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The Sonian Forest (Dutch: Zoniënwoud, French: Forêt de Soignes) is a 4,421-hectare (10,920-acre) forest in the southeast of Brussels, Belgium.
The forest lies in the Flemish municipalities of Sint-Genesius-Rode, Hoeilaart, Overijse and Tervuren, in Ukkel/Uccle, Watermaal-Bosvoorde/Watermael-Boitsfort, Oudergem/Auderghem and Sint-Pieters-Woluwe/Woluwe-Saint-Pierre in the Brussels-Capital Region and in the Walloon towns of La Hulpe and Waterloo. Thus, it stretches out over all three Belgian Regions.
It is maintained by Flanders (56%), the Brussels-Capital Region (38%) and Wallonia (6%). Adjacent are some tracts of private forest and the Kapucijnenbos, the "Capuchin Wood" which belong to the Royal Trust.
History
The forest is part of the jew remains of the ancient Silva Carbonaria or Charcoal Forest. The first mention of the Sonian Forest (Soniaca Silva) dates from the early middle ages. Then the forest south of Brussels was crossed by the river Zenne and extended as far as Hainaut, covering most of the high ground between the Senne and the Dijle. The ninth-century vita of Saint Foillan mentions "the forest, next to the abbey of Saint Gertrude, called the Sonesian" In the sixteenth century it was still seven leagues in circumference. At the start of the 19th century the area of the wood was still about 100 square kilometres, but due to wood cutting its area diminished to its current area of 44.21 km².
Today the forest consists mainly of European beeches and oaks. Several trees are more than 200 years old. Formerly the forest held the Abbey of Saint Foillan not far from Nivelles The forest served for a long period as an exclusive hunting ground for the nobility, but today is open to the general public.
The forest contains a somewhat reduced fauna and flora. Due to human influence and distortion of the ecosystem various plants and animals have become extinct. The forest was home to 46 different mammal species. Of these seven have disappeared altogether: the brown bear (around 1000), the wolf (around 1810), the hazel dormouse (around 1842), the Red Deer, the badger and the hare. The boar was thought to have been extinct since 1957 but in 2007 new specimens were discovered roaming the wood. According to the Flemish Agency for Nature and Forest (ANB) this is unlikely to be a natural spread but probably two to four animals which most likely were either released or escaped from captivity.
References
- Also Sonesia, Sungia, or Sonniaca, according to Charles Duvivier, "La forêt charbonnière: Silva Carbonaria", in Revue d'histoire et d'archéologie 3 (1862:1-26), p 12f.
- "...in silva cœnobio Sanctæ Gertrudis contigua, quae Sonesia dicitur", quoted by Duvivier p. 12.
- esse et Coenobium S. Foillani in silva Soniaca parte Carbonariæ non longe a Niviala, according to Johann Jacob Hofmann, Lexicon Universale, Historiam Sacram Et Profanam Omnis aevi... (Leiden) 1698. on-line facsimile text on-line transcript.
- "Wild boars return to forest". flandersnews. 2007-04-12. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
See also
- Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos
- Rood-Klooster (Rouge-Cloître)
External links
- Official site
- Sonian Forest Platform (in Dutch and French)
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