Country Belgium Region Wallonia Area codes 068 Postal code 7880 Area code 068 Arrondissement Arrondissement of Ath | Community French Community Postal codes 7880 Website www.flobecq.be Local time Monday 10:34 AM Province Hainaut | |
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Weather 9°C, Wind N at 13 km/h, 78% Humidity Governing parties Parti Socialiste, Centre démocrate humaniste | ||
Flobecq (Dutch: Vloesberg; Picard: Flôbek) is a Walloon municipality (with language facilities for Dutch) located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. It borders to the municipalities of Ellezelles (to the west) and Lessines (to the east) in the same province and to Brakel in the province of East Flanders, on the other side of the language border.
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Map of 7880 Flobecq, Belgium
On January 1, 2008, Flobecq had a total population of 3,287. The total area is 23.00 km² which gives a population density of 143 inhabitants per km².
Flobecq is a tourist village. Each year, on the nearest Friday to 17 January, there is a marvelous local feast based on the adoration of Saint Antony.
History
Flobecq was initially under strong influence of Tournai and, as in Tournai, Picard was spoken there. Since the 13th century, the area was continuously disputed between the County of Flanders and the County of Hainaut. Therefore, the region (including neighbouring places like Lessines, Ellezelles, ...) was often called "debate land" (Dutch: debattenland; French: terre des débats).
In 1963, when the language border was fixed, within the municipality of Flobecq, only the village of La Houppe/D'Hoppe was Dutch-speaking. However, the village was not transferred to Dutch-speaking East Flanders and remained in French-speaking area. Instead, Flobecq as a whole became a municipality with language facilities for Dutch.