Ardenne

See also: the Ardennes

Originally Arduinna is the Celtic name probably of origin of a forest located on and at the accesses of the solid mass of Ardenne (as well as Celtic goddess), quoted by Jules César and Strabon. Certain modern authors defend the black color like significance.

Today, one applies the Ardenne words and Ardennais in the denominations of several natural or administrative areas that it is sometimes difficult not to confuse the more so as the many attempts at appropriations of this known name, maintains a certain confusion.

Ardenne or the Ardennes indicates a natural area located at the south of the Meuse and Sambre and limited to the south by the plains of Lorraine and Champagne which one indicates since Antiquity under the name of Arduenna silva . This historical area includes the geological areas included/understood or bordering the Massif inhabitant of the Ardennes: the Fagne, the Fagne-Famenne, the Famenne, the High Fagnes, the Eiffel, the Oesling, the Calestienne, part of the Condroz. The Massive inhabitant of the Ardennes who is an old mountain.

Definition in the Antiquity

The term Ardenne would come from the Celtic word Ar Duen , which means “the Black one”. The first quotations of this Arduenna silva are found in the account of the Guerre of Gaules ( Of bello gallico ) of Jules César. César described there the of the Ardennes forest like having a 500 miles length Roman (approximately 700 km), crossing the country of the Trévires and extending since banks from the the Rhine to the country from Nerviens and Rêmes (left bank of the Meuse). The Greek geographer Strabon also quotes the forest of Ardenne.

Geography of Ardenne

From a geographical point of view, Ardenne, taken in its broadest direction, corresponds to the broken forest territory limited to the south by the Lorraine (including the Gutland , or Good Country, with the Luxembourg and the Gaume in Belgium) and the Champagne, to the west and north by the furrow traced by the Sambre and the Meuse, in the east by the volcanic area of the Eiffel which approximately skirts the borders Belgian and Luxembourg between Aachen ( Aachen ) and Wasserbillig. Most of Ardenne is in Belgium, exclusively in Walloon region, where it extends on the major part of the provinces of Luxembourg, Liege, Namur and a small portion of the Province of Hainaut. In France it covers a small portion of the territory of the departments of the the Ardennes and Meuse. It covers also the septentrional part of the Grand-Duché of Luxembourg called the “Oesling”. Ardenne culminates with 694 meters, with the Signal of Botrange in the High-Fagnes of the province of Liege. The of the Ardennes forest is made of scraps of the old coal forest. Ardenne does not constitute any more one single and compact wooded solid mass. However the forest surface is currently in light expansion.

Geological of Ardenne

From a geological point of view, one subdivides Ardenne in two units:

  • the primary education Ardenne corresponds at all the Western part of large the Massif schistous ardenno-Rhenish raised by the Orogenèse hercynienne having succeeded the older orogenesis calédonienne. It is attached to the Rhenish Massif by a kind of isthmus occupied by the primary formations of the Eiffel. It is limited to north and in the west by a covering of grounds Crétacé S, in the North-East by the “gulf of Cologne” occupied by quaternary grounds, in south-east by the sic grounds Trias “gulf of Luxembourg” and in the south by the grounds Jurassic S of the “basin of Paris”.

  • the secondary or Jurassic Ardenne corresponds to the southernmost part of the of the Ardennes field. For the Jurassic period (of - 205 with - 135 million years), the southernmost part of the old chain hercynienne planed considerably by erosion, is invaded by a marine invasion which begins a little front, with the Rhétien (between - 230 and - 205 My), and is released of the sea by the marine regression which takes place with the Portlandien (between - 145 and - 135 My). The Jurassic one thus presents for Ardenne Southerner like important a sedimentary Cycle.

The basement of Ardenne is composed of stone Schiste uses of sunk color, this geological characteristic makes it possible to distinguish Ardenne itself from the close areas (the Gaume in the south, the Condroz in north).

A little history

The first traces of regular occupation of Ardenne date only from the O C It is the time of the expansion of the Celtes. Ardenne would be besides one of the rare places in Europe where the Celts would not have métissés themselves with other populations already installed. But the growth of the population was very slow there: indeed, the climate of Ardenne is colder than that of the neighbouring areas, the rivers are not navigable there (except for the the Moselle and of the Meuse), the relief makes displacements more difficult than elsewhere, the arable Lands produce little and, moreover, the territory is strewn with moors called Fagne S where nothing pushes except the Sphaigne.

Before the 18th century, the forest already was very exploited, because in particular of the modes of Construction, of practices related on the Affouage, the Essartage and the Pâturage, as of the manufacture of the Charcoal useful for the operation of the many forging mills which conferred on Ardenne a vocation Sidérurgique: at the 19th century this area was indeed one of the first of Europe for the Métallurgie thanks to this source of energy.

It is at that time that with the favor of the Industrial development of the Région mosane, that Ardenne leaves its insulation. One built there then with high expenses of the Railways and the Roads, but the of the Ardennes rivers remain wild and the Heavy industry can be established only at the borders North and South of Ardenne. The Industrie modifies the landscapes however, since it is as at the 19th century, during industrial rise, as one introduces the massive plantations of spruce S, a species of Conifère originating in the Scandinavian countries which adapts to wonder with the moors fagnardes, these are especially the not very fertile grounds which were enrésinées. The original intention of these massive plantations was to produce Bois for the Boisage of the galleries of mines.

Today, Ardenne is for the industrial areas close a tank to Green areas and its first economic resource is the Tourisme.

Known localities of Belgian Ardenne in the provinces of Liege, Luxembourg and Namur

Known localities of Ardenne Frenchwoman in the department of the Ardennes

More high summits

Areas in Ardenne

The Ardennes are also a collective; they include/understand:

  • the the French Ardennes: department 08
  • the Calestienne
  • the Condroz
  • the Fagne, in the center of which one finds Couvin
  • the Famenne, in the center of which the town of Marche
  • is located the High Fagnes which prolong the solid mass of the Eiffel at the Belgo-German border
  • the Oesling, with the Grand Duche du Luxembourg

See too

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