|Province of Belgium|
The Coo Waterfalls (municipality of Stavelot)
|Highest point||Signal de Botrange|
|- location||Waimes, Verviers, Liège|
|- elevation||694 m (2,277 ft)|
|Area||3,862 km² (1,491 sq mi)|
|Population||1,098,688 (1 January 2016) |
|Density||284 /km² (736 /sq mi)|
|- summer (DST)||CEST (UTC+2)|
|Website: Official site|
History[change | change source]
The present province comes from a department created by the French government in the late eighteenth century, the Department of Ourte. In 1815, after the defeat of Napoleon, the eastern part (Eupen, Malmedy, Saint-Vith and four other German municipalities) was given to the Prussian empire.
While maintaining the French administrative borders, King William I of the Netherlands gave back the more traditional names of the provinces instead of the names used by the French. He named the province as Liège, remembering the old principality of Liège, although the region did not correspond much to the old principality.
In 1919, after the Prussian defeat, the cantons Eupen, Malmedy and Saint-Vith were again part of the province of Liège.
Geography[change | change source]
The province of Liège is in southeastern Belgium and borders on (clockwise from the North) the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and in Belgium the provinces of Luxembourg, Namur, Walloon Brabant (Wallonia), and those of Flemish Brabant and Limburg (Flanders).
The province has an area of 3,862 km2 (1,491 sq mi), with a population of 1,098,688 and a density of 284.5 inhabitants per km². The province is divided into four arrondissements (arrondissementen in Dutch) with 84 municipalities, 75 French-speaking municipalities and 9 German-speaking municipalities.
Rivers[change | change source]
The main river is the Meuse (Dutch: Maas) river; its source is in France, in Champagne-Ardenne and then flows through Belgium by the provinces of Namur and Liège. After 950 km (590 mi), it flows into the North Sea.
Other rivers in the province are:
- Ourthe, tributary of the Meuse.
- Vesdre, also a tributary of the Meuse.
- Amblève, tributary of the Ourthe.
- Warche, tributary of the Amblève.
- Geer, another tributary of the Meuse.
Administrative divisions[change | change source]
Population by arrondissement[change | change source]
Population on 1 January of each year.
|Province of Liège||1,047,414||1,053,722||1,060,035||1,067,685||1,077,203||1,083,400|
References[change | change source]
- Population per municipality as of 1 January 2016 (XLS; 397 KB)
- "Histoire". Province de Liège (in French). Retrieved 2 September 2013.
- "Géographie". Province de Liège (in French). Retrieved 2 September 2013.
- "Signal de Botrange". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
- "84 communes". Province de Liège (in French). Retrieved 2 September 2013.
- Institut National de Statistique - Direction générale Statistique et Information économique
Other websites[change | change source]
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Liège (province).|
|Wikivoyage has a travel guide about: Liège (province)|
- Official web site of the Liège province (in French)
- Bureau des Relations Extérieures de la Province de Liège (in French, Dutch, German and English)