![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/11\/Luxembourg-in-Europe-300x252.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>With an area of 2,586 square kilometers (998 sq mi), it is one of the smallest sovereign states in Europe. In 2019, Luxembourg had a population of 626,108, which makes it one of the least-populous countries in Europe, but by far the one with the highest population growth rate. Foreigners account for nearly half of Luxembourg’s population. As a representative democracy with a constitutional monarch, it is headed by Grand Duke Henri<\/a> and is the world’s only remaining sovereign grand duchy. Luxembourg is a developed country, with an advanced economy and one of the world’s highest GDP (PPP) per capita. The City of Luxembourg with its old quarters and fortifications was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994 due to the exceptional preservation of the vast fortifications and the old city.<\/p>\n The history of Luxembourg is considered to begin in 963, when count Siegfried<\/a> acquired a rocky promontory and its Roman-era fortifications known as Lucilinburhuc, “little castle”, and the surrounding area from the Imperial Abbey of St. Maximin<\/a> in nearby Trier<\/a>. Siegfried’s descendants increased their territory through marriage, war and vassal relations. At the end of the 13th century, the counts of Luxembourg reigned over a considerable territory. In 1308, Henry VII<\/a> became King of the Germans<\/a> and later Holy Roman Emperor<\/a>. The House of Luxembourg produced four emperors during the High Middle Ages. In 1354, Charles IV<\/a> elevated the county to the Duchy of Luxembourg<\/a>. The duchy eventually became part of the Burgundian Circle<\/a> and then one of the Seventeen Provinces<\/a> of the Habsburg Netherlands<\/a>. Over the centuries, the City and Fortress of Luxembourg<\/a>, of great strategic importance situated between the Kingdom of France and the Habsburg territories, was gradually built up to be one of the most reputed fortifications in Europe. After belonging to both the France of Louis XIV<\/a> and the Austria of Maria Theresa<\/a>, Luxembourg became part of the First French Republic<\/a> and Empire<\/a> under Napoleon.<\/p>\n The present-day state of Luxembourg first emerged at the Congress of Vienna<\/a> in 1815. The Grand Duchy, with its powerful fortress, became an independent state under the personal possession of William I of the Netherlands<\/a> with a Prussian<\/a> garrison to guard the city against another invasion from France. In 1839, following the turmoil of the Belgian Revolution<\/a>, the purely French-speaking part of Luxembourg was ceded to Belgium and the Luxembourgish-speaking part (except the Arelerland<\/a>, the area around Arlon<\/a>) became what is the present state of Luxembourg.<\/p>\n Luxembourg is a founding member of the European Union, OECD<\/a>, United Nations, NATO<\/a>, and Benelux<\/a>. The city of Luxembourg, which is the country’s capital and largest city, is the seat of several institutions and agencies of the EU. Luxembourg served on the United Nations Security Council<\/a> for the years 2013 and 2014, which was a first in the country’s history. As of 2020, Luxembourg citizens had visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 187 countries and territories, ranking the Luxembourgish passport fifth in the world, tied with Denmark and Spain.<\/p>\n The recorded history of Luxembourg begins with the acquisition of Lucilinburhuc (today Luxembourg Castle) situated on the Bock<\/a> rock by Siegfried, Count of Ardennes, in 963 through an exchange act with St. Maximin’s Abbey, Trier. Around this fort, a town gradually developed, which became the center of a state of great strategic value.<\/p>\n In the 14th and early 15th centuries, three members of the House of Luxembourg reigned as Holy Roman Emperors. In 1437, the House of Luxembourg suffered a succession crisis, precipitated by the lack of a male heir to assume the throne, which led to the territories being sold by Duchess Elisabeth<\/a> to Philip the Good<\/a> of Burgundy<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the following centuries, Luxembourg’s fortress was steadily enlarged and strengthened by its successive occupants, the Bourbons<\/a>, Habsburgs<\/a>, Hohenzollerns<\/a> and the French.