{{Short description|Former industrial region in Belgium}} {{italic title}} {{distinguish|text=the Black Country in the Midlands of England}} thumb|alt=Photo of Charleroi taken from Couilet|Photo of Charleroi from Couilet The '''''Pays Noir''''' (French for 'black country') refers to a region of Belgium, centered on the city of Charleroi in the province of Hainaut in Belgium so named for the geological presence of coal. In the 19th century the region rapidly industrialised first with coal mines, then with related industries such as steel manufacture and glass production. The ''Pays Noir'' former part of the wider industrial region known as the ''Sillon industriel''.
==Description== The region, centred on Charleroi,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C0F9LjUk6KQC|title=Belgium & Luxembourg|author=Leanne Logan|author2=Geert Cole|publisher=Lonely Planet|year=2004|isbn=978-1-74059-340-3 |at=Charleroi, pp.231-232}}</ref> also known as the ''Pays de Charleroi'' includes the communes of Aiseau-Presles, Charleroi, Châtelet, Courcelles, Farciennes, Fleurus, Fontaine-l'Évêque, Gerpinnes, Les Bons Villers and Pont-à-Celles.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.opt.be/informations/tourist_information_charleroi__maison_du_tourisme_du_pays_de_charleroi/en/AI/40133.html |title=Maison du tourisme du Pays de Charleroi |access-date=2011-08-30 |archive-date=2011-09-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929083515/http://www.opt.be/informations/tourist_information_charleroi__maison_du_tourisme_du_pays_de_charleroi/en/AI/40133.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In the west, the ''Pays Noir'' borders the ''Centre''-region around the town of La Louvière. Geologically, the region - as well as the other coal bearing areas in Belgium - lies on the northern edge of the Rhenish Massif.<ref>Caractéristiques des bassins industriels dans l'Eurégio Meuse-Rhin, section 2.</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|Belgium|Energy}} *Sillon industriel, the industrial valley of Belgium, the western part of which lies in the ''Pays Noir'' *Borinage *Black Country, a similar early industrial region in the English Midlands
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{Cite journal|url=http://popups.ulg.ac.be/federalisme/document.php?id=298|title=Caractéristiques des bassins industriels dans l'Eurégio Meuse-Rhin|author=Suzanne Pasleau|journal=Fédéralisme Régionalisme|volume=3|year=2003|language=French|access-date=2010-09-07|archive-date=2012-03-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301170025/http://popups.ulg.ac.be/federalisme/document.php?id=298|url-status=dead}}
{{coord|50.431|4.433|type:adm3rd_globe:earth_region:BE|display=title}}
Category:Geography of Charleroi Category:Geography of Hainaut Province Category:Regions of Wallonia Category:Coal mining regions in Belgium Category:Areas of Belgium