Charleroi (redirected from Charleroy)

Charleroi (shärlərwä`), city (1991 pop. 206,214), Hainaut prov., S Belgium, on the Sambre River and on the Charleroi-Brussels Canal. It is a commercial and industrial center and a rail junction. Manufactures include steel, glass, machinery, processed food, and chemicals. Charleroi was founded in 1666 and named for Charles II of Spain. It was of strategic importance in the wars of the 17th and 18th cent. The Germans won a battle there (1914) in World War I. It is noted for its modern public buildings, such as the town hall (1936), and is the seat of a technical university.

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Charleroi

City (pop., 2000 est.: 200,800), southwestern Belgium. Following the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659), in which Spain was ceded French territory, Spain in 1666 decreed that a new fortress, named for Charles II of Spain, be built there, at the site of a medieval village. It was strategically important in the 17th–19th centuries and was held variously by France, Spain, Austria, and Holland. Though the fortress was dismantled in the late 19th century, the area retained its strategic importance; it was the scene of one of the first battles of World War I.