciation: [ˌsxɛrpə(n)ɦøːvəl ˈzɪxɛm] ; French: Montaigu-Zichem) is a city and municipality located in the province of Flemish Brabant, Flemish Region, Belgium, encompassing the towns of Averbode, Messelbroek, Okselaar, Scherpenheuvel, Schoonderbuken, Keiberg, Kaggevinne, Testelt and Zichem (previously spelled Sichem, like the biblical town). On January 1, 2020, Scherpenheuvel-Zichem had a total population of 23,135. The total area is 50.50km2 which gives a population density of 458.1 inhabitants per km2.

Averbode Abbey is a Premonstratensian abbey situated in Averbode, in the municipality Scherpenheuvel-Zichem (Flemish Brabant), in the Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels in Belgium. It was founded about 1134, suppressed in 1797, and reestablished in 1834. Throughout the 20th century the abbey press was a leading children's publisher in Belgium. The church's building is a peculiar synthesis of Baroque and Gothic, with Renaissance ornament details, dominating the monastery complex. The whole structure was built of iron sandstone from Langdorp and white sandstone from Gobertange between 1664 and 1672, after a design by the Antwerp architect Jan Van den Eynde II.

Bekkevoort (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈbɛkəvoːrt] ) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the towns of Assent, Bekkevoort proper and Molenbeek-Wersbeek. On January 1, 2006, Bekkevoort had a total population of 5,826. The total area is 37.17 km2 which gives a population density of 157 inhabitants per km2. It gains its name from the Germanic name "Baco" and the word "voorde" (which means a place of ferriage, where one can easily cross a stream via a place where the waters are lower), thus roughly meaning "Baco's wade". This ferriage formed the historical center of the town and is nowadays known as the road Steenberg, from Bekkevoort to Zichem and Scherpenheuvel.

Tessenderlo (Dutch pronunciation: [təˈsɛndərˌloː]; Limburgish: Loei) is a municipality in the Belgian province of Limburg. It is where the three Belgian provinces of Limburg, Flemish Brabant and Antwerp meet at the front gate of the Averbode Abbey. The municipality Tessenderlo encompasses the villages of Tessenderlo proper, Schoot, Engsbergen, Hulst and Berg. On January 1, 2006, Tessenderlo had a total population of 16,811. The total area is 51.35 km2 which gives a population density of 327 inhabitants per km2. The name Tessenderlo means "(the open place in) the forest of the Taxandrians". It is along the Albert Canal and the European route E313, the highway between Antwerp and Liège, one of the reasons it was the place for the first Belgian "Industrial Zone of National Importance" in the 1960s. Tessenderlo was the scene of an infamous industrial disaster during World War II, when a stock of 150 tonnes of ammonium nitrate at the chemical plant of Produits Chimiques de Tessenderloo (now Tessenderlo Group) - located near the centre of town - exploded on April 29, 1942, killing 189 people at the plant and in the town.Tessenderlo is part of a small western zone of Limburg where the local dialect is not the Limburgian dialect, but Brabantic.