text: To the north of the Sambre and Meuse valley lies the Central Belgian plateau, which is characterized by intensive agriculture. The Walloon part of this plateau is traditionally divided into several regions: Walloon Brabant around Nivelles, Western Hainaut (, around Tournai), and Hesbaye around Waremme. South of the sillon industriel, the land is more rugged and is characterized by more extensive farming. It is traditionally divided into the regions of Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse, Condroz, Fagne-Famenne, the Ardennes and Land of Herve, as well as the Belgian Lorraine around Arlon and Virton. Dividing it into Condroz, Famenne, Calestienne, Ardennes (including Thiérache), and Belgian Lorraine (which includes the Gaume) is more reflective of the physical geography. The larger region, the Ardennes, is a thickly forested plateau with caves and small gorges. It is host to much of Belgium's wildlife but little agricultural capacity. This area extends westward into France and eastward to the Eifel in Germany via the High Fens plateau, on which the Signal de Botrange forms the highest point in Belgium at 694 metres (2,277 ft).
  Subdivisions
  The Walloon region covers  and is divided into five provinces, 20 arrondissements and 262 cities or municipalities.
  The province of Walloon Brabant is the most recent one, being formed in 1995 after the splitting of the province of Brabant.
  Cities
  The largest cities in Wallonia are:
  Charleroi (204,146)
  Liège (195,790)
  Namur (110,428)
  Mons (92,529)
  La Louvière (81,138)
  Tournai (69,792)
  Seraing (63,500)
  Verviers (56,596)
  Mouscron (55,687)
  Herstal (38,969)
  Braine-l'Alleud (38,748)
  Châtelet (36,131)
  The 10 largest groups of foreign residents in 2018 are:
  Science and technology
  Contributions to the development of science and technology have appeared since the beginning of the country's history. The baptismal font of Renier de Huy is not the only example of medieval Walloon technical expertise: the words "houille" (coal) or "houilleur" (coal miner) or "grisou" (damp) were coined in Wallonia and are Walloon in origin.
  The economically important very deep coal mining in the course of the First Industrial Revolution has required highly reputed specialized studies for mining engineers. But that was already the case before the Industrial Revolution, with an engineer as Rennequin Sualem for instance.