<\/p>\n After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815<\/a>, Luxembourg was disputed between Prussia and the Netherlands<\/a>. The Congress of Vienna<\/a> formed Luxembourg as a Grand Duchy within the German Confederation<\/a>. The Dutch king became, in personal union, the grand duke. Although he was supposed to rule the grand duchy as an independent country with an administration of its own, in reality he treated it similarly to a Dutch province. The Fortress of Luxembourg<\/a> was manned by Prussian troops for the German Confederation. This arrangement was revised by the 1839 First Treaty of London<\/a>, from which date Luxembourg’s full independence is reckoned.<\/p>\n At the time of the Belgian Revolution of 1830\u20131839, and by the 1839 Treaty establishing full independence, Luxembourg’s territory was reduced by more than half, as the predominantly francophone western part of the country was transferred to Belgium. In 1842 Luxembourg joined the German Customs Union (Zollverein). This resulted in the opening of the German market, the development of Luxembourg’s steel industry<\/a>, and expansion of Luxembourg’s railway network<\/a> from 1855 to 1875, particularly the construction of the Luxembourg-Thionville<\/a> railway line, with connections from there to the European industrial regions. While Prussian troops still manned the fortress, in 1861, the Passerelle<\/a> was opened, the first road bridge spanning the P\u00e9trusse river valley<\/a>, connecting the Ville Haute<\/a> and the main fortification on the Bock with Luxembourg railway station, opened in 1859, on the then fortified Bourbon plateau to the south.<\/p>\n After the Luxembourg Crisis of 1866<\/a> nearly led to war between Prussia and France, the Grand Duchy’s independence and neutrality were again affirmed by the 1867 Second Treaty of London<\/a>, Prussia’s troops were withdrawn from the Fortress of Luxembourg, and its Bock and surrounding fortifications were dismantled.<\/p>\n The King of the Netherlands remained Head of State as Grand Duke of Luxembourg, maintaining a personal union between the two countries until 1890. At the death of William III<\/a>, the throne of the Netherlands passed to his daughter Wilhelmina<\/a>, while Luxembourg (then restricted to male heirs by the Nassau Family Pact<\/a>) passed to Adolph of Nassau-Weilburg<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the time of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870<\/a>, despite allegations about French use of the Luxembourg railways for passing soldiers from Metz<\/a> (then part of France) through the Duchy, and for forwarding provisions to Thionville, Luxembourg’s neutrality was respected by Germany, and neither France nor Germany invaded the country. But in 1871, as a result of Germany’s victory over France, Luxembourg’s boundary with Lorraine, containing Metz and Thionville, changed from being a frontier with a part of France to a frontier with territory annexed to the German Empire<\/a> as Alsace-Lorraine<\/a> under the Treaty of Frankfurt<\/a>. This allowed Germany the military advantage of controlling and expanding the railways there.<\/p>\n In August 1914, Imperial Germany violated Luxembourg’s neutrality in the war by invading it in the war against France. This allowed Germany to use the railway lines, while at the same time denying them to France. Nevertheless, despite the German occupation<\/a>, Luxembourg was allowed to maintain much of its independence and political mechanisms.<\/p>\n In 1940, after the outbreak of World War II, Luxembourg’s neutrality was again violated when the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany entered the country, “entirely without justification”. In contrast to the First World War, under the German occupation of Luxembourg during World War II<\/a>, the country was treated as German territory and informally annexed to the adjacent province of the Third Reich. A government in exile based in London supported the Allies, sending a small group of volunteers who participated in the Normandy invasion. Luxembourg was liberated in September 1944, and became a founding member of the United Nations in 1945. Luxembourg’s neutral status under the constitution formally ended in 1948, and in 1949 it became a founding member of NATO.<\/p>\n In 1951, Luxembourg became one of the six founding countries of the European Coal and Steel Community<\/a>, which in 1957 would become the European Economic Community<\/a> and in 1993 the European Union. In 1999 Luxembourg joined the Eurozone. In 2005, a referendum on the EU treaty establishing a constitution for Europe was held.<\/p>\n The steel industry exploiting the Red Lands’ rich iron-ore grounds in the beginning of the 20th century drove the country’s industrialization. After the decline of the steel industry in the 1970s, the country focused on establishing itself as a global financial center and developed into the banking hub it is reputed for. Since the beginning of the 21st century, its governments have focused on developing the country into a knowledge economy, with the founding of the University of Luxembourg<\/a> and a national space program, projecting the first involvement in a robotic lunar expedition by 2020.