country_of_citizenship charles de kerchove de denterghem
A city - state is a sovereign state that consists of a city and its dependent territories . Historically , this included cities such as Rome , ___MASK57___ , Carthage , and the Italian city - states during the Renaissance  but today only a handful of sovereign city - states exist , with some disagreement as to which are city - states . A great deal of consensus exists that the term properly applies to ___MASK29___ , Monaco , and ___MASK91___ . In the ___MASK76___ and ___MASK36___ , the mayor ( or ) is an appointed government position , whose main responsibility is chairing the executive and legislative councils of a municipality . The title is sometimes translated in English as burgomaster . The Leie ( Dutch and German ) or Lys ( French ) is a river in ___MASK93___ and ___MASK36___ , and a left tributary of the Scheldt . Its source is in Pas - de - Calais , ___MASK93___ , and it flows into the river Scheldt in Ghent , ___MASK36___ . Its total length is . A head of state ( or chief of state ) is the public persona that officially represents the national unity and legitimacy of a sovereign state . In developing the current Constitution of ___MASK93___ ( 1958 ), former French president Charles de Gaulle said the head of state should embody " the spirit of the nation " (""). In some countries , typically those with parliamentary governments , the head of state is a ceremonial figurehead that does not actually guide day - to - day government activities and may not even be empowered to exercise any kind of political authority ( e . g ., Queen Elizabeth II in the ___MASK48___ ). In other countries , the head of state is also the head of government , such as in the U . S ., where the president is both a public figurehead and the actual highest ranking political leader who , in practice , oversees the executive branch . Flanders is the Dutch - speaking northern portion of ___MASK36___ , although there are several overlapping definitions , including ones related to culture , language , politics and history . It is one of the communities , regions and language areas of ___MASK36___ . The demonym associated with Flanders is Fleming , while the corresponding adjective is Flemish . The official capital of Flanders is Brussels , although Brussels itself has an independent regional government , and the government of Flanders only oversees some cultural aspects of Brussels life . The Scheldt (, ) is a long river in northern ___MASK93___ , western ___MASK36___ and the southwestern part of the Netherlands . Its name is derived from an adjective corresponding to Old English " sceald " " shallow ", Modern English " shoal ", Low German " schol ", Frisian " skol ", and Swedish ( obsolete ) " skäll " " thin ". Count Charles de Kerchove de Denterghem ( 1819 -- 1882 ) was a Belgian engineer and liberal ___MASK74___ . He was a son of the Ghent burgomaster Constant de Kerchove de Denterghem . His son Oswald would become Provincial Governor of Hainaut . Charles de Kerchove de Denterghem was burgomaster of Ghent ( 1857 -- 1881 ) , provincial Council member for Oost - Vlaanderen and senator for the liberal party . Under his rule the municipal public education in Ghent would be significantly expanded . A street in Ghent is named after him , the Charles de Kerchove Lane . He was succeeded as burgomaster of Ghent , by his son - in - law Hippolyte Lippens . In 1875 he became President of the Maatschappij voor Hofbouw - en Kruidtuinkunde and a strong supporter of the Gentse Floraliën , which would become an international fair on botany . The ___MASK28___ ( Dutch : ) is one of the three official regions of the Kingdom of ___MASK36___  alongside the Walloon Region and the Brussels - Capital Region . Colloquially , it is usually simply referred to as " Flanders ". It occupies the northern part of ___MASK36___ and covers an area of 13 , 522 km ( 44 . 29 % of ___MASK36___ ). It is one of the most densely populated regions of Europe with around 470 inhabitants per square kilometer . Ghent is a city and a municipality in the ___MASK28___ of ___MASK36___ . It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province and after Antwerp the largest municipality of ___MASK36___ . The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Leie and in the Late Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of northern Europe , with some 50 , 000 people in 1300 . It is a port and university city . In the history of Europe , the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century . It began with the fall of the ___MASK80___ and merged into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery . The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history : classical antiquity , the medieval period , and the modern period . The medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early , High , and Late Middle Ages . ___MASK36___ , officially the Kingdom of ___MASK36___ , is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France , the Netherlands , Germany , Luxembourg , and the North Sea . It is a small , densely populated country which covers an area of and has a population of about 11 million people . Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe , ___MASK36___ is home to two main linguistic groups : the Dutch - speaking , mostly Flemish community , which constitutes about 59 % of the population , and the French - speaking , mostly Walloon population , which comprises 41 % of all Belgians . Additionally , there is a small group of German - speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area , and bordering Germany . Burgomaster ( alternatively spelled burgomeister , literally " master of the town ", " borough " or " master of the fortress ") is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief magistrate or chairman of the executive council , usually of a sub - national level of administration such as a city or a similar entity . The name in English was derived from the Dutch " burgemeester ". In some cases , Burgomaster was the title of the head of state and head of government of a sovereign ( or partially or de facto sovereign ) city - state , sometimes combined with other titles ( as in ___MASK25___ ' s First Mayor and President of the Senate ). Contemporary titles are commonly translated into English as " mayor ". East Flanders ( Dutch : " Oost - Vlaanderen " , ) is a province of Flanders , one of the three regions of ___MASK36___ . It borders ( clockwise from the North ) on Zeelandic Flanders ( the Netherlands ) and ( in ___MASK36___ ) on the provinces of Antwerp , Flemish Brabant ( both in Flanders ), of Hainaut ( Wallonia ) and of West Flanders ( Flanders ). It has an area of 2 , 991 km² which is divided into six administrative districts (" arrondissementen " in Dutch ) containing 65 municipalities . The provincial population is 1 , 408 , 484 and the capital is Ghent . ___MASK25___ ( local pronunciation ; Low German / Low Saxon : " Hamborg " ), officially " Freie und Hansestadt ___MASK25___ " ( Free and Hanseatic City of ___MASK25___ ), is the second largest city in Germany and the eighth largest city in the European Union . It is the second smallest German state by area . Its population is over 1 . 7 million people , and the wider ___MASK25___ Metropolitan Region covers more than 5 . 1 million inhabitants . The city is situated on the river Elbe . Count Constant de Kerchove de Denterghem ( 31 December 1790  12 July 1865 ) was a Belgian liberal ___MASK74___ . He was a son of Jean de Kerchove and Sabine della Faille d ' Assenede , both descendants of Flemish nobility . He was a nephew of Jozef - Sebastiaan della Faille d ' Assenede , who was burgomaster of Ghent under French rule .