
The Campine () or Kempen () is a
natural region
A natural region (landscape unit) is a basic geographic unit. Usually, it is a region which is distinguished by its common natural features of geography, geology, and climate.
From the ecological point of view, the naturally occurring flora and ...
situated chiefly in north-eastern
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
and parts of the south-eastern
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
which once consisted mainly of extensive
moors
The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a s ...
, tracts of sandy
heath, and
wetland
A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...
s. It encompasses a large northern and eastern portion of
Antwerp Province
Antwerp Province (; ; ; ), between 1815 and 1830 known as Central Brabant ( , , ), is the northernmost Provinces of Belgium, province both of the Flemish Region, also called Flanders, and of Belgium. It borders on the North Brabant province of t ...
and adjacent parts of
Limburg in Belgium, as well as portions of the Dutch province of
North Brabant (area southwest of
Eindhoven
Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...
) and Dutch
Limburg around
Weert.
The
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Western Roman Empire, Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidi ...
name ''Campania'', firstly attested in the mid-11th century by a monk of
Saint-Trond named Stepelinus, stems from the root ''kamp-'' ('field') attached to the
suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...
''-injo'', denoting the uncultivated or the virgin fields.
The inhabitants of the Campine region are known as ''Kempenaars''.
Culture
The region, described as ''a desolate flat land'', often appears in the books of the prominent Flemish writer
Hendrik Conscience (1812–1883), who spent much of his childhood there. Another author who has written many novels playing in the Campine was
Georges Eekhoud (1854–1927). In 1837
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician.
His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...
made a journey through Belgium and visited the Campine and the towns of
Lier and
Turnhout
Turnhout () is a Belgium, Belgian Municipalities in Belgium, municipality and city located in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of Antwerp (province), Antwerp. The municipality comprises only the city of Turnhout proper. ...
, and wrote about his journey. During the
interbellum Felix Timmermans,
Ernest Claes,
Stijn Streuvels,
Jozef Simons and the poet Jozef De Voght wrote about the Belgian Campine. The painters
Jakob Smits (1855–1928) and
Frans Van Giel (1892–1975) painted many Campine landscapes.
The region is rich in folk tales, such as the stories about the
Buckriders (Dutch: ''Bokkenrijders'') and those concerning the
gnome king Kyrië (Dutch: ''Kabouterkoning Kyrië'').
The ''Museum Kempenland'' in Eindhoven has a considerable and historically important art collection of painters, draughtsmen, sculptors, blacksmiths and other craftsmen from this region. Much of the architectural, agrarian and historical and cultural heritage of the Campine can be visited in the open-air museum of
Bokrijk. The old way of living and the Campine dialects have been the topic of scientific research. In the
Roman era the name of the region was
Toxandria or Taxandria.
Part of the Campine is protected as the ''
Hoge Kempen Nationaal Park'' (High Campine National Park). It is located in the east of the Belgian province
Limburg, between the city of
Genk
Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...
and the
Meuse
The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of .
History
From 1301, the upper ...
valley and was opened in March 2006.
Covering almost , it forms part of the
Natura 2000 network. The area is mostly
heathland and
pine forest. In May 2011 it was placed on UNESCO's Tentative List for consideration as a World Heritage Site.
History
The Campine is an area in the Belgian provinces Antwerp, Limburg and the extreme north of the province
Flemish Brabant, and in the south of the Dutch province North Brabant. It stretches from the east of the city of
Antwerp
Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
and towards the west of Eindhoven. Farther east the Campine continues into the
Groote Peel, a region which is geographically related to the Campine. The south border is formed by the river
Demer, and the east border of the Campine-Peel complex by the valley of the river
Meuse
The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of .
History
From 1301, the upper ...
. The ''Campine plateau'' is part of the Campine region. The ''Campine Basin'', which extends from Belgium into the Netherlands, is formed by the
Devonian
The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...
and
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...
sedimentary rocks on the northern flank of the Brabant
Massif
A massif () is a principal mountain mass, such as a compact portion of a mountain range, containing one or more summits (e.g. France's Massif Central). In mountaineering literature, ''massif'' is frequently used to denote the main mass of an ...
