Quick History
Luxembourg was dominated for over 400 years before it gained Grand Duchy on June 9th, 1815. It was granted its independence and finally gained political autonomy under the King William I of the Netherlands, who was also the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, 24 years later in 1839.
Luxembourg became a neutral country, but gave up its neutrality after being occupied by Germany in both world wars. It became a charter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949 and was also one of the six original countries in the European Union (EU). |
Quick Facts
The capital of Luxembourg is the city of Luxembourg, shown with a star on the map. Luxembourg is the largest city in the country.
The main river is Moselle, which cuts through the the northern half of the country and continues down as the border between Luxembourg and it neighboring country to the east, Germany. The country is only 2,586 square kilometers because a large portion of its land was claimed by Belgium before political autonomy was established. |