Hainault

Hainault (formerly spelt in a perplexing variety of ways from Haysneault to Heno; Ger. Hennegan), a southern province of Belgium. Area, 1437 sq. m.; pop. (1894) 1,082,494, principally Walloons. The surface consists in the north and west of flat and fruitful plains; the south is occupied by spurs of the Forest of Ardennes. The principal rivers are the Haine—from which the province has its name—the Scheldt, the Dender, and the Sambre, the last a tributary of the Meuse. The soil is highly productive; wheat and flax are very extensively grown. Valuable crops of fruit, vegetables, and beet are produced. Excellent breeds of horses, horned cattle, and sheep are reared. Toward the south and south-east, in the neighbourhood of Mons and Charleroi, are very extensive coalfields, from which about 2,000,000 tons of coal are annually extracted. Iron is also produced in considerable quantity, and marble, building-stone, and limestone are quarried. Linen, porcelain, iron and steel goods, lace, paper, leather, &c., are extensively manufactured. The capital is Mons. From the 9th century Hainault was the name of a county, which embraced the modern districts of both French and Belgian Hainault. For many years (1030–1279) the history of the county was closely connected with that of Flanders (q.v.). From 1345 to 1433 it belonged to the royal house of Bavaria, and then passed to Burgundy, the fortunes of which duchy it shared down to the French Revolution. French Hainault (now the department of Nord) was, however, formed out of the county after the treaty of the Pyrenees (1659). The present Belgian province was constituted in 1815. For Hainault Forest, see EPPING.