The Campine () or Kempen () is a natural region situated chiefly in north-eastern Belgium and parts of the south-eastern Netherlands which once consisted mainly of extensive moorland, tracts of sandy heath, and . It encompasses a large northern and eastern portion of Antwerp Province and adjacent parts of Limburg in Belgium, as well as portions of the Dutch province of North Brabant (area southwest of Eindhoven) and Dutch Limburg around Weert.
The Medieval Latin name Campania, firstly attested in the mid-11th century by a monk of Sint-Truiden named Stepelinus, stems from the root kamp- ('field') attached to the suffix -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 made a journey through Belgium and visited the Campine and the towns of Lier and
Turnhout, and wrote about his journey.
[Camby, J. (1935) Victor Hugo en Belgique. Paris: L'Ecran du Monde] 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.[Bont, Antonius Petrus de (1958) Dialekt van Kempenland 3 Deel in Assen: van Gorcum, 1958-60. 1962, 1985] In the Ancient Rome 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 and the Meuse valley and was opened in March 2006.
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 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
Campine plateau is part of the Campine region. The
Campine Basin, which extends from Belgium into the Netherlands, is formed by the
Devonian and
Carboniferous sedimentary rocks on the northern flank of the Brabant
Massif.
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,
Diest,
Aarschot, Lier (the self-styled
gate of the Campine, a title also claimed by the Northern-Brabant
Oirschot),
Breda,
Tilburg,
Eindhoven,
Maaseik, and
Maastricht.
Turnhout is an exception. West of Turnhout
clay was used for the production of , which is one of the reasons why the
Noord-Kempens Canal was dug to Antwerp. Also,
Herentals was a 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 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 Abbey,
Brecht Abbey,
Zundert,
Postel Abbey,
Westmalle Abbey and
Tongerlo Abbey. In 1872, the
Sablières et Carrières Réunies (SCR), now
Sibelco, was founded to extract the
silica sand layers in Mol for industrial applications (
glass). In 1891, the
Philips 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.
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 in 1957. Pharmaceutical industry was founded in
Beerse in the 1960s, with Janssen Pharmaceutica and more recently with
Genzyme in
Geel.
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 basin, especially after World War II, new industrial activity was established, such as in Geel, Beringen and Genk. 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,
,
and
. Large areas of the region were also covered with
pine which was used for roof props in the
Coal mining of
Wallonia and Limburg. The first pine in the Campine was sown in the
Gierlebos in
Vosselaar by Adriaan Ghys for Amalia van Solms in 1667.
[Harry De Kok, Het Turnhout Van Toen, Publ. Marc Van de Wiel, Bruges, 1987, p.112] 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, Belgium, the
De Maten in Genk,
De Zegge (
Geel),
Zwart Water (
Kasterlee), the
Zwart Water moorland (Turnhout), the
Liereman (
Oud-Turnhout) and the
Prinsenpark (
Retie). The
Nature reserve 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 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 UC 50 in North Sea waters ( Doggersbank, 56.00 North - 04.57 East) on March 13, 1917, on its way from Rotterdam to New York City.
See also
-
Hoge Kempen National Park
-
Innotek
-
Strategic Plan Campine
-
Peel, Netherlands
-
Texandria
Bibliography
External links
