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79-627: The Charleroi area was already settled in the prehistoric period, with traces of metallurgical and commercial activities along the Sambre . Several public buildings, temples and villas were built in the area in the Roman period. Burial places, with jewels and weapons, have been found. The first written mention of a place called Charnoy dates from a 9th-century offering in the Lobbes abbey, which lists various neighboring towns and related tithe duties. During

158-513: A Cité des Métiers, a University Center, a Center for Technological Higher Education, a “Design – Innovation” Competence Center. Secondary schools include: The catholic secondary schools include: The Brussels South Charleroi Airport in Gosselies , 7 km (4.3 mi) north of the centre, opened in 1919 as a flight school. Later, it housed the Fairey aircraft-factory building. Gosselies

237-476: A central loop downtown. However, only one line (to Petria), part of another line (to Gilly) and three-quarters of the loop were actually built and opened to traffic, all from 1976 to 1996. Another branch line toward the suburb of Châtelet (Châtelineau) was almost fully built, to the extent of installing power cables, escalators and still-working electric signals in the first three stations but was never opened as passenger numbers would be too low to economically justify

316-619: A century earlier, could now flourish. Trouble began again in 1790, the year of the civil uprising that eventually led to the United States of Belgium . The Austrians occupied the city, were forced out by the French after the Battle of Jemappes on 6 November 1792, and took it back again four months later. On 12 June 1794, the French revolutionary Army of Sambre-et-Meuse under the command of Jean-Baptiste Jourdan , invested Charleroi and won

395-592: A common impurity. Tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before 3000 BCE. The Bronze Age forms part of the three-age system for prehistoric societies. In this system, it follows the Neolithic in some areas of the world. While copper is a common ore, deposits of tin are rare in the Old World , and often had to be traded or carried considerable distances from

474-552: A concession and there are 1700 direct and 1000 indirect jobs associated. Public transport is provided by TEC (Transport En Commun), the Walloon public transport service. The greater Charleroi region is served by bus lines and a light-rail system, named Métro Léger de Charleroi . Part of the latter is famous for incorporating one of the few remnants of the Vicinal , the former Belgian national tramway network. Charleroi also has

553-582: A decisive victory in the ensuing Battle of Fleurus . The city took the revolutionary name of Libre-sur-Sambre until 1800. After France's defeat in 1814, the whole area was annexed to the Netherlands , and new walls were built around the city. Napoleon stayed in Charleroi for a couple of days in June 1815, just before the Battle of Waterloo . The Belgian Revolution of 1830 gave the area its freedom from

632-663: A former colliery on the boundary of the Monceau-sur-Sambre and Roux sections, is in the process of being rehabilitated and reallocated. Like the Viviers slag heap in Gilly, this vast site is of great biological interest. Similar to the rest of Belgium Charleroi has an oceanic climate as a result of the Gulf Stream influence warming winters, while also moderating summer warmth in spite of its inland position. Before

711-415: A mosaic of habitats, hence the interest in preserving different types of environments on the slag heaps. The Viviers site, for example, is an old mining site located in the east of Charleroi ( Gilly ). This site has a small conical slag heap and large open areas consisting mainly of pioneer grassland and wasteland. It also includes a small body of water as well as temporary ponds, and some wooded areas on

790-674: A much more evident Mesolithic era, lasting millennia. In Northern Europe , societies were able to live well on rich food supplies from the marshlands fostered by the warmer climate. Such conditions produced distinctive human behaviours that are preserved in the material record, such as the Maglemosian and Azilian cultures. These conditions also delayed the coming of the Neolithic until as late as 4000 BCE (6,000  BP ) in northern Europe. Remains from this period are few and far between, often limited to middens . In forested areas,

869-522: A planned four-line S-bahn type suburban rail system, the Réseau express régional de Charleroi  [ fr ] (Réseau S). The Métro Léger de Charleroi is equally famous for the parts of the system which were never built, partially built or fully completed but not opened. It was planned in the 1960s as a 48 km (30 mi.) light-rail network, operating partly on rapid transit /metro infrastructure, consisting of eight branch lines radiating from

