Democracy History Of Belgium
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Between 800 to 1000, the Vikings constantly attacked the low countries that demanded defensive measures especially in Flanders that flanked the North Sea, which led to the emergence of local lords and overlords and the monks put up big abbeys and opened up the fertile land by reclaiming it from the sea, draining the swamps, cleaning up the waste lands and cutting down the forests, which coupled with the warm climate provided enough food and allowed the population to grow.
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Subsequently, the international merchants were instrumental in forming the first stock exchange in the world in Bruges that encouraged many traders to make money in the free Flanders and thus, Free Enterprise Capitalism came up in Flanders.
Things went wrong in the sixteenth century due to the Religious wars that broke out between the followers of Catholicism and the newer group of Protestants who could now access the bible in local languages due to the efforts of Luther, Calvin and other social reformers. The people from the lower countries chose to be Protestants that led the Spanish Catholic army to suppress their move, killing many people and the Lords. A revolution that came about in the latter half of the sixteenth century split up the northern part of the Low Countries from the southern, and most of the intellectual Protestants fled to the North, while Belgium at the southern end was left being Catholic.
The Netherlands gradually became one of the known world powers through the 17th century to the 18th century, while the Austrians, French and the Spaniards ruled the present day Belgium until the death of Napoleon Bonaparte and thus, in 1815, the southern part of the Netherlands was added to the Northern part, and in 1830 Belgium was declared a liberal state.
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