The Flemish Diamond (in Dutch: Vlaamse Ruit) is a name of an area consisting of the central provinces of Flanders, Belgium. Its corner markers are the agglomerations of Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp and Leuven. Approximately 5,500,000 people live in the area.
The distance from Antwerp to Brussels is approximately 51 km and Mechelen is right in the middle, between Mechelen and Brussels is the city of Vilvoorde; with the harbour stretching to the north of Antwerp this has since long been recognized as a north-south major urban and industrial axis. The western triangular area of the larger cities Antwerp - Brussels - Ghent comprises the cities of Lokeren located west of Sint-Niklaas, Dendermonde and Aalst as well as the industrial area Boom - Willebroek, and is generally slightly less urbanised; such may also be true for the smaller eastern Antwerp - Brussels - Leuven triangle, comprising the city of Lier.
Thus roughly in the geometrical shape of a diamond, the term Vlaamse Ruit (which has no connotation with any jewel) or 'Flemish Diamond' has become a reference to the most urbanised and industrialized (and prosperous) area in Belgium.