.
Urbanization
Since it was a region with a poor sandy soil, there are only a few old or large cities in the region. Most of those cities are located at the outer rim of the region, such as
Hasselt
Hasselt (, , ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium.
As of 1 August 2023, Hasselt had a total population of 80,846. The old ...
,
Diest,
Aarschot,
Lier (the self-styled ''gate of the Campine'', a title also claimed by the Northern-Brabant
Oirschot),
Breda
Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...
,
Tilburg
Tilburg () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. With a population of 22 ...
,
Eindhoven
Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...
,
Maaseik, and
Maastricht
Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...
.
Turnhout
Turnhout () is a Belgium, Belgian Municipalities in Belgium, municipality and city located in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of Antwerp (province), Antwerp. The municipality comprises only the city of Turnhout proper. ...
is an exception. West of Turnhout
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
was used for the production of
berge, which is one of the reasons why the ''Noord-Kempens Canal'' was dug to Antwerp. Also, the
Herentals were an historical industrial center for its textile industry of which the ''Lakenhal'' on the main market place is a remaining monument. The printing industry in
Turnhout
Turnhout () is a Belgium, Belgian Municipalities in Belgium, municipality and city located in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of Antwerp (province), Antwerp. The municipality comprises only the city of Turnhout proper. ...
is historically important, with companies such as
Brepols and more recently
Cartamundi.
19th century
The region was sparsely populated, and therefore chosen by monks who were looking for silence, such as those of the abbeys of
Achel,
Brecht,
Zundert
Zundert () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and town in the south of the Netherlands bordering Belgium, in the province of North Brabant.
Zundert is the birthplace of Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter Vincent va ...
,
Postel,
Westmalle and
Tongerlo. In 1872, the ''Sablières et Carrières Réunies'' (SCR), now
Sibelco, was founded to extract the
silica
Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , commonly found in nature as quartz. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one of the most complex and abundant f ...
sand layers in
Mol for industrial applications (
glass
Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...
). In 1891, the
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. was founded in Eindhoven (North Brabant). In the 19th and 20th centuries, industry established itself in the region, such as the
metallurgy in
Balen-
Overpelt-
Lommel
Lommel () is a municipality and city in the Belgian province of Limburg. Lying in the Kempen, it has about 34,000 inhabitants and is part of the arrondissement of Maaseik.
Besides the residential town, Lommel also has a number of nature reserv ...
.
20th century
In the 20th century, the first nuclear installation in Belgium, the
SCK•CEN, was built in
Mol in 1962. The European
Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM) was founded in
Geel
Geel () is a municipality and city located in the Belgian province of Antwerp, which acquired city status in the 1980s. It comprises Central-Geel which is constituted of 4 old parishes a/o towns: Sint-Amand, Sint-Dimpna, Holven and Elsum. Furthe ...
in 1957. Pharmaceutical industry was founded in
Beerse in the 1960s, with
Janssen Pharmaceutica and more recently with
Genzyme in
Geel
Geel () is a municipality and city located in the Belgian province of Antwerp, which acquired city status in the 1980s. It comprises Central-Geel which is constituted of 4 old parishes a/o towns: Sint-Amand, Sint-Dimpna, Holven and Elsum. Furthe ...
.
Soudal (
silicon) in Turnhout and
Ravago (
plastics) in
Arendonk became leading companies in their markets. Wide open spaces with scarce population also led to the establishment of several military bases, such as the army installations at
Leopoldsburg and
Brasschaat, and the air bases of
Kleine Brogel,
Oostmalle,
Weelde and
Zutendaal.
Due to the exploitation of the Campine
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal i ...
basin, especially after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, new industrial activity was established, such as in Geel,
Beringen and
Genk
Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...
