Charleroi
Charleroi (Walloon: Tchålerwè) is a city and a municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. On January 1st, 2002 Charleroi had a total population of 200,578 (96,625 males and 103,953 females). The total area is 103.09 km² which gives a population density of 1,945.66 inhabitants per km². The agglomeration is around 500,000It is the fourth largest city in Belgium and the largest in Wallonia. The inhabitants are called Carolingians.
The municipality features an industrial area, iron and steel industry, glassmakings, chemicals, electrical engineerings. Charleroi is in the center of a vast coal basin, maintaining completely given up, called Pays noir. Surrounding the town, there are still many slag heaps.
History
The origin of the city is a small village named Charnoy, in 1666 the Spaniards build there a fortress which was named Charleroy in the honor of the child-king Charles II.
See also
