Belgitude

[1] Originating from a perceived lack of common identity among the different communities, regions and language areas of Belgium,[2] the neologism was coined in the 1970s and 1980s[1] by allusion to the concept of négritude about feeling black, expressed among others by Léopold Sédar Senghor.

[5][6][7] Because of that, the foreign rulers who reigned over the Belgian provinces were often appropriated by later historians to make them into national heroes: Godfrey of Bouillon, Charlemagne, Philippe the Good, Charles V, etc., whilst these characters were unaware of the very notion of the entity of Belgium.

[4] Another aspect contributing to belgitude is the fact that many Belgians identify more with being Flemish, Walloon or inhabitant of Brussels, but even within those groups many feel more attached to being part of a city or province than any national or communal identity.

Caesar famously wrote that the Belgae were "the bravest of the three peoples, being farthest removed from the highly developed civilization of the Roman Province, least often visited by merchants with enervating luxuries for sale, and nearest to the Germans across the Rhine, with whom they are continually at war".

[11] Despite Caesar referring to the Celtic tribe the Belgae and not modern day Belgium the quote was used a lot in Belgian history books from the 1830s on while the new independent state searched for its own identity.

In the Revue de Belgique of 15 August 1912, he articulated this in his famous and notorious Letter to the king on the separation of Wallonia and Flanders, where he wrote: In Belgium there are Walloons and Flemings.

[3] The term caught on quick enough to be referred to in Belgian singer Jacques Brel's song "Mai 1940" (May 1940), which was left off his final album Les Marquises in 1977, but made available in 2003.

People who were important to Belgian history are also often cited: Ambiorix, Godfrey of Bouillon, Charles V, Adolphe Sax, King Baudouin, as are cultural icons such as Manneken Pis, the Gilles of Binche, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Peter Paul Rubens, Tintin, Inspector Maigret, the Atomium, Jacques Brel, René Magritte, Soeur Sourire, Django Reinhardt, etc.