Brabantia is asteroid #1342 and also known as 1935 CV. Brabantia was discovered by the Dutch astronomer Hendrik van Gent at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa. Brabantia’s orbit is characterized by a semi-major axis of 2.29 Astronomical Units, an eccentricity of 0.20, a period of revolution of 1 264 days, and an inclination of 20.9 degrees.

Brabantia is named after the Latin name of Brabant. This is a historical province of the Netherlands and of Belgium, the capital was Brussels. Belgium was a part of the Netherlands before it became independent. A part of the province Brabant was given by France to the Netherlands after Napoleon was defeated and the Congress of Vienna decided on all the political borders in Europe. The province Brabant was formed where the medieval and hence even more historical Dukedom Brabant was. The modern Brabant is divided into three parts and they constitute together a large region of Belgium in its center. The Belgian capital together with its surroundings is one of these parts. The other separation is along the Flemish-Walloon language border.

Brabantia is only a place name asteroid and hence not very relevant when placed alone. Brabantia could become important because the Dukedom Brabant is the background of Wagner’s opera Lohengrin, which I summarized in my article on Telramund. Brabantia hints to the historical province, the more historical dukedom, or to the region in the center of Belgium. Because Brabant is divided by a language barrier, so Brabantia should also be able to point to language barriers. Brabantia finally hints to Belgian culture too.