BELFAST (256), county town of Antrim, and largest and most flourishing city in the N. of Ireland; stands on the Lagan, at the head of Belfast Lough, 100 m.  N. of Dublin; is a bright and pleasant city, with some fine streets and handsome buildings, Presbyterian, Catholic, and Methodist colleges.  It is the centre of the Irish linen and cotton manufactures, the most important shipbuilding centre, and has also rope-making, whisky, and aerated-water industries.  Its foreign trade is larger than even Dublin’s.  It is the capital of Ulster, and head-quarters of Presbyterianism in Ireland.

BELFORT (83), a fortified town in dep. of Haut-Rhin, and is its capital, 35 m.  W. by N. of Basel; capitulated to the Germans in 1870; restored to France; its fortifications now greatly strengthened.  The citadel was by Vauban.

BELGAE, Caesar’s name for the tribes of the Celtic family in Gaul N. of the Seine and Marne; mistakenly rated as Germans by Caesar.

BELGIUM (6,136), a small European State bordering on the North Sea, with Holland to the N., France to the S., and Rhenish Prussia and Luxemburg on the E.; is less than a third the size of Ireland, but it is the most densely populated country on the Continent.  The people are of mixed stock, comprising Flemings, of Teutonic origin; Walloons, of Celtic origin; Germans, Dutch, and French.  Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion.  Education is excellent; there are universities at Ghent, Liege, Brussels, and Louvain.  French is the language of educated circles and of the State; but the prevalence of dialects hinders the growth of a national literature.  The land is low and level and fertile in the N. and W., undulating in the middle, rocky and hilly in the S. and E. The Meuse and Scheldt are the chief rivers, the basin of the latter embracing most of the country.  Climate is similar to the English, with greater extremes.  Rye, wheat, oats, beet, and flax are the principal crops.  Agriculture is the most painstaking and productive of the world.  The hilly country is rich in coal, iron, zinc, and lead.  After mining, the chief industries are textile manufactures and making of machinery:  the former at Antwerp, Ghent, Brussels, and Liege; the latter at Liege, Mons, and Charleroi.  The trade is enormous; France, Germany, and Britain are the best customers.  Exports are coal to France; farm products, eggs, &c., to England; and raw material imported from across seas, to France and the basin of the Rhine.  It is a small country of large cities.  The capital is Brussels (480), in the centre of the kingdom, but communicating with the ocean by a ship canal.  The railways, canals, and river navigation are very highly developed.  The government is a limited monarchy; the king, senate, and house of representatives form the constitution.  There is a conscript army of 50,000 men, but no navy.  Transferred from Spain to Austria in 1713.  Belgium was under French sway from 1794 till 1814, when it was united with Holland, but established its independence in 1830.