The Arrondissement of Ghent (; ) is the largest of the six administrative

arrondissements An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements'' ...

in the

Province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

East Flanders , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Oost-Vlaanderen.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van O ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

. It is both an administrative and a judicial arrondissement. However, the Judicial Arrondissement of Ghent also comprises the municipalities of the

Arrondissement of Eeklo The Arrondissement of Eeklo (; ) is one of the six administrative arrondissements in the Province of East Flanders, Belgium. It is one of the two arrondissements that form the Judicial Arrondissement of Ghent. Municipalities The Administrati ...

History

The Arrondissement of Ghent was created in 1800 as the first arrondissement in the Department of Escaut (). It originally comprised the cantons of Deinze,

Eeklo Eeklo () is a Belgian municipality in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises only the town of Eeklo proper. The name ''Eeklo'' comes from the contraction of "eke" and "lo", two Old German words meaning ''oak'' and ''sp ...

, Evergem,

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest i ...

, Kruishoutem, Lochristi, Nazareth, Nevele, Oosterzele, Waarschoot and Zomergem. In 1803, the canton of Eeklo was merged with the Arrondissement of Sas-van-Gent to form the

. The canton of Kruishoutem was ceded to the Arrondissement of Oudenaarde in 1818. In 1921, parts of Laarne and Kalken (in the Arrondissement of Dendermonde) were added to the arrondissement to form the new municipality of Beervelde. Parts of Kluizen, Ertvelde en Zelzate were added to the arrondissement in 1927 from the

. In 1977, the municipality of Ertvelde (of which Kluizen had been a part since 1965) in the Arrondissement of Eeklo ceased to exist and was merged into Evergem. As a result, it was added to the Arrondissement of Ghent. Per 1 January 2019, the municipalities of Aalter and Knesselare were merged into Aalter, Deinze and Nevele into Deinze, and Waarschoot, Lovendegem and Zomergem into Lievegem. The number of municipalities in this arrondissement was thus be reduced from 21 to 17.

Municipalities

The Administrative Arrondissement of Ghent consists of the following

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

: * Aalter * Deinze *

De Pinte De Pinte () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders. Before its existence as an independent municipality in 1868, De Pinte was a part of Nazareth. The municipality comprises the towns of De Pinte proper and Zevergem. ...

* Destelbergen * Evergem * Gavere *

* Lievegem * Lochristi *

Melle Melle may refer to: People * Basil Melle (1891–1966), South African cricketer * Gil Mellé (1931–2004), American artist, jazz musician and film composer * John van Melle (1887–1953), Dutch-born South African author * Melle Mel (born ...

* Merelbeke * Moerbeke * Nazareth * Oosterzele * Sint-Martens-Latem * Wachtebeke * Zulte

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