East Flanders

Coordinates: 51°00′N 03°45′E / 51.000°N 3.750°E / 51.000; 3.750
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East Flanders
Oost-Vlaanderen  (Dutch)
Flag of East Flanders
Coat of arms of East Flanders
Location of East Flanders
Coordinates: 51°00′N 03°45′E / 51.000°N 3.750°E / 51.000; 3.750
Country Belgium
Region Flanders
Capital
(and largest city)
Ghent
Government
 • GovernorCarina Van Cauter (Open Vld)
Area
 • Total3,007 km2 (1,161 sq mi)
Population
 (1 January 2022)[2]
 • Total1,543,865
 • Density513/km2 (1,330/sq mi)
HDI (2019)0.932[3]
very high · 6th of 11
Websitewww.oost-vlaanderen.be

East Flanders [4] (Dutch: Oost-Vlaanderen, French: Flandre-Orientale, German: Ostflandern) is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium.

Its capital, and also the largest city of the province, is Ghent (Dutch: Gent, French: Gand).

Name[change | change source]

East in East Flanders means that it is in eastern part of Flanders, a region that forms part of the present Belgium. The word Flanders refers to the historic county of Flanders and appears for the first time in the year 358 under the name pagus Flandrensis[5] (pagus is a Latin word meaning a very small town, with only few houses).

The pagus Flandrensis region was a coastal area with large tidal channels and green marshes where sheep farmers lived.[5]

The modern province of East Flanders was the old Escaut department, created in 1795 during the First French Empire in the eastern part of the County[N 1] of Flanders.

In 1815, during the creation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the department became the province of East Flanders.

Geography[change | change source]

East Flanders borders (clockwise from the North) on the Netherlands and in Belgium on the provinces of Antwerp, Flemish Brabant (both in Flanders), of Hainaut (Wallonia) and of West Flanders (Flanders).

The province has an area of 3,007 square kilometres (1,161 square miles) with a population of about 1,544,000 in 2022.

The capital and biggest city is Ghent, also the second largest city in the Flemish Region. Other smaller cities are Aalst, Sint-Niklaas and Dendermonde in the east of the province.

Its highest point is Hotondberg, 150 m (492 ft) high, in the municipality of Kluisbergen, Oudenaarde district.

The main river in the province is the Scheldt (Dutch: Schelde, French: Escaut); it merges with the Leie in Ghent. The Dender flows into the Scheldt in the city of Dendermonde.

Administrative divisions[change | change source]

The province of Hainaut is divided into six arrondissements (Aalst, Dendermonde, Eeklo, Ghent, Oudenaarde and Sint-Niklaas) and a total of 60 municipalities since 2019.

Map of the municipalities of Hainaut
(names are in the following table)
Municipalities by arrondissements, with their numbers in the map
Aalst Dendermonde Eeklo
Ghent Oudenaarde Sint-Niklaas

Population by arrondissement[change | change source]

Population x 1,000 (on 1 January since 1980).[6]

Arrondissement 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
Aalst 265 263 258 262 274 294
Dendermonde 175 180 182 186 193 202
Eeklo 86 80 79 79 82 86
Ghent 472 486 486 495 527 564
Oudenaarde 113 113 112 114 120 125
Sint-Niklaas 199 209 215 224 237 255
Province of East Flanders 1,310 1,330 1,331 1,362 1,432 1,525

Notes[change | change source]

  1. In this case "county" (French: Comté) means "land under a count (the British earl)."

References[change | change source]

  1. "Bodembezetting volgens het Kadasterregister". statbel.fgov.be.
  2. "Structuur van de bevolking". statbel.fgov.be.
  3. "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab". Archived from the original on 2021-07-29.
  4. Official name is Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen (Dutch).
  5. 5.0 5.1 "Vanwaar kom de naam Vlaanderen en wat was de naam daarvoor?". Ik heb een vraag (in Dutch). Retrieved 9 August 2013.
  6. Institut national de statistique - Direction générale Statistique et information économique

Other websites[change | change source]