Charleroi (, ,"Charleroi" (US) and ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not far from the border with France. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.Statistics Belgium; Population de droit par commune au 1 janvier 2008 (excel-file) Population of all municipalities in Belgium, as of 1 January 2008. Retrieved on 19 October 2008. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of with a total population of 522,522 by 1 January 2008, ranking it as the 5th most populous in Belgium after Brussels, Antwerp, Liège, and Ghent.Statistics Belgium; De Belgische Stadsgewesten 2001 (pdf-file) Definitions of metropolitan areas in Belgium. The metropolitan area of Charleroi is divided into three levels. First, the central agglomeration (agglomeratie) with 288,549 inhabitants (2008-01-01). Adding the closest surroundings (banlieue or suburbs), the total of 405,236. And, with the outer commuter zone (forensenwoonzone), the population is 522,522. Retrieved on 19 October 2008. The inhabitants are called Carolorégiens or simply Carolos.
History The Charleroi area was already settled in the prehistoric period, with traces of metallurgical and commercial activities along the Sambre. Several public buildings, temples and villas were built in the area in the Roman period. Burial places, with jewels and weapons, have been found. The first written mention of a place called Charnoy dates from a 9th-century offering in the Lobbes abbey, which lists various neighboring towns and related tithe duties. During the Middle Ages, Charnoy was one of the many small hamlets in the area, with no more than about 50 inhabitants, part of the County of Namur.
Foundation Spanish territorial losses in the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees left a gap between the key fortresses of Mons and Namur; to fill this, Francisco Castel Rodrigo, then Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, expropriated land around Charnoy to build a fortress near the Sambre. In September 1666, it was renamed Charle-roi, or King Charles, in honour of five-year-old Charles II of Spain; the chronogram FVNDATVR CAROLOREGIVM (MDCLVVVI) can be found in the register of the parish of Charnoy.
Construction had only just begun when the War of Devolution with France began in 1667, and the Spanish withdrew. France retained the town under the 1668 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, and its fortifications were completed by Vauban. A bridge was built over the Sambre, connecting the Ville Haute and Ville Basse, with incentives offered to persuade people to settle there. The French relinquished control in 1678, and although it changed hands several times over the next 50 years, the town remained part of the Netherlands until the foundation of modern Belgium.
1666–1830
Shortly after its foundation, the new city was in turn besieged by the Dutch, ceded to the Spanish in 1678 (Treaty of Nijmegen), taken by the French in 1693, ceded again to the Spanish in 1698 (Treaty of Rijswijk), then taken by the French, the Dutch and the Austrians in 1714 (Treaty of Baden). The French Prince of Conti took the city again in 1745, but it was ceded back to Austria in 1748, beginning a period of prosperity under Joseph II. Glass, steel and coal industries, which had already sprung up a century earlier, could now flourish.
Trouble began again in 1790, the year of the civil uprising that eventually led to the United States of Belgium. The Austrians occupied the city, were forced out by the French after the Battle of Jemappes on 6 November 1792, and took it back again four months later. On 12 June 1794, the French revolutionary Army of Sambre-et-Meuse under the command of Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, invested Charleroi and won a decisive victory in the ensuing Battle of Fleurus. The city took the revolutionary name of Libre-sur-Sambre until 1800. After France's defeat in 1814, the whole area was annexed to the Netherlands, and new walls were built around the city. Napoleon stayed in Charleroi for a couple of days in June 1815, just before the Battle of Waterloo.
1830 to present
The Belgian Revolution of 1830 gave the area its freedom from the Netherlands and ushered in a new era of prosperity, still based mostly on glass, metallurgy and coal, hence the area's name, Pays Noir ("Black Country"). After the Industrial Revolution, Charleroi benefited from the increased use of coke in the metallurgical industry. People from across Europe were attracted by the economic opportunities, and the population grew rapidly.
Following the Industrial Revolution in Wallonia, Charleroi from the 1850s–1860s became one of the most important places where labor strikes broke out. In 1886, 12 strikers were killed by the Belgian army in Roux. In the 1880s, miners in Hainaut were recruited by the Dominion Coal Company in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.But a consular report indicated they were dissatisfied with wages and working conditions, and they moved to other mining centers. These Walloon miners were experienced in organizing unions and working-men's associations. They immigrated also to collieries on Vancouver Island in Canada. See Louis Balthazar, Leen Haenens, Images of Canadianness: Visions on Canada's Politics, Culture, Economics, International Council for Canadian Studies, University of Ottawa Press, 1998, . These miners were anxious to flee the repression following bloody strikes and riots in Liège and CharleroiLouis Balthazar and Leen Haenens, Images of Canadianness: Visions on Canada's Politics, Culture, Economics, International Council for Canadian Studies, University of Ottawa Press, 1998, p. 73, . during the Walloon Jacquerie of 1886. Walloon miners from Charleroi also emigrated to Alberta, Canada.Miners from Wallonia began arriving at the collieries in Alberta to work for West Canadian Collieries, founded in 1903 by a group of French and Belgian entrepreneurs, and for Canadian Coal Consolidated, a Paris-based firm. Léon Cabeaux, a well-known union leader, who had organized a particularly violent strike in Hainaut in 1886, settled in Lethbridge and soon attracted disgruntled compatriots from the collieries in Pennsylvania in the US. The miners soon became deeply involved in labor radicalism, because in Alberta the mine disasters were among the worst anywhere, and there were no provisions for the welfare of families of the miners maimed or killed in the workplace. Frank Soulet, Joseph Lothier and Gustave Henry emerged as dedicated socialist union leaders. in Louis Balthazar and Leen Haenens, Images of Canadianness: Visions on Canada's Politics, Culture, Economics, International Council for Canadian Studies, University of Ottawa Press, 1998, p. 75, . The working men of Charleroi always played an important role in Belgian general strikes and particularly during the Belgian general strike of 1936, the general strike against Leopold III of Belgium, and the 1960–1961 winter general strike.
