Charleroi, town in southern Belgium, in Hainaut Province, located on the Sambre River, near Brussels (with which it is connected by canal). The town was formerly the center of the most important coal-mining region of the country, but all mines were closed by the early 1990s. Metalworking and glass manufacturing are principal industries. The Spanish founded the town on the site of the village of Charnoy in 1666, during their occupation of what is now Belgium, and named it after Charles II of Spain. It was subsequently a French possession in the 17th and again in the 18th centuries. During World War I a fierce battle took place between German and French troops at Charleroi in 1914, and the town was almost entirely destroyed. Population (1998 estimate) 203,853.
