Short answers, pulled from the story.
Charleroi rose from the marshes along the Sambre river in September 1666 under the orders of Francisco Castel Rodrigo, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands. The chronogram FVNDATVR CAROLOREGIVM (MDCLVVVI) still marks the parish register of Charnoy today.
French troops defeated Austrian forces at Jemappes on the 6th of November 1792, leading to a period where Revolutionary soldiers renamed the place Libre-sur-Sambre until 1800. Napoleon stayed in Charleroi for two days in June 1815 before his final defeat at Waterloo.
By the 1850s, Charleroi became one of Europe's most volatile centers for labor strikes with twelve strikers dying when the Belgian army opened fire during unrest in Roux in 1886. Miners from Hainaut were recruited by the Dominion Coal Company in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, but many returned home due to poor wages and dangerous conditions.
Passenger numbers at Brussels South Charleroi Airport grew from 210,000 in 1998 to 8.3 million in 2023, making it Belgium's second busiest airport for passenger traffic. The extension to the runway officially opened in October 2021 reaching full length.
The belfry attached to City Hall entered UNESCO World Heritage status in 1999 as part of a broader Belgian-French site while the Bois du Cazier mining museum opened within former colliery buildings inscribed on UNESCO lists in 2012. Fifteen events in the Marches of Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse gained recognition as UNESCO masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage in 2012.