Brussels, also known as Bruxelles or Brussel, is a city in, and the capital region of, the Kingdom of Belgium. Its name comes from the Old Dutch word Broekzele, meaning "home in the marsh" (named for its location on the River Senne), and it had become the hamlet of Brosella by 695 AD. During the Middle Ages, Brussels became a commercial center specializing in the textile trade, owing to its location along a major trade route between Bruges, Ghent, and Cologne. From 1356 to 1383, a second set of walls were built by the Holy Roman Empire to fortify Brussels, which served as the capital of its Brabant region. In 1482, the death of Mary of Burgundy led to the merger of the Burgundian Netherlands with Brabant as part of the German-ruled Habsburg Netherlands. Under Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, Brussels served as the de facto capital of his Habsburg empire, and Coudenberg palace was one of the most famous palaces in Europe before being destroyed by fire in 1731. During the 16th century, the city's Protestants were expelled during the Counter-Reformation, cementing the city's status as a Roman Catholic city, which it would remain until the 20th century. Brussels became a center of the lace industry in the 17th century, and, In 1695, during the War of the Grand Alliance, King Louis XIV of France's army bombarded Brussels, causing a great fire which destroyed a third of the city. Following the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, Brussels was transferred from Spain to Austria, and Brussels was occupied by France from 1746 to 1749 during the War of the Austrian Succession and from 1795 to 1815 during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, serving as capital of the Dyle department. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Belgium became part of the Netherlands, but, in 1830, Brussels became capital of an independent Belgium during the Belgian Revolution. On 21 July 1831, King Leopold I of Belgium had the city walls destroyed and replaced by many new buildings, and Brussels thrived and expanded during the Industrial Revolution of the late 19th century. From 1867 to 1871, the Senne River was completely covered over by Mayor Jules Anspach, eradicating a public health hazard and allowing for urban renewal. Brussels was occupied by Germany from 1914 to 1918 during World War I and from 1940 to 3 September 1944 during World War II, and, after the war, Brussels underwent extensive modernization. Its first metro line opened in 1976, and Brussels became the capital of the future European Union during the 1960s. In 1989, the Brussels-Capital Region was created as a bilingual region of Belgium. Brussels came to have a large Muslim population, including large Moroccan, Turkish, Syrian, and Guinean communities; by 2005, Muslims made up 25.5% of Brussels' population. In 2019, Brussels had a population of 1,208,542 people.
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