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948-654: A single room. Settlements might have a surrounding stone wall to keep domesticated animals in and hostile tribes out. Later settlements have rectangular mud-brick houses where the family lived in single or multiple rooms. Burial findings suggest an ancestor cult with preserved skulls of the dead. The Vinča culture may have created the earliest system of writing. The megalithic temple complexes of Ġgantija are notable for their gigantic structures. Although some late Eurasian Neolithic societies formed complex stratified chiefdoms or even states, states evolved in Eurasia only with

1027-749: A single source. The emergence of metallurgy may have occurred first in the Fertile Crescent , where it gave rise to the Bronze Age in the 4th millennium BCE (the traditional view), although finds from the Vinča culture in Europe have now been securely dated to slightly earlier than those of the Fertile Crescent. Timna Valley contains evidence of copper mining 7,000 years ago. The process of transition from Neolithic to Chalcolithic in

1106-529: A street-level tramline in 2013. In June 2021 it was announced that €60m will be allocated to refurbish and open the long-ago completed but never served inner section of the Châtelet "ghost" line, and extend it to the new hospital development in the area. Prehistoric Prehistory , also called pre-literary history , is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins c.  3.3   million years ago and

1185-800: Is also a transition period between Stone Age and Bronze Age, the Chalcolithic or Copper Age. For the prehistory of the Americas see Pre-Columbian era . The notion of "prehistory" emerged during the Enlightenment in the work of antiquarians who used the word "primitive" to describe societies that existed before written records. The word "prehistory" first appeared in English in 1836 in the Foreign Quarterly Review . The geologic time scale for pre-human time periods, and

1264-516: Is an example. In archaeology, the Iron Age refers to the advent of ferrous metallurgy . The adoption of iron coincided with other changes, often including more sophisticated agricultural practices, religious beliefs and artistic styles, which makes the archaeological Iron Age coincide with the " Axial Age " in the history of philosophy. Although iron ore is common, the metalworking techniques necessary to use iron are different from those needed for

1343-488: Is anonymous. Because of this, reference terms that prehistorians use, such as " Neanderthal " or " Iron Age ", are modern labels with definitions sometimes subject to debate. The concept of a "Stone Age" is found useful in the archaeology of most of the world, although in the archaeology of the Americas it is called by different names and begins with a Lithic stage , or sometimes Paleo-Indian . The sub-divisions described below are used for Eurasia, and not consistently across

1422-782: Is called the Lower Paleolithic (as in excavations it appears underneath the Upper Paleolithic), beginning with the earliest stone tools dated to around 3.3 million years ago at the Lomekwi site in Kenya. These tools predate the genus Homo and were probably used by Kenyanthropus . Evidence of control of fire by early hominins during the Lower Palaeolithic Era is uncertain and has at best limited scholarly support. The most widely accepted claim

1501-659: Is developing rapidly around Charleroi-Brussels-South airport with the foundation of two university research centres: the Center of Excellence in Information Technologies (CETIC) serving as a center of expertise for the development of Walloon companies and founded by UCLouvain with the universities of Namur and Mons, as well as the Cenaero (Centre for research in aeronautics) of the University of Liège (ULiège),

1580-504: Is influenced by the valley of the river Sambre , which flows from west to east before joining the Meuse at Namur . The Piéton river flows from north to south to join the Sambre at Dampremy . The Charleroi-Brussels canal is dug in the valley of this stream. The Eau d'Heure river comes from the south and also flows into the Sambre at Marchienne-au-Pont . About twenty streams run through

1659-520: Is not generally used in those parts of the world where the working of hard metals arrived abruptly from contact with Eurasian cultures, such as Oceania , Australasia , much of Sub-Saharan Africa , and parts of the Americas . With some exceptions in pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas, these areas did not develop complex writing systems before the arrival of Eurasians, so their prehistory reaches into relatively recent periods; for example, 1788

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1738-462: Is now used as an alternate airport for Brussels . Low-cost carrier Ryanair is the largest airline to provide service there; others include Wizz Air , Jetairfly . Seasonal holiday charters also use the airport. A new terminal opened in January 2008, replacing a much smaller building which had exceeded capacity. Brussels is 47 km (29 mi) north of Charleroi Airport. In October 2021,

