Brussels

Brussels Dutch: Brussel, pronounced German: Brüssel, pronounced officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region (French: Région de Bruxelles-Capitale (help·info), Dutch: Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (help·info)), is the capital of Belgium and hosts the headquarters of the European Union (EU). It is also the largest urban area in Belgium, comprising 19 municipalities, including the municipality of the City of Brussels, which is the de jure capital of Belgium, in addition to the seat of the French Community of Belgium and of the Flemish Community.

Today a majority of inhabitants are native French-speakers, and both languages have official status. Linguistic tensions remain, and the language laws of the municipalities surrounding Brussels are an issue of considerable controversy in Belgium.

The most common theory for the toponymy of Brussels is that it derives from the Old Dutch Broeksel or other spelling variants, which means marsh (broek) and home (sel) or "home in the marsh". The origin of the settlement that was to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus' construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580.
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