Brussels to La Louvière

Michael Portillo’s Belgian journey takes him back to Brussels to examine a dark chapter in the country’s past. At the Museum of Africa, on the edge of the city, he learns about Belgium’s brutal seizure of the Congo under King Leopold II and a grand exhibition to celebrate his colonial success.

Travelling south into French-speaking Wallonia, Michael visits the site of the Battle of Waterloo, one of Britain’s most famous military victories. He explores a key position at Hougoumont Farm, where Wellington’s soldiers defended themselves from Napoleon’s forces, and joins re-enactors to fire a cannon known as Le Brutal.

In the province of Hainaut, the centre of Belgium’s Industrial Revolution, Michael admires a 19th-century boat lift, one of four on the Canal du Centre, the only working examples of their kind in the world today.