A follow-up on map #176, portraying the end of Belgium via the drowning of Flanders. Considering that Belgium is a slightly surreal construction at the heart of Europe (Western Europe anyway), the other option to its utter annihilation can only be its expansion to superpower-size. As is done on this map, showing a Europe dominated by a ballooning Belgian superstate.
* Belgium occupies most of the European mainland, its usually tiny coastline expanded to cover the whole north of the continent, from De Panne to Knokke. Medium-sized Belgian towns such as Ghent, Leuven, Charleroi and Antwerp are portrayed as European megacities. South of Brussels (located near Munich in the real world) begin the Ardennes, the undulating hill country in the south of Belgium that is here identified with the Alps.
* Thus, Switzerland is the ‘Swiss Ardennes’, northern Italy is the ‘Italian Ardennes’ and of course there are also the ‘Austrian Ardennes’.
* The Netherlands, in real life slightly bigger than Belgium, has shrunk to a small, northern appendage that ‘speaks a dialect of Flemish’. Similarly, France ‘speaks a dialect of Walloon’, and West Germany (‘speaks dialect of Luxembourgeois’) – which is all sort of true, come to think of it.
* The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, in contrast to the relative shrinkage of the Netherlands, has grown together with Belgium, dominating South-Eastern Europe.
* The North Sea henceforth is called the ‘North Belgian Sea’ and the English Channel is renamed the ‘Belgian Channel’; the only locality named in England is the ‘Village of London’.
* Spain, finally, is labelled ‘Summer Belgium’, its Mediterranean coast called ‘Costa del Belges’.
This delightfully Belgocentric map of Europe was sent to me by Sarah Ratayczak, who is partially of Belgian descent. “I saw the map attached on the door of a Poli Sci professor’s office when I was an undergrad at Wisconsin about 10 years a go. I asked for a copy – its Belgocentric view of the world appealed to me because my mom’s family is from Belgium (long long ago).”
Funny… I like the expansion of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg together with Belgium. Today, the economic expansion of the Luxembourg province is helped by the economic expansion of the Grand-Duchy. Of course, that’s true for any country when they have common borders and/or share a little bit of culture.
Comment by adulau — October 17, 2007 @
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I think this map can also be interpreted as how Belgian tourists see the rest of Europe.
The Belgian coast and the Ardennes are very popular holiday destinations. The indicated cities like Ghent (where I’m from), Antwerp, Mechelen are good for daytrips, but Brugge and Dinant are missing. The Spanish coast is popular too. And countries like France, Germany and the Netherlands are ok, since they speak one of the Belgium’s national languages there. ;-)
I prefer other parts of Europe and beyond :-)
Comment by Romanov — October 17, 2007 @
Just to say I find this an incredibly hilarious map. And I’m pleasantly surprised it has an American origin according to your last paragraph.
Comment by Ludwig — October 17, 2007 @
From the distinctive style of lettering, I wonder if this may be by the surrealist cartoonist GlenBaxter.
Comment by Rubrick — October 17, 2007 @
I think the point of this map is that Brussels, to Europeans, represents the administration of the European Union. The ballooning that is taking place is the growth of bureaucracy and red tape at the hands of so-called “Eurocrats” who over-legislate and over-prescribe rules for every little circumstance that can arise among members of the EU.
Comment by Andy — October 17, 2007 @
Antwerp has 460,000 inhabitants. It’s hardly a medium-sized town.
Comment by Cairnarvon — October 19, 2007 @
I strongly doubt that the point of this map has anything to do with the European Union.
It’s actually a very accurate representation of the world view of a typical Belgian.
Despite being able to drive through the country in two hours, for someone living in Leuven, Kortrijk is like the other side of the world. Any place that would take longer then 20 minutes to reach would need to be turned into atleast a daytrip to make traveling such a distance worth while. Most Belgians don’t realise how small our country actually is, and so when we do travel, we don’t want to venture to far away from home. Spain is probably the furthest most Belgians are willing to go, and only because that is where the sun is.
In a Eurocentric version, the rest of Belgium wouldn’t even be worth mentioning and our nation would actually be called Brussels instead.
For the same reason that our national airline carrier is called Brussels Airlines and not Belgian Airways.
Comment by Patrik — October 19, 2007 @
I second Patrick’s interpretation in comment 9: the map is testimony to the way in which distances are experienced by belgians. Take note of Caimarvon’s remark #8: he thinks 460.000 inhabitants is ‘hardly a mediums-sized town’. This is typical for Belgians, who calculate distance and size relatively to their small world , but is even more typical for an inhabitant of antwerp, who are all convinced they are living in a ‘metropole’.
Comment by olivier — October 21, 2007 @
Easy there olivier, what I think Cairnarvon meant was that, on the scale of Belgium, Antwerp is hardly a medium-sized town, considering it is the second biggest city of the country. And let’s not forget its harbour too.
Comment by Horta — October 24, 2007 @
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Pingback by Comment on 184 - A Belgocentric Map of Europe by swiftda » Blog … by swiftda — November 4, 2007 @
People in belgium aren’t that cocky to talk to too. Maybe its because I couldn’t speak Flemish.
Comment by cyclepromo — November 9, 2007 @
[...] maps lives up to its name. I like this map of a Belgium-dominated [...]
Pingback by Oh, Internet why do you include so many interesting things? « Martin’s Blog — November 9, 2007 @
[...] gespot op het grote boze internet. Strangemaps.wordpress.com met onder andere deze kaart met Belgie als centrum van europa maar ook met kaarten van hoe Amerika er zou uitgezien hebben moest het even verdeeld zijn geweest [...]
Pingback by rare mappen « Hoofdtelefoon — December 16, 2007 @
This map was originally drawn by George Sifkin (spelling?) around 1989. She was an American diplomat station in Brussels at the time.
Comment by James — February 4, 2008 @
Maybe the cartoonist is a little too Belgocentric, because Amsterdam has moved to the other side of the IJsselmeer ;)
Comment by Jan van Thiel — May 18, 2008 @
Wow, an expansionist Belgium. I’ve always been a little scared of Belgium, I mean, you know all those coal mines they’ve got….they’re really a sinister plot to undermine the rest of Europe and sink it into the sea.
Comment by Hillary Shaw — June 29, 2008 @