Geography |
The Kingdom of Belgium is located north-western Europe and borders France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany. The English Channel on the north-west separates it from the United Kingdom. It is about 280 km long, 145 km wide and has an area of 30 528 km2.
Belgium has three main physiographic regions: the coastal plain, the central plateau, and the Ardennes highlands.
The coastal lowlands extend across most of northern Belgium and inland about 16 to 48 km. Wide, sandy beaches lie along the North Sea coast. As in the Netherlands, natural dunes and a system of sea walls and dikes protect the lowlands near the coast from flooding. These lowlands, called polders, form a humid, treeless plain crisscrossed by drainage canals. The coastal plain's elevation ranges from sea level to about 20 m. Farther inland, the terrain becomes slightly rolling, with elevations as high as 90 meters. The soil consists of a thin layer of sand over clay.
The gently rolling land of the central plateau occupies central Belgium. This region has Belgium's best soils. The fertile valleys of the Sambre and Meuse rivers form the southern boundary of the plateau.
The Ardennes, a densely wooded plateau averaging 460 m elevation, covers south-eastern Belgium. A band of sandstone ridges and limestone valleys just south of the Sambre and Meuse rivers forms the northernmost part of the region. Farther south lie the woodlands of the Famenne, an area where rivers have carved numerous caves in soft limestone. The remainder of the Ardennes consists mainly of forest-covered hills separated by winding rivers. The area is generally rocky and poorly suited to agriculture. Botrange Mountain, the highest point in Belgium, rises 694 m.
Belgium has a rainy climate with cool summers and mild winters, although temperature extremes are more marked in the Ardennes. West winds blowing in from the sea bring the country moisture and moderate temperatures throughout most of the year. In Brussels, the temperature averages 2° C in January and 18° C in July. The coastal region averages 710 mm of precipitation a year; more than 1 000 mm falls yearly in the Ardennes. Snow is common throughout the country but seldom lasts long except in the Ardennes.
The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.