Luxembourg
A small grand duchy with vast financial reach
Luxembourg is a small, prosperous grand duchy wedged between Belgium, France, and Germany, a country of about 670,000 that ranks among the richest in the world. The last sovereign grand duchy on earth, it has parlayed its location at the crossroads of Western Europe into a leading role as a banking and investment-fund hub and as a founding seat of the European project. Its capital, also called Luxembourg, perches dramatically on cliffs above deep gorges, its fortified old town a UNESCO World Heritage Site once known as the Gibraltar of the North.
The land divides into two regions: the rugged, forested Oesling in the north, an extension of the Ardennes that holds the highest point, the Kneiff at 560 meters, and the rolling farmland and vineyards of the Gutland in the south, where most people live. The Moselle River marks part of the German border and nurtures a respected wine industry. The climate is temperate. Despite its size, Luxembourg hosts a financial sector of global scale, the world's second-largest investment-fund center, alongside steelmaking, satellite communications, and a multilingual, internationally staffed economy.
A medieval county and then duchy that grew around a strategic fortress, Luxembourg passed among the Burgundians, Spanish, Austrians, and French before becoming a grand duchy in 1815 and gaining lasting independence and neutrality in 1867. Trilingual in Luxembourgish, French, and German, it became a founding member of the European Coal and Steel Community and the EU, and Luxembourg City hosts the European Court of Justice and other institutions. A constitutional monarchy with one of the world's most international populations, nearly half its residents are foreign-born, it remains a quietly influential European hub.