Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo (, , ) is a Walloon municipality in the province of Walloon Brabant, Belgium, which in 2011 had a population of 29,706 and an area of . It is north of Braine-l'Alleud, which is the site of the Battle of Waterloo, where the resurgent Napoleon was defeated for the final time in 1815. Waterloo is a Francophone town. The placename has Brabantian Dutch origins. The first element is most likely "water", but it should be understood locally as "wet". The second element is "lo(o)", an ancient word for "forest" or "clearing in a forest", coming either from
Waterloo, Belgium road towards Brussels explains why the battle took place just south of Waterloo. It was important for the allies to stop Napoleon from reaching Brussels, just away, and Waterloo was the last settlement to cross before negotiating the forest and getting to Brussels. In 1977, the second half of the hamlet of Chenois was detached from Braine-l’Alleud and became part of Waterloo together with a part of the hamlet next to the Lion. In 1995, the province of Brabant was divided to match the limits of the regions created in 1980 (Wallonia, Brussels, Flanders). The part in which Waterloo is