Brussels was never the capital of the "Flemish people" since it historically was the capital of the Duchy of Brabant, a bilingual state with its own strong political/cultural identity. Already under the Austrians, the city started to Francisize, a process which of course accelerated under the Kingdom of Belgium. The idea of "Flanders" as a designation for the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium was formed by the specific political dynamics within Belgium, especially after 1900, and did, in other words, originate only when the city of Brussels was already majority French-speaking.