Flemish Region Flemish Region The Flemish Region (, ; ) is one of the three regions of the Kingdom of Belgium—alongside the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region. Colloquially, it is usually simply referred to as "Flanders". It occupies the northern part of Belgium and covers an area of 13,522 km (44.29% of Belgium). It is one of the most densely populated regions of Europe with around 480 inhabitants per square kilometer. The Flemish Region should not be confused with the Flemish community: the latter encompasses both the inhabitants of the Flemish Region and the Dutch-speaking minority living in the Brussels Capital-Region.
History of the Dutch language language are Belgium, the Netherlands, Suriname, Aruba and Curacao. Within the Indo-European language tree, Dutch is grouped within the Germanic languages, which means it shares a common ancestor with languages such as English, German, and Scandinavian languages. This common, but not direct, ancestor (proto-language) of all contemporary Germanic languages is called "Proto-Germanic", commonly assumed to have originated in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe. All Germanic languages are united by subjection to the sound shifts of Grimm's law and Verner's law which originated Proto-Germanic. These two laws define the basic differentiating features of Germanic languages that