Flanders

Flanders (Vlaanderen in Dutch, Flandres in French) is the name for the Dutch-speaking region of the federal state Belgium. In a stricter sense, it is also the name of two provinces in western Belgium occupying the area of the historic county of Flanders. The ensemble of Dutch dialects spoken in Belgium is often refered to as Flemish, although the standard language used in Flanders is the same as in the Netherlands (see Dutch). The region around Dunkerque?, France where there is still a Flemish-speaking minority is sometimes called French Flanders, while the southern part of the Dutch province of Zeeland? (Zealand in English) is called Zeeuws-Vlaanderen (Zealandic Flanders).