1817-558: Is provided by a wide variety of natural and social sciences, such as anthropology , archaeology , archaeoastronomy , comparative linguistics , biology , geology , molecular genetics , paleontology , palynology , physical anthropology , and many others. Human prehistory differs from history not only in terms of its chronology , but in the way it deals with the activities of archaeological cultures rather than named nations or individuals . Restricted to material processes, remains, and artefacts rather than written records, prehistory

1896-551: Is seen as a transition period between the Stone Age and Bronze Age. An archaeological site in Serbia contains the oldest securely dated evidence of copper making at high temperature, from 7,500 years ago. The find in 2010 extends the known record of copper smelting by about 800 years, and suggests that copper smelting may have been invented independently in separate parts of Asia and Europe at that time, rather than spreading from

1975-500: Is that H. erectus or H. ergaster made fires between 790,000 and 690,000 BP in a site at Bnot Ya'akov Bridge , Israel . The use of fire enabled early humans to cook food, provide warmth, have a light source, deter animals at night and meditate. Early Homo sapiens originated some 300,000 years ago, ushering in the Middle Palaeolithic . Anatomic changes indicating modern language capacity also arise during

2054-446: Is usually taken as the end of the prehistory of Australia . The period when a culture is written about by others, but has not developed its own writing system, is often known as the protohistory of the culture. By definition, there are no written records from human prehistory, which can only be known from material archaeological and anthropological evidence: prehistoric materials and human remains. These were at first understood by

2133-516: Is when the first signs of human presence have been found; however, Africa and Asia contain sites dated as early as c.  2.5 and 1.8 million years ago, respectively. Depending on the date when relevant records become a useful academic resource, its end date also varies. For example, in Egypt it is generally accepted that prehistory ended around 3100 BCE, whereas in New Guinea

2212-527: The Pays Noir ("Black Country"), part of the larger sillon industriel . Even though most of the factories have closed since the 1950s, the landscape remains dotted with spoil tips and old industrial buildings. Charleroi lies around 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of Brussels . The municipality comprises: and the following former municipalities, now sections , merged into Charleroi in 1977: Neighboring municipalities: The topography of Charleroi

2291-653: The Copper Age or Bronze Age ; or, in some geographical regions, in the Iron Age ). The term Neolithic is commonly used in the Old World ; its application to cultures in the Americas and Oceania is complicated by the fact standard progression from stone to metal tools, as seen in the Old World, does not neatly apply. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a narrow range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat , millet and spelt , and

2370-651: The Middle Ages , Charnoy was one of the many small hamlets in the area, with no more than about 50 inhabitants, part of the County of Namur . Spanish territorial losses in the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees left a gap between the key fortresses of Mons and Namur ; to fill this, Francisco Castel Rodrigo , then Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, expropriated land around Charnoy to build a fortress near

2449-531: The Paleolithic , by the Neolithic only Homo sapiens sapiens remained. This was a period of technological and social developments which established most of the basic elements of historical cultures, such as the domestication of crops and animals , and the establishment of permanent settlements and early chiefdoms. The era commenced with the beginning of farming , which produced the " Neolithic Revolution ". It ended when metal tools became widespread (in

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2528-604: The University of Louvain began operations in Charleroi with three faculties on its UCLouvain Charleroi campus based in the city center and in Montignies-sur-Sambre , including the Louvain School of Management and, more recently, the Louvain School of Engineering , issuing Bachelor's and Master's degrees and conducting research. Other universities have since started operations in Charleroi, including

2607-424: The calcareous grassland , the slag heaps are habitats created by human activity that are home to many very specific and often threatened animal and plant species. The rarity of these species depends on the rarity of the environment itself (the biotope ). Biodiversity is also present in other environments: in a wasteland, a body of water, a meadow, etc. In terms of biodiversity, it is therefore preferable to maintain

2686-606: The three-age system for human prehistory, were systematised during the nineteenth century in the work of British, French, German, and Scandinavian anthropologists , archaeologists , and antiquarians . The main source of information for prehistory is archaeology (a branch of anthropology), but some scholars are beginning to make more use of evidence from the natural and social sciences. The primary researchers into human prehistory are archaeologists and physical anthropologists who use excavation, geologic and geographic surveys, and other scientific analysis to reveal and interpret

