Обалдеть, сколько их, оказывается :-)
Сперто отсюда.
Famous people from Belgium
Belgium was only founded in 1830 and the country is so small, there aren't so many world-famous Belgians. The following list includes people born in what is now Belgium, regardless of which country it belonged to at the time.
Monarchs
Belgians were often at the center of European politics. Here are a few renowned monarchs and military leaders :
Charles Martel (686-741), stopped the Islamic conquest of Europe from Spain at Poitiers in 732. He is also the founder of the Carolingian dynasty. He was born in Andenne, between Namur and Huy, in the heart of Wallonia.
Pepin the Short (714-768), son of Charles Martel and father of Charlemagne. He was born in Jupille near Liege.
Charlemagne (742-814), son of the above. He is the founder of the Holy Roman Empire, which last until 1806 (the longest running European empire). He was born in Jupille or Herstal, both suburbs of Liege.
Duke Godfrey of Bouillon (1060-1100) was the knight who lead the first European crusade to Jerusalem. He refused the title of king of Jerusalem and became defender of the Holy Sepulchre instead.
Baldwin IX (1172-1205), Count of Flanders & Hainaut, was the leader of the 4th crusade and became the first emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople.
Emperor Charles V of Habsburg (1500-1558), Europe's most powerful Renaissance monarch, was born in Ghent (Northern Belgium) and educated there in French. He accumulated. among others, the titles of Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain (including Southern Italy) and the Netherlands and Duke of Milan, and oversaw the Spanish colonisation of the Americas.
Leopold I (1790-1865), first King of the Belgians and Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. He was the uncle of both Queen Victoria of England and her Consort Albert .
King Leopold II (1835-1909), second King of the Belgians, created a private empire in Congo with the help of famous Welsh explorer Stanley (who said "Dr Livingstone, I presume"). Leopold II is remembered for constructing numerous public buildings around Belgium, but also for was his responsibility in the death of an estimated 5-21 million Africans during his ruthless enterprise to extract rubber and ivory.
Artists
See Works by Flemish Painters
Jan van Eyck (1385-1441) & Hubert van Eyck (1366-1426), late-medieval painters
Lambert Lombard (1505-1566), Flemish Renaissance painter
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), baroque painter
Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), baroque painter and leading court painter in England
Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525-1569) & Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564-1638), renaissance painters
Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625),& Jan Brueghel the Younger (1601-1678), baroque painters
André Grétry (1741-1813), classical music composer
Adolphe Sax (1816-1896), inventor of the saxophone
César Franck (1822-1890), classical music composer
James Ensor (1860-1949), expressonist and surrealist painter
Victor Horta (1861-1947), art-nouveau architect
Rene Magritte (1898-1967), surrealist painter
Georges Simenon (1903-1989), novelist (Insperctor Maigret)
Hergé (1907-1983), creator of world-famous comics "Tintin".
André Franquin (1924-1997), creator of the comics "Spirou et Fantasio", "Gaston Lagaffe" and "Marsupilami".
Jacques Brel (1929-1978), singer
Actress Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) was born in Belgium of an English father and Dutch mother.
Julos Beaucarne (1936-), singer
Salvatore Adamo (1943-), singer
Jean-Claude Van Damme (1960-), Hollywood actor
Lara Fabian (1970-), singer
Sandra Kim (1972-), singer
Other famous Belgians
Ambiorix, Gaul chief, prince of Eburones, who resisted the invasion of Julius Caesar.
Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594), inventor of the world-map projection that bears his name.
Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564), author of the first complete collection of books on human anatomy; one of the fathers of modern surgery.
Pierre (Peter) Minuit (1589-1638), Walloon who purchased the island of Manhattan from the Native American in 1626. Director-General of the Dutch colony of New Netherland from 1626 until 1633, then founder and governor of the Swedish colony of New Sweden in 1638.
Ernest Solvay (1838-1922), who established the world's first plant for making soda.
Father Damien (1840-1889), Flemish Catholic missionary who dedicated his life in service to the lepers of Molokai in Hawaii.
Maurice Grévisse (1895-1980), author of the famous French grammar Le Bon Usage.
Jacky Ickx (1945-), racing driver and 6 times winner of the 24h of Le Mans and of several F1 races
Eddy Merckx (1945-), cyclist who won 4x the World Championship, 5 x of the Tour de France, 5x the Giro d'Italia among others
Enzo Scifo (1966-), footballer
Jean-Michel Saive, table tennis champion
Justine Henin, tennis champion
Kim Clijsters, tennis champion
Hercule Poirot, fictional character of Agatha Christie's novels
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