text: Economy Wallonia is rich in iron and coal, and these resources and related industries have played an important role in its history. In ancient times, the Sambre and Meuse valley was an important industrial area in the Roman Empire. In the Middle Ages, Wallonia became a center for brass working and bronze working, with Huy, Dinant and Chimay being important regional centers. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the iron masters of Liège developed a method of refining iron ore by the use of a blast furnace, called the Walloon Method. There were also a few coal mines around Charleroi and the Borinage during this period, but their output was small, and was principally consumed as fuel by various industries such as the important glassmaking industry that sprang up in the Charleroi basin during the 14th century.
  In the 19th century, the area began to industrialize, mainly along the so-called sillon industriel. It was the first fully  industrialized area in continental Europe, and Wallonia was the second industrial power in the world, in proportion to its population and its territory, after the United Kingdom. The sole industrial centre in Belgium outside the collieries and blast furnaces of Wallonia was the historic cloth making town of Ghent.
  The two World Wars curbed the continuous expansion that Wallonia had enjoyed up till that time. Towards the end of the 1950s, things began to change dramatically. The factories of Wallonia were by then antiquated, the coal was running out and the cost of extracting coal was constantly rising. It was the end of an era, and Wallonia has been making efforts to redefine itself. The restoration of economical development is high on the political agenda, and the government is encouraging development of industries, notably in cutting-edge technology and in business parks. The economy is improving, but Wallonia is not yet at the level of Flanders and is still suffering from difficulties.