2765-475: The "Chalcolithic", "Eneolithic", or "Copper Age" refers to a transitional period where early copper metallurgy appeared alongside the widespread use of stone tools. During this period, some weapons and tools were made of copper. This period was still largely Neolithic in character. It is a phase of the Bronze Age before it was discovered that adding tin to copper formed the harder bronze . The Copper Age

2844-1047: The 1850s–1860s became one of the most important places where labor strikes broke out. In 1886, 12 strikers were killed by the Belgian army in Roux . In the 1880s, miners in Hainaut were recruited by the Dominion Coal Company in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia . These miners were anxious to flee the repression following bloody strikes and riots in Liège and Charleroi during the Walloon Jacquerie of 1886 . Walloon miners from Charleroi also emigrated to Alberta , Canada. The working men of Charleroi always played an important role in Belgian general strikes and particularly during

2923-559: The 650 m (2,130 ft) extension of the runway was officially opened, bringing it to a total length of 3,200 m (10,500 ft). Charleroi is connected by train to other Belgian major cities through the main Charleroi-Central railway station . The city also has a secondary railway station, Charleroi-West , on the Charleroi-to- Ottignies line. The Port autonome de Charleroi gives access through

3002-705: The Azilian cultures, before spreading to Europe through the Iberomaurusian culture of Northern Africa and the Kebaran culture of the Levant . However, independent discovery is not ruled out. "Neolithic" means "New Stone Age", from about 10,200 BCE in some parts of the Middle East, but later in other parts of the world, and ended between 4,500 and 2,000 BCE. Although there were several species of humans during

3081-482: The Belgian general strike of 1936, the general strike against Leopold III of Belgium , and the 1960–1961 winter general strike . By 1871, the fortified walls around the city were completely torn down. Heavy fighting took place during World War I due to the city's strategic location on the Sambre. The city was badly damaged with further destruction only being prevented by the Couillet Treaty agreed with

3160-473: The Belgian, Dutch and French canal and river network to three major ports (Dunkirk, Antwerp and Rotterdam). Il is composed of twenty-nine ports in the region of Charleroi distributed along the river Sambre and the Brussels-Charleroi canal . It has 8 km of embankments, 5 million tons of goods transported each year, 10.000 containers and a trimodal platform for the containers; 100 companies have

3239-442: The French border. It has also a port ("Port autonome de Charleroi") and a river network giving access to three major ports (Dunkirk, Antwerp and Rotterdam). From the 1990s, two big shopping malls (Ville 2 and Rive Gauche), cinemas and even a local craft brewery have been created in and around the city center also bringing back shops and customers downtown. Charleroi is Belgium's biggest city without having its own university. In 1966

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3318-537: The German forces which required the payment of 10 million Belgian Francs, foodstuffs, vehicles and armaments. The magazine Spirou , which featured the popular cartoon characters Lucky Luke and the Smurfs , was launched by the publishing company Éditions Dupuis in 1938. After World War II , Charleroi witnessed a general decline of its heavy industry. Following the merger with several surrounding municipalities in 1977,

3397-460: The Iron Age, often through conquest by empires, which continued to expand during this period. For example, in most of Europe conquest by the Roman Empire means the term Iron Age is replaced by "Roman", " Gallo-Roman ", and similar terms after the conquest. Even before conquest, many areas began to have a protohistory, as they were written about by literate cultures; the protohistory of Ireland

3476-694: The Middle East is characterized in archaeological stone tool assemblages by a decline in high quality raw material procurement and use. North Africa and the Nile Valley imported its iron technology from the Near East and followed the Near Eastern course of Bronze Age and Iron Age development. The Bronze Age is the earliest period in which some civilizations reached the end of prehistory, by introducing written records. The Bronze Age, or parts thereof, are thus considered to be part of prehistory only for

3555-739: The Middle Palaeolithic. During the Middle Palaeolithic Era, there is the first definitive evidence of human use of fire. Sites in Zambia have charred logs, charcoal and carbonized plants, that have been dated to 180,000 BP. The systematic burial of the dead , music , prehistoric art , and the use of increasingly sophisticated multi-part tools are highlights of the Middle Paleolithic. The Upper Paleolithic extends from 50,000 and 12,000 years ago, with

