Editing History of Belgium (section)

=== Industrial Revolution ===
{{See also|Industrial Revolution#Belgium|History of Wallonia#Industry|Sillon industriel}}
[[File:La coulée à Ougrée.jpg|thumb|Painting of steel production in [[Ougrée]] by [[Constantin Meunier]] (1885)]]
Most of society was highly traditional, especially in rural areas, and the quality of education was low.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Simon |last=Schama |title=The Rights of Ignorance: Dutch Educational Policy in Belgium 1815–30 |journal=History of Education |date=1972 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pp=81–89 |doi=10.1080/0046760720010106}}</ref> Nevertheless, Belgium was the second country, after Britain, in which the industrial revolution took place. It developed into an open economy focused on industrial exports with strong ties between the banking sector and industry.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baten |first=Jörg |title=A History of the Global Economy. From 1500 to the Present. |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-1075-0718-0 |page=20}}</ref>
Industrialization took place in [[Wallonia]] starting in the mid-1820s, and especially after 1830. The availability of cheap coal was a main factor that attracted entrepreneurs. Coke blast furnaces as well as puddling and rolling mills were built in the coal mining areas around [[Liège]] and [[Charleroi]]. The leader was a transplanted Englishman, [[John Cockerill (industrialist)|John Cockerill]]. His factories at [[Seraing]] integrated all stages of production, from engineering to the supply of raw materials, as early as 1825.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Chris |last=Evans |first2=Göran |last2=Rydén |title=The Industrial Revolution in Iron; The impact of British Coal Technology in Nineteenth-Century Europe |publisher=Ashgate |date=2005 |pp=37–38}}</ref>

Industry spread through the [[Sillon industriel]] ("industrial district"), [[Haine]], [[Sambre]] and [[Meuse]] valleys.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Muriel |last=Neven |first2=Isabelle |last2=Devos |editor-first=M. |editor-last=Neven |editor-first2=I. |editor-last2=Devos |title=Recent work in Belgian Historical Demography / Revue Belge d'Histoire Contemporaine / Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Nieuwste Geschiedenis |date=2001 |volume=31 |issue=3–4 |pp=347–359 |journal=Journal of Economic History}}</ref> By 1830 when iron became important the Belgian coal industry had been long-established, and used steam engines for pumping. Coal was sold to local mills and railways as well as to France and Prussia. The textile industry, based on cotton and flax, employed about half of the industrial workforce for much of the industrial period. [[Ghent]] was the premier industrial city in Belgium until the 1880s, when the center of growth moved to [[Liège]], with its steel industry.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Carl |last=Strikwerda |title=A house divided: Catholics, Socialists, and Flemish nationalists in nineteenth-century Belgium |date=1997 |pp=44-46}}</ref>

Wallonia had rich coalfields over much of its area. Deep mines were not required at first so there were a large number of small operations. There was a complex legal system for concessions; often multiple layers had different owners. Entrepreneurs started going deeper and deeper (thanks to the innovation of steam pumping). In 1790, the maximum depth of mines was 220 meters. By 1856, the average depth in the area west of [[Mons, Belgium|Mons]] was 361, and in 1866, some pits had reached down 700 and 900 meters; one was 1,065 meters deep, probably the deepest coal mine in Europe at this time. Gas explosions were a serious problem, and Belgium had high fatality rates. By the late 19th century the seams were becoming exhausted and the steel industry was importing some coal from the Ruhr.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Norman |last=Pounds |first2=William |last2=Parker |title=Coal and steel in Western Europe |date=1957 |at=ch. 5}}</ref>

Cheap and readily available coal attracted firms producing metals and glass, both of which required considerable amounts of coal, and so regions around coal fields became highly industrialised. The [[Sillon industriel]], and in particular the ''[[Pays Noir]]'' around [[Charleroi]], were the centre of the steel industry until the Second World War.

==== Railways ====
[[File:Stoomloc Le Belge.jpg|thumb|right|The first Belgian-produced steam locomotive, ''"The Belgian"'' ([[Le Belge (locomotive)|"''Le Belge''"]]) built in 1835]]
{{Main|History of rail transport in Belgium}}
The nation provided an ideal model for showing the value of the railways for speeding the Industrial Revolution. After 1830, the new nation decided to stimulate industry. It funded a simple cross-shaped system that connected the major cities, ports and mining areas, and linked to neighboring countries. Belgium thus became the railway center of the region. The system was very soundly built along British lines, so that profits and wages were low but the infrastructure necessary for rapid industrial growth was put in place. Léopold I went on to build the [[Rail transport in Belgium|first railway in continental Europe]] in 1835, between Brussels and [[Mechelen]].<ref>{{Cite book |first=Patrick |last=O'Brien |title=Railways and the economic development of Western Europe, 1830–1914 |date=1983 |at=ch. 7}}</ref> The development of smaller railways in Belgium, notably the [[Liège]]–[[Jemappes]] line, was launched by tendering contracts to private companies which "became the model for the extension of small local railways all over the low countries."{{Sfn|Ascherson|1999|page=231}}

By the 1900s, Belgium was a major exporter of trams and other rail components, exporting vast quantities of railway materials. In South America, 3,800 kilometers of track were owned by Belgian firms, with a further 1,500 kilometers in [[Qing dynasty|China]].{{Sfn|Ascherson|1999|page=231}} One Belgian entrepreneur, [[Édouard Empain]], known as the "Tramway King", built many public transport systems across the world, including the [[Paris Métro]].{{Sfn|Ascherson|1999|pages=231–232}}

Other important businesses included [[Cockerill-Sambre]] (steel), the chemical factories of [[Ernest Solvay]], and the firearms maker [[Fabrique Nationale de Herstal]].