Liege

Liège is a major city and municipality of Belgium located in the province of Liège, of which it is the economic capital, in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse River, near Belgium's eastern borders with the Netherlands and Germany, where the Meuse meets the Ourthe. It is in the former sillon industriel, the industrial backbone of Wallonia. The Liège municipality includes the former communes of Angleur, Bressoux, Chênée, Glain, Grivegnée, Jupille-sur-Meuse, Rocourt, and Wandre. The city is the principal economic and cultural centre of Wallonia. Liège is, with 194,054 inhabitants as of 1 May 2009, the second most populous city in Wallonia, after Charleroi. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of 1,879 km2 and has a total population of 749,110 as of 1 January 2008. This includes a total of 52 municipalities, a.o. Herstal and Seraing, and ranks as the third most populous in Belgium, after Brussels and Antwerp. Liège's Latin form, Leodium, has the Germanic word leod, meaning "people", as its origin. Compare archaic Dutch lui(den), lieden ("people"), Old English lod (English lede "people"), Modern German Leute ("people"), Norwegian dialectal lyd ("people"). Also related are Russian (ljúdi) and Hindi loagh, both meaning "people".