a historical region in Western Europe, populated mainly by Flemings. Most of Flanders is in Belgium (the provinces of East and West Flanders). Part of it is in the Netherlands (Zeeland Flanders in the south of Zeeland Province) and part in France (the department of Nord).
In the second half of the ninth century, Flanders became a county and a fief of France. From the 12th through 15th centuries, it was one of the economically most developed regions of Europe. Its cities developed early and attained great political and economic importance, especially Ghent, Ypres, and Bruges, the major centers of the cloth-weaving guilds. Bruges was a leading international trade center of the 14th and 15th centuries.
In the 14th century, Flanders was the scene of an intense sociopolitical conflict, in which the guilds and city plebeians were pitted against the city patriciate, and the cities and peasants waged a struggle against domination by the count of Flanders and the nobles, who relied on the military aid of the French kings. In 1300, Flanders was occupied by French troops. The subsequent general uprising in the country, triggered by the Bruges Matins of 1302, resulted in the expulsion of the French troops and established the political power of the guilds in the major cities. The Flemish Uprising of 1323–28 ended in defeat for the peasants and burghers. Flanders continued to be the scene of bitter strife during the Hundred Years’ War of 1337–1453. In 1338 J. van Artevelde led an uprising in Ghent, and in 1382 another uprising ended when French troops routed the volunteer corps of the guilds at Westrozebeke.
In 1384, Flanders became a possession of the dukes of Burgundy. In 1477 it passed to the Hapsburgs, a change made final in 1482. Flanders was now one of the 17 provinces of the historical Netherlands. During the Netherlands bourgeois revolution of the 16th century, many Flemish cities joined the Union of Utrecht (1579). In the 1580’s, however, the Spanish managed to gain control of Flanders.
During the wars of the 17th century, part of Flanders reverted to France and part to the Republic of the United Provinces. After the War of the Spanish Succession of 1701–14, the larger remaining part of Flanders passed from Spain to Austria. In 1794, Austrian Flanders was captured by the French and incorporated into France in 1797. From 1815 to 1830, together with other Belgian territories, it became part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. After the Belgian Revolution of 1830, it became part of the Kingdom of Belgium.
A. N. CHISTOZVONOV