Engis

Geschiedenis

Engis is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège. On January 1, 2006, Engis had a total population of 5,686. The total area is 27.74 km² which gives a population density of 205 inhabitants per km².The municipality consists of the following sub-municipalities: Engis proper, Clermont-sous-Huy, Éhein-Bas, and Hermalle-sous-Huy.In 1829, in this village, Philippe-Charles Schmerling discovered the first Neanderthal ever, Engis 2, the damaged skull of a young child. This was before the 1856 discovery of the Neanderthal type specimen in the Neander Valley. Its importance was not recognised until 1936.Pollution fatalitiesIn late 1930 and early 1931, several thousand cases of acute pulmonary attacks occurred in the Meuse valley, centered on Engis, and 60 people died. A commission of inquiry set up by the Belgian government concluded that the cause was poisonous waste gases, primarily sulfur dioxide, emitted by the many factories in the valley and the furnaces used by the population, in conjunction with unusual climatic conditions coupled with the unique topographic characteristics of the area. Others have claimed that the deaths were the result acute fluorine intoxication.