50°45′N 3°59′E / 50.75°N 03.99°EThe pagus of Brabant (Latin: Pagus Bracbantensis; Dutch: Brabantgouw) was a geographical region in the early Middle Ages, located in what is now Belgium. It was the first region known to have been called Brabant, and it included the modern capital of Belgium, Brussels. It was divided between the neighbouring counties of Flanders, Hainaut and Louvain (Leuven) in the eleventh century. It was the eastern part, which went to the Counts of Louvain, which kept the name in use, becoming the primary name of their much larger lordship. This led to other regions later being named Brabant - in particular, the French and Dutch-speaking areas east of the Dyle, including Leuven and Wavre, which are still known as "Brabant"; and secondly the province of North Brabant in the Netherlands.
The area of the old pagus of Brabant is and was multi-lingual, divided between Dutch (Flemish) speakers in the north, and French (including Picard) speakers in the south. Today the region includes not only bi-lingual Brussels, but also parts of the modern Dutch-speaking Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant and East Flanders, and the French-speaking provinces of Hainaut and Walloon Brabant.