3634-640: The Netherlands and ushered in a new era of prosperity, still based mostly on glass, metallurgy and coal, hence the area's name, Pays Noir ("Black Country"). After the Industrial Revolution , Charleroi benefited from the increased use of coke in the metallurgical industry. People from across Europe were attracted by the economic opportunities, and the population grew rapidly. Following the Industrial Revolution in Wallonia , Charleroi from

3713-492: The PS lost its absolute majority as a result of the municipality elections of 8 October 2006. At the elections of October 2012, the PS, under the leadership of Paul Magnette , regained the absolute majority at the municipal council. Mayor Paul Magnette chose, however, to open the socialist majority and to reconduct the coalition of socialists, liberals and centrists. At the municipal elections of 2018, Magnette, re-elected mayor, opened

3792-590: The Sambre. In September 1666, it was renamed Charle-roi, or King Charles, in honour of five-year-old Charles II of Spain ; the chronogram F V N D AT V R C ARO L OREG IVM (MDCLVVVI) can be found in the register of the parish of Charnoy. Construction had only just begun when the War of Devolution with France began in 1667, and the Spanish withdrew. France retained the town under the 1668 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle , and its fortifications were completed by Vauban . A bridge

3871-432: The Spanish in 1678 ( Treaty of Nijmegen ), taken by the French in 1693, ceded again to the Spanish in 1698 ( Treaty of Rijswijk ), then taken by the French, the Dutch and the Austrians in 1714 ( Treaty of Baden ). The French Prince of Conti took the city again in 1745, but it was ceded back to Austria in 1748, beginning a period of prosperity under Joseph II . Glass, steel and coal industries, which had already sprung up

3950-425: The Universities of Namur , Mons and the Université libre de Bruxelles . Thanks to the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union , a Campus of Sciences, Art and Trade is currently being developed in downtown Charleroi. This Campus, located on the site of the University of Labor, will constitute a real center of excellence for training - teaching - research in the city center equipped with

4029-407: The University of Louvain (UCLouvain) and the University of Brussels (ULB). Likewise, the Brussels South Charleroi Airport has evolved in a major commercial success with a grow of passengers from 210.000 in 1998 to 8.3 millions passengers in 2023. Therefore, it has become the second airport of Belgium for passenger transport which is a substantial asset for the economical and commercial development of

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4108-448: The beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems . The use of symbols, marks, and images appears very early among humans, but the earliest known writing systems appeared c.  5,200 years ago. It took thousands of years for writing systems to be widely adopted, with writing having spread to almost all cultures by the 19th century. The end of prehistory therefore came at different times in different places, and

4187-398: The case of Indigenous Australian "highways" known as songlines . The Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age (from the Greek mesos , 'middle', and lithos , 'stone'), was a period in the development of human technology between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic . The Mesolithic period began with the retreat of glaciers at the end of the Pleistocene epoch, some 10,000 BP, and ended with

4266-498: The city as of 2013 ranks as the largest city in Wallonia and the 4th largest in Belgium. As part of the effort to improve its identity, the city adopted a new logo and graphic charter in early 2015, designed by the Brussels studio Pam and Jenny. The crown of three triangles above the C has several meanings: The municipality of Charleroi straddles both banks of the river Sambre in an area marked by industrial activities ( coal mining and steel industry ), which has been nicknamed

4345-463: The collection of folklore and by analogy with pre-literate societies observed in modern times. The key step to understanding prehistoric evidence is dating, and reliable dating techniques have developed steadily since the nineteenth century. The most common of these dating techniques is radiocarbon dating . Further evidence has come from the reconstruction of ancient spoken languages . More recent techniques include forensic chemical analysis to reveal

4424-399: The end of the Bronze Age large states, whose armies imposed themselves on people with a different culture, and are often called empires, had arisen in Egypt, China, Anatolia (the Hittites ), and Mesopotamia , all of them literate. The Iron Age is not part of prehistory for all civilizations who had introduced written records during the Bronze Age. Most remaining civilizations did so during

4503-477: The end of the prehistoric era is set much more recently, in the 1870s, when the Russian anthropologist Nicholai Miklukho-Maklai spent several years living among native peoples, and described their way of life in a comprehensive treatise. In Europe the relatively well-documented classical cultures of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome had neighbouring cultures, including the Celts and the Etruscans , with little writing. Historians debate how much weight to give to

