LilleLille ( LEEL; French: [lil] ; Dutch: Rijsel [ˈrɛisəl] ; Picard: Lile; West Flemish: Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the Nord department, and the main city of the European Metropolis of Lille.
Hainaut ProvinceHainaut, historically also known as Heynault in English, is the westernmost province of Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium. To its south lies the French department of Nord, while within Belgium it borders (clockwise from the north) on the Flemish provinces of West Flanders, East Flanders, Flemish Brabant and the Walloon provinces of Walloon Brabant and Namur.
TourcoingTourcoing (French:; Dutch: Toerkonje; West Flemish: Terkoeje; Picard: Tourco) is a city in northern France on the Belgian border. It is designated municipally as a commune within the department of Nord. Located to the north-northeast of Lille, adjacent to Roubaix, Tourcoing is the chef-lieu of two cantons and the third largest city in the French region of Hauts-de-France ranked by population with about 99,000 inhabitants.
WalloniaWallonia ( wol-OH-nee-ə; French: Wallonie [walɔni] ; German: Wallonien [vaˈloːni̯ən] or Wallonie [valoˈniː] ), officially the Walloon Region (French: Région wallonne [ʁeʒjɔ̃ walɔn]; German: Wallonische Region [vaˈloːnɪʃə ʁeˈɡi̯oːn]), is one of the three regions of Belgium—along with Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the country, Wallonia is primarily French-speaking.
Municipalities of BelgiumBelgium comprises 565 municipalities (Dutch: gemeenten; French: communes; German: Gemeinden), 285 of them grouped into five provinces in Flanders and 261 others in five provinces in Wallonia, while the remaining 19 are in the Brussels Capital Region, which is not divided in provinces.
MouscronMouscron (French pronunciation: [mukʁɔ̃] ; Dutch and West Flemish: Moeskroen, Dutch pronunciation: [muˈskrun] ; Picard and Walloon: Moucron) is a municipality and city of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, along the border with the French city of Tourcoing, which is part of the Lille metropolitan area. The municipality consists of the following districts: Dottignies, Herseaux, Luingne, and Mouscron.
Picard languagePicard ( , alsoUS: ; French:) also known as 'Roman Flemish' or 'Romane flamande' is a langue d'oïl of the Romancelanguage family spoken in the northernmost region of France and parts of Hainaut province in Belgium. Administratively, this area is divided between the French Hauts-de-France region and the Belgian Wallonia along the border between both countries due to its traditional core being the districts of Tournai and Mons (Walloon Picardy).
Dutch languageDutch (Endonym: Nederlands [ˈneːdərlɑnts] , Nederlandse taal) is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language and is the third most spoken Germanic language. In Europe, Dutch is the native language of most of the population of the Netherlands and Flanders (which includes 60% of the population of Belgium).
BelgiumCountry in Northwestern EuropeBelgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to the south, and the North Sea to the west.
City status in BelgiumCity status in Belgium is granted to a select group of municipalities by a royal decree or by an act of law. HistoryTongeren is the oldest city in Belgium, receiving its city status (municipium) in the second century CE. It is the only city in Belgium to have been granted city status by the Romans. During the Middle Ages, towns had defined privileges over surrounding villages.
Walloon languageWalloon (; natively walon; French: wallon, Belgian French pronunciation: [walõ] ) is a Romance language that is spoken in much of Wallonia and, to a very small extent, in Brussels, Belgium; some villages near Givet, northern France; and a clutch of communities in northeastern Wisconsin, United States. It belongs to the langues d'oïl dialect continuum, the most prominent member of which is French.West FlemishWest-Flemish (West-Vlams or West-Vloams or Vlaemsch (in French Flanders), Dutch: West-Vlaams, French: flamand occidental) is a Low Franconian language spoken in western Belgium and the neighbouring areas of France and the Netherlands.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.