Belgium
was ruled from Vienna until being invaded by France in 1795. In 1815
it became one of the provinces of the kingdom of the Netherlands but
in 1830 it gained independence following a national revolution. However,
it was not until 1839 that an international treaty was drawn up guaranteeing
Belgian neutrality.
From 1820 to 1900 over 140,000 people from Belgium emigrated to America.
This encouraged the publication of two Belgian newspapers in the United
States, De Gazette van
Moline and De
Gazette van Detroit.
The Census of 1930 revealled that there were 64,194 people living
in the United States who were born in Belgium. Important Belgian immigrants
include Leo Baekeland, Django
Reinhardt, Charles Van Depoele and
Albert Claude.
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