4582-432: The extra staff. The high costs of construction, a decline in Charleroi's traditional "smokestack" industries and questioning of the scope of the whole project in proportion to the actual demand for it are cited as reasons for the original plan's becoming unfulfilled. The central loop and the Gilly branch as far as Soleilmont were completed in 2012, with funds from the European Investment Bank . The Gosselies branch opened as

4661-446: The few mines, stimulating the creation of extensive trading routes. In many areas as far apart as China and England, the valuable new material was used for weapons, but for a long time apparently not available for agricultural tools. Much of it seems to have been hoarded by social elites, and sometimes deposited in extravagant quantities, from Chinese ritual bronzes and Indian copper hoards , to European hoards of unused axe-heads. By

4740-493: The first organized settlements and blossoming of artistic work. Throughout the Palaeolithic, humans generally lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers . Hunter-gatherer societies tended to be very small and egalitarian, although hunter-gatherer societies with abundant resources or advanced food-storage techniques sometimes developed sedentary lifestyles with complex social structures such as chiefdoms, and social stratification . Long-distance contacts may have been established, as in

4819-444: The first signs of deforestation have been found, although this would only begin in earnest during the Neolithic, when more space was needed for agriculture . The Mesolithic is characterized in most areas by small composite flint tools: microliths and microburins . Fishing tackle , stone adzes , and wooden objects such as canoes and bows have been found at some sites. These technologies first occur in Africa, associated with

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4898-455: The first socialist mayor of the new entity. Since 1977, the Socialist Party has constantly been part of the political majority within the municipal council, either holding an absolute majority or being in coalition with other parties. In 2005, numerous judicial affairs put into question Charleroi's elected socialist municipal councillors. The media resonance and the impact were significant at local, regional and even national level. At local level,

4977-414: The introduction of agriculture , the date of which varied by geographic region. In some areas, such as the Near East , agriculture was already underway by the end of the Pleistocene , and there the Mesolithic is short and poorly defined. In areas with limited glacial impact, the term " Epipalaeolithic " is preferred. Regions that experienced greater environmental effects as the last ice age ended have

5056-474: The keeping of dogs , sheep , and goats . By about 6,900–6,400 BCE, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, and the use of pottery . The Neolithic period saw the development of early villages , agriculture , animal domestication , tools , and the onset of the earliest recorded incidents of warfare. Settlements became more permanent, some with circular houses made of mudbrick with

5135-455: The merger of municipalities, from Belgian independence in 1830 until 1 January 1977 (with the exception of the period linked to the Second World War ), Charleroi only experienced liberal mayors and majorities. The municipal elections in 1976, just before the merger of municipalities, brought an absolute majority for the Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste or PS) , and Lucien Harmegnies, previous minister and until then mayor of Marcinelle , became

5214-615: The metal used earlier, more heat is required. Once the technical challenge had been solved, iron replaced bronze as its higher abundance meant armies could be armed much more easily with iron weapons. All dates are approximate and conjectural, obtained through research in the fields of anthropology , archaeology, genetics , geology , or linguistics . They are all subject to revision due to new discoveries or improved calculations. BP stands for " Before Present (1950)." BCE stands for " Before Common Era ". Roux, Belgium Roux ( [ru] ; Walloon : El Rou-dlé-Tchålerwè )

5293-401: The nature and behavior of pre-literate and non-literate peoples. Human population geneticists and historical linguists are also providing valuable insight. Cultural anthropologists help provide context for societal interactions, by which objects of human origin pass among people, allowing an analysis of any article that arises in a human prehistoric context. Therefore, data about prehistory

5372-634: The region of Charleroi has inherited a wide industrial area for electrical engineering and production of iron, steel, glass and chemicals. The conglomerate ArcelorMittal subdivided its Industeel unit to encompass the Charleroi steelworks. Moreover, from the early 2000s, the overall economy of the area has diversified to include health care, logistics, biotechnologies, energy (Suez), railway transportation (Alstom) and telecommunications (Alcatel). More recently, other sectors have developed, mainly civil and military aeronautics (SABCA, SONACA), logistics, printing and biotechnology. The aeronautics and space industry