<\/p>\n Luxembourg is one of the smallest countries in Europe, and ranked 167th in size of all the 194 independent countries of the world; the country is about 2,586 square kilometers (998 sq mi) in size, and measures 82 km (51 mi) long and 57 km (35 mi) wide.<\/p>\n The largest towns are Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Dudelange, and Differdange.<\/p>\n To the east, Luxembourg borders the German Bundesl\u00e4nder of Rhineland-Palatinate<\/a> and Saarland<\/a>, and to the south, it borders the French r\u00e9gion of Grand Est<\/a> (Lorraine<\/a>). The Grand Duchy borders the Belgian Walloon Region<\/a>, in particular the latter’s provinces of Luxembourg<\/a> and Li\u00e8ge<\/a>, part of which comprises the German-speaking Community of Belgium<\/a>, to the west and to the north, respectively.<\/p>\n The northern third of the country is known as the ‘Oesling<\/a>‘, and forms part of the Ardennes<\/a>. It is dominated by hills and low mountains, including the Kneiff<\/a> near Wilwerdange, which is the highest point, at 560 meters (1,837 ft). Other mountains are the ‘Buurgplaaz<\/a>‘ at 559 meters near Huldange<\/a> and the ‘Napol\u00e9onsgaard<\/a>‘ at 554 meters near Rambrouch<\/a>. The region is sparsely populated, with only one town (Wiltz<\/a>) with a population of more than four thousand people.<\/p>\n The southern two-thirds of the country is called the “Gutland<\/a>“, and is more densely populated than the Oesling. It is also more diverse and can be divided into five geographic sub-regions. The Luxembourg plateau<\/a>, in south-central Luxembourg, is a large, flat, sandstone formation, and the site of the city of Luxembourg. Little Switzerland<\/a>, in the east of Luxembourg, has craggy terrain and thick forests. The Moselle valley<\/a> is the lowest-lying region, running along the southeastern border. The Red Lands<\/a>, in the far south and southwest, are Luxembourg’s industrial heartland and home to many of Luxembourg’s largest towns.<\/p>\n The border between Luxembourg and Germany is formed by three rivers: the Moselle, the Sauer<\/a>, and the Our<\/a>. Other major rivers are the Alzette<\/a>, the Attert<\/a>, the Clerve<\/a>, and the Wiltz<\/a>. The valleys of the mid-Sauer and Attert form the border between the Gutland and the Oesling.<\/p>\n According to the 2012 Environmental Performance Index, Luxembourg is one of the world’s best performers in environmental protection, ranking 4th out of 132 assessed countries Luxembourg also ranks 6th among the top ten most livable cities in the world by Mercer’s.<\/p>\n Luxembourg’s stable and high-income market economy features moderate growth, low inflation, and a high level of innovation. Unemployment is traditionally low, although it had risen to 6.1% by May 2012, due largely to the effect of the 2008 global financial crisis. In 2011, according to the IMF, Luxembourg was the second richest country in the world, with a per capita GDP on a purchasing-power parity (PPP) basis of $80,119. Its GDP per capita in purchasing power standards was 261% of the EU average (100%) in 2019. Luxembourg is ranked 13th in The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom, 26th in the United Nations Human Development Index, and 4th in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s quality of life index.<\/p>\n The industrial sector, which was dominated by steel until the 1960s, has since diversified to include chemicals, rubber, and other products. During the past decades, growth in the financial sector has more than compensated for the decline in steel production. Services, especially banking and finance, account for the majority of the economic output. Luxembourg is the world’s second largest investment fund center (after the United States), the most important private banking center in the Eurozone and Europe’s leading center for reinsurance companies. Moreover, the Luxembourg government has aimed to attract Internet start-ups, with Skype and Amazon being two of the many Internet companies that have shifted their regional headquarters to Luxembourg. Other high-tech companies have established themselves in Luxembourg, including 3D scanner developer\/manufacturer Artec 3D.