By 1871, the fortified walls around the city were completely torn down.
Heavy fighting took place during World War I due to the city's strategic location on the Sambre. The city was badly damaged with further destruction only being prevented by the Couillet Treaty agreed with the German forces which required the payment of 10 million Belgian Francs, foodstuffs, vehicles and armaments. The magazine Spirou, which featured the popular cartoon characters Lucky Luke and the Smurfs, was launched by the publishing company Éditions Dupuis in 1938. After World War II, Charleroi witnessed a general decline of its heavy industry. Following the merger with several surrounding municipalities in 1977, the city ranks as the largest city in Wallonia and the fourth-largest in Belgium.
Logotype As part of the effort to improve its identity, the city adopted a new logo and graphic charter in early 2015, designed by the Brussels studio Pam and Jenny.
The crown of three triangles above the C has several meanings:
The triangular shape evokes the slag heaps, yesterday black and today green, which symbolise the city's industrial past and its factories. It also recalls the crest of the cockerel designed by Pierre Paulus and symbol of Wallonia. The crown refers to King Charles II who gave his name to the city at the time of its foundation. The typography used is also very similar to that used in the logo of ACEC, a historic company founded, developed and finally closed down in Charleroi in 1989 after more than a century of existence.
Geography
The municipality of Charleroi straddles both banks of the river Sambre in an area marked by industrial activities (coal mining and steel industry), which has been nicknamed the Pays Noir ("Black Country"), part of the larger sillon industriel. Even though most of the factories have closed since the 1950s, the landscape remains dotted with spoil tips and old industrial buildings.
Charleroi lies around south of Brussels.
The municipality comprises: I. the central district of Charleroi
and the following former municipalities, now sections, merged into Charleroi in 1977:
II. Dampremy III. Lodelinsart IV. Gilly V. Montignies-sur-Sambre VI. Couillet VII. Marcinelle VIII. Mont-sur-Marchienne IX. Marchienne-au-Pont X. Monceau-sur-Sambre XI. Goutroux XII. Roux XIII. Jumet XIV. Gosselies XV. Ransart
Neighboring municipalities:
a. Les Bons Villers b. Fleurus c. Châtelet d. Gerpinnes e. Ham-sur-Heure-Nalinnes f. Montigny-le-Tilleul g. Fontaine-l'Évêque h. Courcelles i. Pont-à-Celles
Topography and hydrography
The topography of Charleroi is influenced by the valley of the river Sambre, which flows from west to east before joining the Meuse at Namur. The Piéton river flows from north to south to join the Sambre at Dampremy. The Charleroi-Brussels canal is dug in the valley of this stream. The Eau d'Heure river comes from the south and also flows into the Sambre at Marchienne-au-Pont. About twenty streams run through the territory of the municipality.
The altitude ranges from 100 metres (Sambre and Piéton valleys) to over 220 metres at the Bois du Prince in Marcinelle. The level is 132 metres on the Place Charles II. The height of the slag heaps often exceeds 200 metres, the Saint-Charles slag heap in the Bois du Cazier reaches 241 metres.
Biodiversity The six slag heaps in the Pays Noir are reservoirs of biodiversity that should be preserved.
Like the calcareous grassland, the slag heaps are habitats created by human activity that are home to many very specific and often threatened animal and plant species. The rarity of these species depends on the rarity of the environment itself (the biotope). Biodiversity is also present in other environments: in a wasteland, a body of water, a meadow, etc. In terms of biodiversity, it is therefore preferable to maintain a mosaic of habitats, hence the interest in preserving different types of environments on the slag heaps.
The Viviers site, for example, is an old mining site located in the east of Charleroi (Gilly). This site has a small conical slag heap and large open areas consisting mainly of pioneer grassland and wasteland. It also includes a small body of water as well as temporary ponds, and some wooded areas on the western and northern edges. This particular biotope is of great biological interest and acts as a refuge for a diverse fauna. The vast reed bed surrounding the pond is home to the red warbler, a passerine bird specific to this type of vegetation. Several species of amphibians can be seen here, including a population of the natterjack toad, as well as certain insects, such as the magnificent blue-winged grasshopper.