5451-408: The region of Charleroi. The activity of the airport thus generates numerous direct and indirect jobs. The Intercommunale Igretec is the official body of the region of Charleroi giving assistance and support for the installation and development of high-tech companies around the airport and in the region of Charleroi. Charleroi is also connected through highways with all the major cities of Belgium and

5530-658: The regions and civilizations who developed a system of keeping written records during later periods. The invention of writing coincides in some areas with the beginnings of the Bronze Age. After the appearance of writing, people started creating texts including written records of administrative matters. The Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use) included techniques for smelting copper and tin from naturally occurring outcroppings of ores, and then combining them to cast bronze . These naturally occurring ores typically included arsenic as

5609-502: The rise of metallurgy, and most Neolithic societies on the whole were relatively simple and egalitarian. Most clothing appears to have been made of animal skins, as indicated by finds of large numbers of bone and antler pins which are ideal for fastening leather. Wool cloth and linen might have become available during the later Neolithic, as suggested by finds of perforated stones that (depending on size) may have served as spindle whorls or loom weights. In Old World archaeology,

5688-431: The socialist city majority to ecologists and centrists (C+). (*)Under the local list name "C+" (**)Under alternative name Charleroi was in the center of a coal basin as well as steel and glass industries. Even so, due to the widespread loss in industrial power in the area since the 1970s, the coal and steel areas experienced a significant decline for most of the 1980s and 1990s. From these industrial activities,

5767-635: The sometimes biased accounts in Greek and Roman literature, of these protohistoric cultures. In dividing up human prehistory in Eurasia, historians typically use the three-age system, whereas scholars of pre-human time periods typically use the well-defined geologic record and its internationally defined stratum base within the geologic time scale . The three-age system is the periodization of human prehistory into three consecutive time periods , named for their predominant tool-making technologies: Stone Age , Bronze Age and Iron Age . In some areas, there

5846-697: The term is less often used in discussing societies where prehistory ended relatively recently. In the early Bronze Age , Sumer in Mesopotamia , the Indus Valley Civilisation , and ancient Egypt were the first civilizations to develop their own scripts and keep historical records, with their neighbours following. Most other civilizations reached their end of prehistory during the following Iron Age . The three-age division of prehistory into Stone Age , Bronze Age , and Iron Age remains in use for much of Eurasia and North Africa , but

5925-735: The territory of the municipality. The altitude ranges from 100 metres (Sambre and Piéton valleys) to over 220 metres at the Bois du Prince in Marcinelle . The level is 132 metres on the Place Charles II . The height of the slag heaps often exceeds 200 metres, the Saint-Charles slag heap in the Bois du Cazier reaches 241 metres. The six slag heaps in the Pays Noir are reservoirs of biodiversity that should be preserved. Like

6004-587: The use and provenance of materials, and genetic analysis of bones to determine kinship and physical characteristics of prehistoric peoples. The beginning of prehistory is normally taken to be marked by human-like beings appearing on Earth. The date marking its end is typically defined as the advent of the contemporary written historical record. Both dates consequently vary widely from region to region. For example, in European regions, prehistory cannot begin before c.  1.3  million years ago, which

6083-453: The western and northern edges. This particular biotope is of great biological interest and acts as a refuge for a diverse fauna. The vast reed bed surrounding the pond is home to the red warbler , a passerine bird specific to this type of vegetation. Several species of amphibians can be seen here, including a population of the natterjack toad , as well as certain insects, such as the magnificent blue-winged grasshopper . The Martinet site,

6162-580: The whole area. "Palaeolithic" means "Old Stone Age", and begins with the first use of stone tools . The Paleolithic is the earliest period of the Stone Age . It extends from the earliest known use of stone tools by hominins c.  3.3  million years ago, to the end of the Pleistocene c.  11,650   BP (before the present period). The early part of the Palaeolithic

6241-525: Was built over the Sambre, connecting the Ville Haute and Ville Basse , with incentives offered to persuade people to settle there. The French relinquished control in 1678, and although it changed hands several times over the next 50 years, the town remained part of the Netherlands until the foundation of modern Belgium. Shortly after its foundation, the new city was in turn besieged by the Dutch, ceded to

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