Charleroi (French pronunciation: [ʃaʁləʁwa], Walloon: Tchålerwè) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By January 1, 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of 1,462 square kilometres (564 sq mi) with a total population of 522,522 by January 1, 2008, ranking it as the 5th most populous in Belgium after Brussels, Antwerp, Liège and Ghent. The inhabitants are called Carolorégiens or simply Carolos.
The municipality of Charleroi straddles both banks of the river Sambre in an area marked by industrial activities (coal mining and steel industry), which has been nicknamed the Pays Noir ("Black Country"), part of the larger sillon industriel. Even though most of the factories have closed since the 1950s, the landscape remains dotted with spoil tips and old industrial buildings.
Charleroi lies around 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of Brussels.
The municipality comprises:
Charleroi can refer to:
Charleroi (/ˈʃɔːlərɔɪ/ SHAW-lə-roy) is a borough in Washington County, Pennsylvania, along the Monongahela River, 21 miles south of Pittsburgh. Charleroi was settled in 1890 and incorporated in 1891. The 2010 census recorded a population of 4,120.
There has been a large-scale cessation of industrial activities in the region. The decrease in the population is associated with the decline of regional heavy and medium industries, especially the steel-making industry, all once fed by the cheap transportation on the Monongahela River which extends from upstream of Charleroi well into northern West Virginia and north & downstream past McKeesport to the mouth of the Monongahela at Pittsburgh. Colloquially, the stretch from Charleroi north McKeesport (historically because of press coverage of High School sports leagues), is known as the "Mon Valley"; or by some speakers (politicians, reporters and weathermen), the school-league-term has long been extended to mean from the river mouth to northern West Virginia.