Geography More! Belarus, Belgium and Belize

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ALRIGHT! ONE last video for 2016! Enjoy these extra facts about Belarus, Belgium and Belize. See you in 2017!

Thanks to Geograpeeps that helped with this video from Belarus:

Hanna M, Toni S, and Vlad K

And Geograpeeps from Belgium:

Wolf A, Balthazar R, Walthiero V, Audrey V, Tobi G, David B, Louis K, Bat B, Tijs M, Ilias B, Boon B, Lennert, John SJan T, Matthew L,

BTS info and tidbits? Check out the Facebook fan page:

Become a patron! Donate anything and Get exclusive behind the scenes footage! All profits go towards helping my dad and his medical costs/ parent's living expenses since they are no longer working and need support.

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Welcome to Geography Now! This is the first and only Youtube Channel that actively attempts to cover profiles on every single country of the world. We are going to do them alphabetically so be patient if you are waiting for one that's down the road.

Stay cool Stay tuned and remember, this is Earth, your home. Learn about it.

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Hehe... "Brest"

Alright, ONE LAST video for you guys before the year is over! I'll see you in 2017! Lots of great stuff planned for Geography now but as always YOU guys are the best part. Thanks for all your help and support. Here's to another year of I'm getting rusty. Somebody help me here. CHEERS!

GeographyNow

I'm Belgian. Stopped trying to understand this country 20 years ago.

Fun fact: I'm 21.

:D

TheMono

Flemish is more different from Dutch than Wallonian French is from French.

MaartenvanRossemLezingen

Stromae is another famous Belgian and he's still alive (not like the others you mentioned)

simonmarliere

Hello everyone,

Some additional information on the relation between Flanders and Wallonia:
Nowadays Flanders is the richer region of the country with lower inemployment rates and so on, sometimes helping Wallonia out financially, but not so long ago it was the other way round and Wallonia was the more prosperous region, helping out the poor peasants of Flanders. One part of the explanation for this shift of power is the fact the natural resources of the Wallonian mines were getting exhausted. The fact we help each other out has become a kind of an unwritten rule, but this nowadays is a bit under pressure.

Anyway, this new situation allowed Flemish life and culture to become independent from Wallonia. French was banned out of everyday life. A notable example is the Catholic University of Leuven, where in 1967 students 'threw out' the Walloons and their language, so the Walloons had to build their own Leuven which they then called Louvain-La-Neuve. The legal division between Flanders and Wallonia, the language border, is also not that old, dating from 1962. The splitting of the province of Brabant (surrounding Brussels), in a Dutch and French-speaking part only happened in 1995. So, Flemish people began to claim their own territory, whereas beforehand the transition was kind of vague, and French was the lingua franca in many official things.

Tempers became quite heated in the swinging sixties. Later the feeling of 'Flemish nationalism' lingered on in the form of the right-wing party of 'Vlaams Blok', later 'Vlaams Belang' and their Wallonian counterpart FDF. But as generations changed they lost votes until they became the small and quite unsignificant party of mostly elderly people with extreme views they are today. Surprisingly, in 2007 the flamboyant figure of Bart De Wever made his entrance in the political scene in the New Flemish Alliance N-VA, a more temperate but still right-wing party and for a moment it seemed there would come a split in the country. But after the ridiculously long (196 days) and tiresome government formation led to nothing, Bart De Wever lost his fire fighting for the Flemish cause (and also a lot of his belly-fat, but that is another story).

Generally, the Flemish population also got fed up with politics and as a consequence a large majority wants to accept the situation how it is today. After this decennia-long enmity in politics, most of us have forgotten what the conflict is all about, it has become quite a silly discussion. And from my experience, Flemish and Wallonian people get along a lot better in real life than in the parliament. So I really don't think peacefully co-existing forms a problem. A real split seems highly improbable, because 1) Flemish, Walloon people (and the German-speaking people of course, sorry for ignoring you all the time) in reality do not hate each other that much to weigh up against the disadvantages, and 2) there are still numerous things that tie our fates together, like the city of Brussels.

I'm Flemish by the way, if you haven't noticed already, sorry if I've been a little Flemish-biased. If you're Wallonian, I would be very pleased to hear your side of the story.

On Belgian identity:
Belgian identity often has been quite problematic. Apart from the cliché touristy things like French fries, beer, chocolate, comic books and Manneken Pis, there is not that much we have in common. Not that we don't like all those things, we really do, but they are kind of superficial.

No-one really knows the one reason why it was created back in 1830 and it still feels a bit artificial. Apparently those days even what you could call 'Flemish' people were (ironically) so fed up with the Dutch that they'd rather speak French. In each case, the English were keen to help created it as a buffer state between France and Germany, and just asked a random German prince to became the head of this new state. So it is quite difficult to positively identify as a Belgian. Also, the short history we have is not really something to be proud of (with things like Leopold II and Congo).

Yet, I do think a lot of us do identify as a Belgian, but rather in a negative way instead of a positive one. Because we're not the same people as the French, Dutch, Austrians or any of the other people that have ruled us, so don't say that. Which again does not need to imply we don't like the Dutch and French, but we do indeed laugh a lot about the huge differences.

Thank you for reading my comment. I enjoy your channel and I congratulate you both on your Belgium video, where you did quite a good shot at explaining something hellishly comlicated, and on your 'g' sound, which seems to be a nightmare for most English-speaking people. A very happy and prosperous 2017!

hydrocharis

I've lived in Belize all my life, and I've never heard of thumb-locking lol. And I'm sure you guys meant "Placencia" and not "Placinica" because that's where I live and Whale sharks tours are very popular here.

lopezlion

you must really geography... every country and somehow in depth... crazy commitment

bjarkerugsted

Another year passed and I still didn't get Zimbabwe. But I will still be patient. 2017 would be the year! I am sure of it!

PicklePickle

+Geography Now

When u were talking about famous Belgians, u forgot Herge (the creator of Tintin)

ashwinrajagopalan

how about eden hazard, kevin de bruyne one of famous people from belgium

AimanPF

"Punta gorda" is "fat point" in Spanish.

CrusaderKnight

That's awesome guys! Special thanks from a Belarusian girl for pronouncing the words Belarusian and Belarus in the right

thetatyanavolkova

For the 1% of people who see this

Have a Happy New Year :D

Obscurium

I finally found my new favourite country... Belize. No fast food at all (and year round summer)!! I'm getting my suitcases ready right after I'm finished with this video!
LOL
Thanks for video, Barby. Excellent work as usual!

marksaid