Waterloo, Belgium

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Waterloo "The top of the knoll and the famous lion. "They have spoiled my Battlefield" - Wellington.

Waterloo "The way to the famous lion".

Waterloo is a Walloon municipality located in the province of Walloon Brabant, Belgium.

On January 1, 2006 Waterloo had a total population of 29,315. The total area is 21.03 km² which gives a population density of 1,394 inhabitants per km².

One quarter of the current registered population are non-Belgian, most of whom work for institutions in Brussels, the capital of the European Union.

Waterloo is also home to St. John's International School, one of the largest and oldest international schools in Belgium.

1 Battle of Waterloo
2 Modern-Day Waterloo
3 Origin of the name
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Battle of Waterloo

Main article: Battle of Waterloo

Waterloo's claim to fame is the famous Battle of Waterloo (June 18, 1815) between the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Alliance of the Seventh Coalition (Great Britain, Prussia, Austria and others), under the main allied commanders, the Duke of Wellington and General von Blücher. There is a memorial in the form of a statue of a lion (looking towards France) on a hill, with 226 stairs, called La Butte du Lion. Other attractions related to the battle are the Wellington Museum and la Chapelle where Wellington is said to have made a prayer before going into battle.

The Wellington Museum on the Chaussee de Bruxelles

The view from the top of the Lion's Mound La Butte de Lion

[edit] Modern-Day Waterloo

Today Waterloo contains two Carrefour hypermarkets, a Delhaize store, a Ibis hotel, a Fortis Bank branch, numerous office parks and two international schools: St. John's International School and the Scandinavian school. A row of shops, called Petit Paris is along Chaussee de Waterloo from the church to the intersection with Dreve Richelle

There are also numerous bars that are very popular on the weekends. One in particular is "Le Marginal" which is located next to the main church in the center of town.

[edit] Origin of the name

The placename, of Dutch origin, is most likely derived from "water", which means water and lo(o), which is an ancient word for forest. Possibly, the early settlement was located near marshy woods.