. The Belgian village of
Dessel is called ''Heart of the Campine'', while
Westerlo and
Kasterlee are called ''Pearl of the Campine''. The most picturesque villages in the Dutch, Northern-Brabant Campine are
Oirschot,
Eersel and
Hilvarenbeek. The other villages have lost much of their historical elements in their course towards industrialisation. In the Dutch Campine eight villages are located which are known under the name ''acht zaligheden'' (E: ''eight blessed ones''). The denomination ''zaligheden'' has been borrowed from the ''sel'', which is at the end of the name of seven of these eight villages ''selligheden'').
Environment
In the Campine there are still a number of bunches,
marsh
In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...
es,
heathlands and
pastures. Large areas of the region were also covered with
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae.
''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...
which was used for roof props in the
coalmines of
Wallonia
Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...
and Limburg. The first pine in the Campine was sown in the ''Gierlebos'' in
Vosselaar by Adriaan Ghys for
Amalia van Solms in 1667. Where the Campine, up to around 1960 includes mainly heathland,
oak grove and marsh, these were modified by heavy fertilisation and building activities and were gradually changed into a rather small-scale landscape. Here and there still up to several dozen acres of large heathland - and forests, such as the
Kalmthoutse Heide (E: Kalmthout heathland) at
Kalmthout
Kalmthout () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Belgium, Belgian province of Antwerp (province), Antwerp. The municipality comprises the villages of Kalmthout, Achterbroek, Heide, Kalmthout, Heide, and Nieuwmoer. In 2021, Kalmthou ...
, Belgium, the ''De Maten'' in Genk, ''De Zegge'' (
Geel
Geel () is a municipality and city located in the Belgian province of Antwerp, which acquired city status in the 1980s. It comprises Central-Geel which is constituted of 4 old parishes a/o towns: Sint-Amand, Sint-Dimpna, Holven and Elsum. Furthe ...
), ''Zwart Water'' (
Lichtaart), the ''Zwart Water''
moors (Turnhout), the ''Liereman'' (
Oud-Turnhout) and the
Prinsenpark (
Retie
Retie (; , ) is a municipality located in the Campine region of the province of Antwerp (province), Antwerp, Belgium. The municipality comprises the town of Retie proper and several hamlets of which Schoonbroek is the largest. In 2021, Retie had a ...
). The
natural reserves ''De Teut'' in
Zonhoven and ''Ter Haagdoornheide'' in
Houthalen-Helchteren and the ''Nationaal Park Hoge Kempen''. At the border with Belgium in the Dutch part of Campine near
Bladel there is natural landscape area with heathland such as
Cartierheide and ''De Pals'' and ''Kroonvense Heide''. To the North, the area between
Boxtel and
Oisterwijk is called ''Kampina''. In a number of villages, one can still see the typical Campine ''langgevelboerderijen'' (''long-facade farms'').
Trivia
*The Kempenaar singer
Louis Neefs released the relatively well known song "M'n dorp in de Kempen" ("My village in the Campine") in 1966.
*SS. La Campine (2,595
GRT), was built by Palmers' SB. & Iron Co., Ltd.,
Newcastle for F. Speth & Co.,
Antwerp
Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
and sailing for the American Petroleum Company. It was a steamship with auxiliary sails, an early oil tanker that was launched in 1892, and was sunk by
U-boat
U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...
''UC 50'' in
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
waters (''Doggersbank'', 56.00 North - 04.57 East) on March 13, 1917, on its way from
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...
to
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
.
See also
*
Hoge Kempen National Park
* Innotek
* Strategic Plan Campine
*
Peel, Netherlands
*
Texandria
References
Bibliography
*
External links
Poultry Breeds: Campine Chickens
{{Coord missing, Belgium
Natural regions of Belgium
Areas of Belgium
Coal mining regions in Belgium
Regions of the Netherlands
Regions of Limburg (Netherlands)
Regions of North Brabant
Regions of Flanders
Landforms of Flanders
Landforms of Antwerp Province
Landforms of Flemish Brabant
Landforms of Limburg (Belgium)
Landforms of Limburg (Netherlands)
Landforms of North Brabant