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Geography
The Municipality of Braives was born out of the fusion of 8 municipalities in 1977: Avennes, Braives, Ciplet, Fallais, Fumal, Latinne, Tourinne, and Ville-en-Hesbaye. These villages are all situated in the Méhaigne Valley except for Tourinne, a lovely example of a village on the Hesbaye Plateau.
 
Braives is situated in the Liège part of the Hesbaye to the west of Liège and forms part of the Waremme administrative division. It is part of the judicial borough of Huy. The Justice of the Peace and the police court come under the control of Hannut except in the case of Fumal, which remains attached to Huy. Braives falls into the electoral consistency of Hannut, which also constitutes the linguistic frontier.
 
Braives is surrounded by the municipalities of Hannut and Geer to the north, Burdinne and Wasseiges to the west, Wanze to the south, and Faimes and Villers-le-Bouillet to the east.
 
 
Since 28 February 1991, Braives - along with the municipalities of Burdinne, Héron, and Wanze - forms part of the 2nd nature park to be created in the Walloon area of Belgium: The Nature Park of the Burdinale and Méhaigne Valleys, which has an area of around 11,000 hectares.
 
Braives has a population of 5,642 inhabitants (01/02/2007) and covers an area of 4,400 hectares, of which 80% are used for agriculture (crops and pasture), 5% is wooded, and the remaining area is for housing.
 
According to the study of rural criteria carried out by GEVERU (research group for the evaluation of rural and urban space) in 1991, Braives belongs to group 5: « An agricultural area with an important residential function.". Thus, "the villages have an obvious agricultural character but also have an important residential function with a significant number of commuters, a low employment rate, and a commuter index that cannot be ignored." »
 
Due to its advantageous position, Braives is, in fact, very close to various centres of employment that can be reached quickly:
  • The N80 provides access to the town of Namur, located 24 km to the south-west, in less than 30 minutes.
  • The motorway that services the Walloon area of Belgium (E42), to the south, enables travel to Liège, 35 km further east, in about 30 minutes.
  • The Liège-Brussels motorway (E40), to the north, allows the capital to be reached in less than an hour.
In addition, 3 regional towns that are also employment hubs surround the municipality: Hannut (10 km), Huy (16 km), and Waremme (12 km).