Provinces of Belgium Provinces of Belgium The country of Belgium is divided into three regions. Two of these regions, the Flemish Region or Flanders, and Walloon Region, or Wallonia, are each subdivided into five provinces. The third region, the Brussels-Capital Region, is not divided into provinces, as it was originally only a small part of a province itself. Most of the provinces take their name from earlier duchies and counties of similar location, while their territory is mostly based on the departments installed during French annexation. At the time of the creation of Belgium in 1830, only nine provinces existed, including the province
Reestablishment of the episcopal hierarchy in the Netherlands Gelderland), Groningen (Groningen) and Leeuwarden (Friesland), they would form the northern ecclesiastical province of Utrecht. Roermond and 's-Hertogenbosch became part of the southern ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Mechelen (further roughly including present Belgium). After the Dutch Revolt, the northern Netherlands formed the independent Dutch Republic, where Protestant Calvinism was privileged while Catholicism was severely restricted. The first Archbishop of Utrecht, Frederik V Schenck van Toutenburg, was removed from office, thereby ending the short-lived archdiocese. In 1592, Rome declared the province of Utrecht a mission area, the Dutch Mission 'Batavia', soon headed by an apostolic vicar. 's-Hertogenbosch later