Picardy Wallonia (french: Wallonie-Picarde; Picard: ''Walonnie picarte'') or Western Hainaut (french: Hainaut-Occidental; Picard: ''Hénau occhidintal'') is the North-West part of the

province of Hainaut Hainaut (, also , , ; nl, Henegouwen ; wa, Hinnot; pcd, Hénau), historically also known as Heynowes in English, is a province of Wallonia and Belgium. To its south lies the French department of Nord, while within Belgium it borders (clock ...

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

, where the Picard language is used.

Geography

The most important city in Picardy Wallonia is Tournai which is also the oldest city of the Low countries. The

Tournai Cathedral The Tournai Cathedral, or Cathedral of Our Lady (french: Notre-Dame de Tournai, nl, Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Doornik), is a Roman Catholic church, see of the Diocese of Tournai in Tournai, Belgium. It has been classified both as a Wallonia's majo ...

, has been classified both as a

's major heritage and as a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

.Tournai is labelled on

Tabula Peutingeriana ' (Latin for "The Peutinger Map"), also referred to as Peutinger's Tabula or Peutinger Table, is an illustrated ' (ancient Roman road map) showing the layout of the '' cursus publicus'', the road network of the Roman Empire. The map is a 13th-ce ...

. Tournai gives its name to the

Tournaisian The Tournaisian is in the ICS geologic timescale The geologic time scale, or geological time scale, (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy ...

: The “Calcaire de Tournai” comprises the limestone formations cropping out in the Mélantois-Tournaisis Anticline (...) which have been quarried since the Roman conquest. Its relationship with the succession of the Dinant area was only understood following study of the Asile d’Aliénés borehole at Tournai and the Vieux-Leuze borehole at Leuze .. These boreholes exhibited a rather typical middle Tournaisian succession below the “Calcaire de Tournai” that was easy to correlate with the succession of the Dinant area. The largest find of

Iguanodon ''Iguanodon'' ( ; meaning ' iguana-tooth'), named in 1825, is a genus of iguanodontian dinosaur. While many species have been classified in the genus ''Iguanodon'', dating from the late Jurassic Period to the early Cretaceous Period of Asia, ...

remains to date occurred in 1878 in a coal mine at

Bernissart Bernissart (; pcd, Bernissåt) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Bernissart had a total population of 11,458. The total area is 43.42 km², which gives a population density of 26 ...

, at a depth of 322 m (1056 ft).

Culture

Casterman Casterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, specializing in comic books and children's literature. The company is based in Brussels, Belgium. History The company was founded in 1780 by Donat-Joseph Casterman, an editor and bookseller ...

, an important company based in Tournai, published Franco-Belgian comics. In 1934, Casterman took over the

Le Petit Vingtième ''Le Petit Vingtième'' (, ''The Little Twentieth'') was the weekly youth supplement to the Belgian newspaper '' Le Vingtième Siècle'' ("The Twentieth Century") from 1928 to 1940. The comics series ''The Adventures of Tintin'' first appeared in ...

editions for the publication of the albums of ''

The Adventures of Tintin ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (french: Les Aventures de Tintin ) is a series of 24 ''bande dessinée'' albums created by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comi ...

'', and after the great success of

Hergé Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé (; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian cartoonist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of Tintin'', ...

's albums, authors such as Jacques Martin, François Craenhals and C. & V. Hansen, the first albums of ''

Corto Maltese ''Corto Maltese'' is a series of adventure and fantasy comics named after the character Corto Maltese, an adventurous sailor. It was created by the Italian comic book creator Hugo Pratt in 1967. The comics are highly praised as some of the most ...

'' by the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

author

Hugo Pratt Ugo Eugenio Prat, better known as Hugo Pratt (15 June 1927 – 20 August 1995), was an Italian comic book creator who was known for combining strong storytelling with extensive historical research on works such as ''Corto Maltese''. He was ind ...

. The company established its monthly magazine '' (A Suivre)'', which was to influence the comics revival of the 1990s. It is now part of the Flammarion Publishing group. Saluk in Calenelle (

Péruwelz Péruwelz ( or ; pcd, Piérwé ; wa, Perwé-e-Hinnot) is a city and Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1 January 2018 Péruwelz had a total population of 17,113. ...

) produces and distributes billiard balls under the registered trademark Aramith in more than 85 countries, and has a marketshare of 80% worldwide (90% of the US market).''Dynamisme wallon'' review of the ''Union wallonne des entreprises'', special issue, december 2007

References

{{coord missing, Belgium Geography of Hainaut (province) Regions of Wallonia Areas of Belgium