Charleroi

Charleroi, an important manufacturing town of Belgium, in the province of Hainault, on the Sambre, and about 33 miles S.E. of Brussels. It was formerly fortified, and has at divers times been a place of great military importance, notably in 1815 when Napoleon occupied it a few days before the battle of Waterloo. Being in the coal district it has great ironworks, nailworks, and smelting furnaces, and there is much manufacture of glass and hardware.