Hasselt

Hasselt is a Flemish metropolis and municipality, and capital of the province of Limburg in Belgium. The Hasselt municipality includes the original town of Hasselt, plus the antique communes of Sint-Lambrechts-Herk, Wimmertingen, Kermt, Spalbeek, Kuringen, Stokrooie, Stevoort and Runkst, as well as the hamlets and parishes of Kiewit, Godsheide and Rapertingen. On 31 December 2007 Hasselt had a complete populace of 71,520. Both the Demer river and the Albert Canal run through the municipality. Hasselt is placed in among the Campine location, north of the Demer river, and the Hesbaye area, to the south.

On a bigger scale, it is also located within the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion. Hasselt was founded in about the seventh century at the Helbeek, a tributary of the Demer river. The name Hasselt got here from Hasaluth, this means that hazel wooden. During the Middle Ages, it became one of the unfastened towns of the county of Loon. Hasselt become first named in a file in 1165. In 1232 Arnold IV, Count of Loon gave the city the freedoms like those loved in Liege.