Luxembourg

A survivor of the map, and the richest country in the world by income per head. Luxembourg was a county and then a duchy whose fortress was considered among the strongest in Europe, the Gibraltar of the North, and it passed through Burgundian, Spanish, Austrian and French hands while its dynasty produced four Holy Roman Emperors. The Congress of Vienna made it a grand duchy in personal union with the Netherlands, and it lost more than half its territory to Belgium in 1839, the francophone half - which is why the country that remains speaks Luxembourgish. Full independence and permanent neutrality came in 1867 with the dismantling of the fortress. Germany occupied it in both world wars, and the Battle of the Bulge was fought partly on its ground. Steel built the modern economy and finance replaced it, with the country becoming a centre for investment funds and, for a long period, for tax arrangements that neighbours objected to. It was a founding member of every European institution from the Coal and Steel Community onward, and Schengen is a Luxembourgish village. Three languages are official. The population is nearly half foreign nationals. The country has about 670 thousand people in 2,586 square kilometres. Luxembourgish, French and German are all official, and the language of a law depends on its stage. Around half the workforce commutes daily from France, Belgium and Germany. The capital's old quarters and fortifications are a World Heritage site. Public transport nationwide became free in 2020.

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