The France/BENELUX cluster contains some of the most culturally and linguistically diverse peoplegroups in Western Europe. With a large population of immigrants, and the most densely populated lands in Western Europe (the Netherlands), this area also supports culturally vibrant indigenous peoples and transient populations in large numbers.
France | Belgium | The Netherlands
France officially the French Republic (French: République française), is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in Western Europe, but also comprises various overseas islands and territories located in other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. French people often refer to Metropolitan France as “L’Hexagone” (the Hexagon) because of the geometric shape of its territory.
France is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra and Spain. Due to its overseas departments, France also shares land borders with Brazil and Suriname (bordering French Guiana), and Netherlands Antilles (bordering Saint–Martin). France is also linked to the United Kingdom by the Channel Tunnel, which passes underneath the English Channel.
The French Republic is a democracy that is organized as a unitary semi–presidential republic. It is a developed country with the sixth–largest economy in the world. Its main ideals are expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. France is one of the founding members of the European Union, and has the largest land area of all members.
France is also a founding member of the United Nations, and a member of the Francophonie, the G8, and the Latin Union. It is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council wielding veto power, and it is also an acknowledged nuclear power. France is the most popular international tourist destination in the world, receiving more than 75 million foreign tourists annually.
The name France originates from the Franks, a Germanic tribe that occupied northern Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. More precisely, the region around Paris, called “Île–de–France,” was the original French royal demesne.
Boasting a population of more than 63,713,926 (60,876,136 in metropolitan France), France is also home to one of the largest Muslim populations in Europe. Currently, there are 5 to 6 million followers of Islam in France, and the numbers are growing (source: BBC, French government estimate).
The Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe bordered by the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and France, and is one of the founding and core members of the European Union, hosting its headquarters, as well as those of many other major international organizations, such as NATO. Belgium has a population of more than 10.5 million people, in an area of around 30,000 square kilometres (11,700 square miles).
Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe, Belgium is linguistically divided. The Dutch–speaking northern region, Flanders, houses 58 percent of the population. Another 10 percent inhabits the officially bilingual Brussels–Capital region, approximately 85 percent using French. In this enclave within the Flemish region, however, neither language is the primary one for roughly half of the residents.
French is the language in the southern region Wallonia apart from most of the 73,000 inhabitants of its German–speaking community. This linguistic diversity often leads to political and cultural conflict and is reflected in Belgium’s complex system of government and political history.
The Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland) is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Dutch: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden), which consists of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles (Dutch: Nederlandse Antillen) and Aruba. The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy located in northwestern Europe. It is bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east.
The Netherlands is often called Holland. This is incorrect, as the provinces of North and South Holland in the western Netherlands are only two of the country’s 12 provinces.
The Netherlands is a densely populated and geographically low–lying country and is popularly known for its windmills, cheese, clogs (wooden shoes), delftware and gouda pottery, dikes, tulips, bicycles and social tolerance. Also well–known are its liberal policies toward drugs, prostitution, gay rights, abortion and euthanasia.
Information compiled from Wikipedia and The World Factbook