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The story
Territorial history
Historically, the City of Brussels was simply defined, being the area within the second walls of Brussels, the modern-day Small Ring (Brussels' inner ring road). As the city grew, so did the surrounding villages, eventually forming a contiguous city, though the local governments retained control of their respective areas.
At the country's independence in 1830, the new members of the Belgian upper class hoped to create a new prestigious residential area in the capital. An official plan for the Leopold Quarter was drawn up in 1838, marking the first major extension of the City of Brussels in its eastern part, following the transfer of a large area of the municipality of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode. The area was designed to emanate from Brussels Park (located in front of the Royal Palace), and was laid out on a grid in a traditional classical pattern centred around the Square Frère Orban/Frère-Orbansquare.
Shortly afterwards, in 1844, the Avenue Louise/Louizalaan was proposed as a monumental avenue bordered by chestnut trees that would allow easy access from Brussels' city centre to the popular recreational area of the Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos. However, fierce resistance to the project was put up by the towns of Saint-Gilles and Ixelles—then, as now, separate municipalities (local authorities) from the City of Brussels—through whose territories the avenue was to run. After years of fruitless negotiations, the City of Brussels finally annexed the narrow band of land needed for the avenue, in addition to the Bois de la Cambre itself, in April 1864. That decision accounts for the unusual shape of today's City of Brussels and for the separation of Ixelles into two separate areas.
To the east, in 1853, following the bankruptcy of Saint-Josse's municipal administration, the City of Brussels purchased half of this municipality. Nowadays, this is the Squares Quarter, the only part of the Brussels municipality to have the same postal code (1040) as the municipality of Etterbeek. Further east, in 1880, a former military exercise ground and the surrounding land, also located in Etterbeek, were attached to the City to create the Parc du Cinquantenaire/Jubelpark, an exhibition space commemorating the 50th anniversary of independence. A leisure park and museums were subsequently set up there.
Unlike most of the municipalities in Belgium, the ones now located in the Brussels-Capital Region were not merged with others during mergers occurring in 1964, 1970, and 1975. However, a few neighbouring municipalities have been merged into the City of Brussels, including Haren, Laeken and Neder-Over-Heembeek in 1921. These comprise the northern bulge in the municipality. To the south-east is the above-mentioned strip of land along the Avenue Louise that was annexed from Saint-Gilles and Ixelles. Part of the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)'s Solbosch/Solbos campus is also part of the City of Brussels, partially accounting for the bulge in the south-eastern end.
Historical population
As of 1 January 2024, the City of Brussels' population was 196,828 inhabitants. The area is 33.09 km2 (12.78 sq mi), making the density 5,949/km2 (15,410/sq mi).
Taking into account the current municipality, including the former municipalities annexed in 1921 (Haren, Laeken and Neder-over-Heembeek) from 1831:
Sources: INS: 1806 to 1981 = census; 1990 and later = population on 1 January
From Wikipedia’s article on City of Brussels, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5