Discover

The term 'Walloons' (French: ''Wallons'', Walloon: ''Walons'') refers, in daily speech, to Belgians from Wallonia, roughly the southern half of the country. Walloons are one of the three ethnological groups in Belgium, the others being the Dutch-speaking Flemish and the German-speaking inhabitants of the "eastern counties" ("Cantons de l'est").

Contents

Wallonia

Brussels - not Walloon but French-speaking

Walloon identity

Etymology

Famous Walloons

See also

External links

Wallonia

As with any part of the world where languages are spoken that have no physical barrier between them, the extent of Wallonia has shifted through the ages; the more so in that through history the low-lying area of Flanders and the hilly region of the Ardennes have been under the control of many city-states and external powers; all of which have brought variations to the borders, culture, and language. The Walloon language itself, widespread up till the Second World War, has been dying out of common use owing to growing internationalisation, official education that does not include it as a language, and the efforts of the French government to support the use of French within the "Francophonie" commonwealth. This is made more complex by the federal structure of Belgium, that splits Belgium into three language groups - French community (though not Walloon), Flemish community and German community - with privileges to use their own tongues in official correspondence, but into two semi-autonomous regions, known as "Vlaanderen" (Flanders) and "la région wallonne" (Walloon region).

Brussels - not Walloon but French-speaking

Many non-French-speaking observers (over)generalize ''Walloons'' as a term of convenience for all (even born and living in the Brussels Region) Belgian French-speakers. While the mixing of the population for economic and practical reasons over the centuries means that most families can trace ancestors on both sides of the linguistic divide, the fact that the Brussels region is around ¾ French-speaking as mother tongue but lying geographically in Flanders has led to friction between the regions and communities. The local dialect in Brussels, "Brusselaar", is a mix of French, Latin, Spanish and Flemish, reflecting its cosmopolitan heritage.
In relatively modern history, Brussels has been the major town or the capital of the region. Under the long Spanish and French rule, it ended up that the sole ''official'' language was French; after independence in 1830 this was maintained, and the Walloon region, being a major coal and steel producing area, developed very quickly into the economic powerhouse of the country. Walloons were therefore politically dominant, and many Flemish immigrants came to work in Wallonia. Between the 1930's and the 1970's, the gradual decline of steel and more especially coal, coupled with the imbalance in investment in service industries and light industry which came to predominate in Flanders, started to tip the balance in the other direction and Flanders became gradually politically dominant, and in their turn Walloon families have moved to Flanders in search of jobs. Sadly, this evolution has not been without political repercussions.

Walloon identity

The heartland of Walloon culture is the Meuse Valley, Dinant, Namur (the regional capital), Huy and Liège. Its Walloon language could be considered as an element of Walloon identity. However, not the entire French-speaking population of Wallonia can be culturally considered as Walloons, since a significant portion in the west (around Tournai and Mons) and smaller portions in the extreme south (around Arlon) belong to other languages (namely Picard, Champenois, Luxembourgish, and Lorrain) as mother tongues. Furthermore, Walloon and those other languages are mostly spoken by elderly people nowadays, and all of them can speak French as well or better. The younger can usually understand only bits and pieces of their ancestors' language. On the other hand, Givet ''commune'', several villages in Ardennes ''département'' in France and a few villages in Luxembourg are historically Walloon-speaking.
The Walloon Region institutionally comprises also the German-speaking community of Belgium around Eupen, in the east of the region, next to Germany which ceded the area to Belgium after the First World War. Many of the about 60,000 inhabitants of this very small community fiercely reject being considered as Walloon and – with their community executive leader Karl-Heinz Lambertz – demand separation from Wallonia and recognition as a separate region in Belgium.
Starting from 1620s, a considerable number of Walloon miners and their families had settled in Sweden. They were originally led by entrepreneur Louis de Geer who commissioned them to work in the iron mines of Uppland and Östergötland. The wave of migration continued substantially into 18th century. Walloons became gradually integrated into Swedish society. However, Walloon ancestry is still traceable through Walloon surnames and people of Walloon descent are organised in ''Sällskapet Vallonättlingar'' (Society of Walloon Descendants).

Etymology

The name is derived from "walhaz", which was a term used by the ancient Germanic Tribes to refer to non-Germanic people. (Other modern derivatives of "walhaz" include "", "Wallis", and "Wallachia".) A more modern popular interpretation attributed to "Wallonia" is "the land of the valleys" (i.e., reading "wal-" as cognate with French "vallée", etc.), which has been used by the ministry of tourism in touristic road signs, typically in French as "pays des vallées". The part of Wallonia south and east of the Meuse is indeed remarkably hilly.

Famous Walloons

★ Baldwin I of Constantinople, Count of Flanders and Hainaut, first emperor of the Latin Empire

★ Godfroid de Bouillon, leader of the First Crusade and first European King of Jerusalem.

★ Pierre Minuit, who purchased the island of Manhattan from the Native Americans and founded what would become New York City.

★ Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone.

★ Ernest Solvay, inventor of the Solvay process and founder of the Solvay Business School.

★ Zénobe Gramme, inventor of the Gramme machine.

★ Georges Simenon, author of Maigret and other novels.

★ Jean-Michel Saive, table tennis champion.

★ Justine Henin, tennis champion.

★ Hercule Poirot, fictional detective of many of Agatha Christie's famous novels.

★ Louis De Geer, merchant and industrialist.

★ Georges Lemaître, founder of the "big bang" theory of the Universe

See also

★ Walloon Region

★ French Community of Belgium

★ Francophonie

★ Flemish people

External links