Description : Hasselt is a Belgian city and municipality, and capital and largest city of the province of Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. Hasselt was founded in approximately the 7th century on the Helbeek, a tributary of the Demer river. The name Hasselt came from Hasaluth, which means hazel wood. During the Middle Ages, it became one of the free cities of the county of Loon (which had borders approximately the same as the current province of Limburg). Hasselt was first named in a document in 1165. In 1232 Arnold IV, Count of Loon gave the city the freedoms like those enjoyed in Liège. Even though the city of Borgloon was the original capital of Loon, Hasselt was to become the biggest city thanks to its favourable setting, and the proximity of the count's castle and Herkenrode in Kuringen. In 1366 the county of Loon became part of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and remained so until the annexation by France in 1794.
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