History of Belgium on matters of religion and, in recent decades, it has faced new divisions over differences of language and unequal economic development. This ongoing antagonism has caused far-reaching reforms since the 1970s, changing the formerly unitary Belgian state into a federal state, and repeated governmental crises. It is now divided into three regions: Flanders (Dutch-speaking) in the north, Wallonia (French-speaking) in the south, and bilingual Brussels in the middle. There is also a German-speaking population along the border with Germany that was granted to Prussia in the Congress of Vienna in 1815 but added to Belgium following the 1919 Treaty of
Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium an independent solely Dutch-speaking Flemish academy while the Royal Academy of Belgium remained a bilingual institution hosting members both from the north and from the south of the country. The bilingual status of the Royal Academy however caused difficulties over the course of the years which ultimately were resolved in 1971 by splitting the Royal Academy into an independent solely Dutch-speaking entity and an independent solely French-speaking entity. The law of 1 July 1971 put both academies in linguistic equality: henceforth their own lingua franca is used (respectively the French and the Dutch) and they bear the same denomination. In