Editing Hasselt (section)

==History==
{{Quote box |width=22em |align=left |bgcolor=#B0D4DE
|title=Historical affiliations
|fontsize=85% |quote=<poem>{{flagicon image|Loon Arms.svg}} [[County of Loon]] 1165–1366
{{flagicon image|LuikVlag.svg}} [[Prince-Bishopric of Liège]] 1366–1789
{{flagicon image|LuikVlag.svg}} [[Republic of Liège]] 1789–1791
{{flagicon image|LuikVlag.svg}} [[Prince-Bishopric of Liège]] 1791–1795
{{flagicon image|Flag of France (1794-1815).svg}} [[French First Republic|French Republic]] 1795–1804
{{flagicon image|Flag of France (1794-1815).svg}} [[First French Empire|French Empire]] 1804–1815
{{flagicon image|Flag of the Netherlands.svg}} [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands|Kingdom of the Netherlands]] 1815–1830
{{flag|Kingdom of Belgium}} 1830–present</poem>
}}
{{See also|History of Belgian Limburg}}
[[File:Hasselt Ferraris.png|thumb|left|Hasselt on the [[Ferraris map]] (around 1775)]]
Hasselt was founded in approximately the 7th century on the Helbeek, a tributary of the [[Demer]] river. During the Middle Ages it became one of the free cities of the [[county of Loon]] (which had borders approximately the same as the current province of Limburg). It was first named in a document in 1165. In 1232 [[Arnold IV, Count of Loon]] gave the city the same freedoms as those enjoyed in Liège. Hasselt became the biggest city in present-day Limburg thanks to its favourable setting, and the proximity of the count's castle at [[Herkenrode Abbey|Herkenrode]] in [[Kuringen]]. In 1366 the county of Loon came under the direct rule of the [[Prince-Bishopric of Liège]] and remained so until the annexation by France in 1794.{{fact|date=January 2025}}

During the [[First French Empire]], the city of [[Maastricht]] became the capital of the [[French Department]] of the [[Lower Meuse]]. This comprised not only the area of the modern province of Limburg in Belgium, but also what is now the [[Limburg (Netherlands)|province of Limburg]] in the Netherlands. After the defeat of [[Napoleon]] in 1815, all of what is now Belgium became part of the [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands]]. During this time, it was [[William I of the Netherlands|King William I]] who re-named the Lower Meuse department after the medieval [[Duchy of Limburg]]. This Duchy was in fact named after [[Limbourg]] on the [[Vesdre]] river, now in the Liège province of Belgium, which had never encompassed Hasselt or Maastricht. Belgium split from the Netherlands in 1830, but the status of Limburg was only resolved nine years later in 1839, with the division of Limburg into Belgian and Dutch parts. Hasselt became the provisional capital of the Belgian province of Limburg. In ecclesiastical terms, Belgian Limburg became an independent entity from the [[Diocese of Liège]] only in 1967, and Hasselt became the seat of the new [[Diocese of Hasselt]].{{fact|date=January 2025}}

In 1977, Hasselt merged with several surrounding municipalities attaching the current [[Deelgemeente|sub-municipalities]] of [[Kermt]], [[Kuringen]], [[Sint-Lambrechts-Herk]], [[Stevoort]] and [[Wimmertingen]].{{fact|date=January 2025}}

Since the beginning of the 21st century, many urban renewal projects have taken place in the city, including the construction of the Two Towers (TT) neighborhood. From 1 January 2025, the neighboring village of [[Kortessem]] will merge into Hasselt, becoming a new sub-municipality.{{fact|date=January 2025}}