REGION WALLONNE - Geography and history
Wallonia lies in the south of Belgium and covers a total area of 16 844 km2, over half of the total national territory.
The land rises gradually from west to east, reaching its highest point in the Signal de Botrange (694 m). The region has a climate which is influenced by the Gulf Stream and thus characterised by mild temperatures, heavy cloud cover and often abundant precipitation.
Wallonia has long exploited its natural resources. In the past this meant coal, but today shale, marble, sandstone, porphyry, bluestone, cement lime and dolomite are mined. Water, which has always served as a means of communication within the region, is still an important resource. The same is true of the dense forests of the Ardennes, which cover 30% of the land between the Condroz and the Gaume, deciduous and coniferous timber supplying almost 200 holdings.
Wallonia, which is today at the hub of a particularly dense communications network, has always been home to many different peoples, all of whom have found the necessary resources to flourish and have turned the region into a European melting-pot of industry, trade, culture and art.
From metalworking to biotechnology
The traditionally industrial region of Wallonia made a major contribution to the technologies of the first industrial revolution. Air and steam pumps were in common use in coal mines from 1810, which was when the Englishman William Cockerill provided the Verviers textile industry with its first carding and spinning machines. Shortly afterwards, the first rolling mills and coke-fired blast furnaces made their appearance in the Liège and Borinage regions, and these formed a starting point for metalworking, mechanical and electrical industries which would soon be exporting their products worldwide.
The metalworking, electrical and textile industries, together with the extraction and processing of non-ferrous minerals (glass, sodium), were the mainstays of Wallonia's economy until the third quarter of the twentieth century, when these strengths became weaknesses.
Shaken by the changes to the world economic order, but strengthened by its industrial tradition, highly skilled workforce and its research and development skills, Wallonia has embarked on a long process of converting and modernising its production apparatus in a bid to boost output and innovation potential in traditional sectors (which are still preponderant) and to steer production towards new technologies. Of these, biotechnology and new materials are two areas where there have been particularly high levels of investment.
Wallonia's twin development axes
Wallonia's infrastructure and economic activities revolve around two axes.
Firstly, the north-south axis links Walloon Brabant (South of Brussels) to the province of Luxembourg, which borders the Grand Duchy of the same name. This axis was essentially rural, had a low population density and no major built-up areas.
It has recently seen new development, the three focal points being as follows:
in the north, the industrial zones of Wavre and Nivelles (light industry and the distributive trades), and the science parks of Louvain-la-Neuve and Gembloux (university institutions);
in the centre, the development of the city of Namur, the capital of the Walloon region;
in the south, the revival of the Athus-Arlon region, mainly by means of the "European development center" set up in collaboration with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and France in this border zone.
Secondly, the east-west axis along the Sambre/Meuse that links Wallonia's two large traditional industrials basins of Liège and Charleroi. These are centred on the iron and steel and electromechanical industries, and are finding new ways of developing, by modernising production and extending the following branches: aeronautics, new materials, electronics, computing, etc.
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