<\/p>\n Luxembourg has road, rail and air transport facilities and services. The road network has been significantly modernized in recent years with 147 km (91 mi) of motorways connecting the capital to adjacent countries. The advent of the high-speed TGV<\/a> link to Paris has led to renovation of the city’s railway station<\/a> and a new passenger terminal at Luxembourg Airport<\/a> was opened in 2008. Luxembourg city reintroduced trams<\/a> in December 2017 and there are plans to open light-rail lines in adjacent areas within the next few years.<\/p>\n The number of cars per 1000 persons amount to 680.1 in Luxembourg \u2014 higher than all but two states, namely the Principality of Monaco<\/a> and the British overseas territory of Gibraltar<\/a>.<\/p>\n On 29 February 2020 Luxembourg became the first country to introduce no-charge public transportation which will be almost completely funded through tax revenue.<\/p>\n The flag of Luxembourg consists of three horizontal stripes, red, white and light blue, and can be in 1:2 or 3:5 ratio. It was first used between 1845 and 1848 and officially adopted in 1993.<\/p>\n Luxembourg had no flag until 1830, when patriots were urged to display the national colors. The flag was defined as a horizontal tricolor of red, white, and blue in 1848, but it was not officially adopted until 1993. The tricolor flag is almost identical to Flag of the Netherlands<\/a>, except that it is longer and its light blue stripe and red stripe are a lighter shade. The red, white, and light blue colors were derived from the coat of arms of the House of Luxembourg<\/a>.<\/p>\n The colors of the flag of Luxembourg were first adopted around 1830 during the Belgian Revolution<\/a>. They were probably derived from the counts, dukes and later grand-dukes of Luxembourg’s coat of arms<\/a> which in turn was derived from the combination of the dukes of Limbourg’s<\/a> Lion and the supposed striped banner of the early counts of Luxembourg. The three-colored horizontal design was fixed on 12 June 1845.<\/p>\n It took until 1993 before a law was passed regulating the flag of Luxembourg. The same law also prescribed ensign and roundel for aircraft and ships registered in Luxembourg.<\/p>\n One important clarification brought by this law was that the color blue was defined as being a very bright blue, in contrast to the flag of the Netherlands (exactly the same design, but the Dutch flag uses dark blue and a less oblong shape).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The flag of Luxembourg consists of three horizontal stripes, red, white and light blue, and can be in 1:2 or 3:5 ratio. It was first used between 1845 and 1848 and officially adopted in 1993. <\/p>\n Luxembourg had no flag until 1830, when patriots were urged to display the national colours. The flag was defined as a horizontal tricolour of red, white, and blue in 1848, but it was not officially adopted until 1993. The tricolour flag is almost identical to Flag of the Netherlands, except that it is longer and its light blue stripe and red stripe are a lighter shade. The red, white, and light blue colours were derived from the coat of arms of the House of Luxembourg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6927"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/11\/Grand-Duke-Henri-of-Luxembourg-200x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/11\/Europe-in-1815-300x197.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>History:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/11\/Count-Siegfried-of-Luxembourg.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Duchy:<\/h3>\n
19th Century:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/11\/The-Fortress-of-Luxembourg-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/11\/Adolphe-Grand-Duke-of-Luxembourg-192x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>20th Century and Beyond:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/11\/Celebrating-Liberation-1918-300x213.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/11\/Luxembourg-Steel-Mill-300x166.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Geography:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/11\/Luxembourg-Countryside-300x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/11\/Topographic-Map-of-Luxembourg-255x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Economy:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/11\/Treemap-of-Luxembourg-Exports-300x235.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Transportation:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/11\/Road-Map-of-Luxembourg-212x300.gif\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Flag of Luxembourg:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2020\/11\/Flag-of-Luxembourg-300x180.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>