Charleroi

Charleroi, town in south Belgium, in Hainaut Province, on the River Sambre, near Brussels (with which it is connected by canal). It is the centre of the most important coal-mining region of the country. Metalworking and glass manufacture are also key industries. The Spanish founded the town on the site of the village of Charnoy in 1666, during their occupation of present-day Belgium, and named it after Charles II of Spain. It was subsequently a French possession in the 17th and again in the 18th centuries. During World War I a fierce battle took place between German and French troops at Charleroi in 1914, and the town was almost entirely destroyed. Population 201,456 (2006 estimate).