Over 700 years ago, the Flemish Dutch won their independence from France at The Battle of the Golden Spurs. In honor of Flanders’ Day, the Brussels Journal has an excellent history lesson. Get your daily dose of rad history:

Most Americans do not know that they owe a lot to the freedom-loving Flemings…Virtually self-governing, with little interference from greedy princes, their tax collectors and meddling civil servants, these lands became very prosperous. Capitalism originated here. This whole axis from Amsterdam in the north to Siena in the south evolved into the economic spine of continental Europe. During the course of history in some of these middle regions (notably in the Netherlands in the Burgundian era and at the time of the United Dutch Republic, and in Switzerland) these small, independent states merged gradually into federations where the constituting parts and the individual citizens retained a large degree of autonomy. In these regions sophisticated political theories were devised which ensured that the Prince or the government did not embody the highest authority and were accountable to the Law. Switzerland has been a republic since the 13th century and the Netherlands was a republic from the 16th to the 18th century.

With a few exceptions, most of the article was I previously unknown to me. Learn something new every day.