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71-603: Limburg is located west of the Meuse ( Dutch : Maas ), which separates it from the similarly-named Dutch province of Limburg . To the south it shares a border with the French-speaking province of Liège , with which it also has historical ties. To the north and west are the old territories of the Duchy of Brabant . Today these are the Flemish provinces of Flemish Brabant and Antwerp to

142-435: A broad spectrum of resources to gather food, ruled by a strategy to diversify rather than increasing volume. As such, the wetlands offered, next to hunting and fishing, optimized conditions for cattle and small scale cultivation of different crops, each having conditions for growing of their own. The agrarian transformation of the prehistoric community was an exclusively indigenous process, that ultimately realized itself only at

213-465: A diverse group of dialects which share features in common with both German and Dutch. Limburg mijn Vaderland is the official anthem of both Belgian and Dutch Limburg, and has versions in various dialects of Limburgish, varying from accents closer to standard Dutch in the west, to more distinctive dialects near the Maas. Outside of the two Limburgs related dialects or languages are found stretched out towards

284-608: A general word for a fort, associated not only with the Eburones, but also the Aduatuci, and the later Tungri. The Roman city established in Belgian Limburg was referred to as Aduatuca Tungrorum meaning "Aduatuca of the Tungri". Today this has become "Tongeren", in the southeast of Belgian Limburg, and it was the capital of a Roman administrative region called the " Civitas Tungrorum ". Under

355-530: A high prominence. Limburg is also home to Limburg United , one of the country's top professional basketball teams. The team plays its home games in the Sporthal Alverberg . Arrondissement of Hasselt : Arrondissement of Maaseik : Arrondissement of Tongeren : The first governor of united Limburg (including the province of Limburg in the Netherlands) was Charles de Brouckère , from 1815, after

426-537: A major communication route the River Meuse is the origin of Mosan art , principally (Wallonia and France). The first landscape painted in the Renaissance was the landscape of Meuse by Joachim Patinir . He was likely the uncle of Henri Blès , who is sometimes defined as a Mosan landscape painter active during the second third of the 16th century (i.e. second generation of landscape painters). The main tributaries of

497-613: A major operation in Kiewit . Many areas such as Genk continue to have a lot of heavy and chemical industry, but emphasis has moved towards encouraging innovation. The old Philips plant is now the site of a Research Campus, and the Hasselt University in Diepenbeek has a science park attached to it. Similarly, the site of the coal mine in Genk is now Thor Park, where Energyville, a research hub of

568-614: A new Duchy of Limburg . Because of the Belgian revolution in 1830, this province of Limburg was divided in 1839 by the Treaty of London ; the western portion being recognised as a province of the newly formed Kingdom of Belgium, while the eastern portion remained part of the Netherlands as the modern Dutch Province of Limburg . Both parts retained the name they had been given by the Dutch monarchy after

639-1156: A recurring problem in the coming decades. The Meuse flows through the following departments of France , provinces of Belgium , provinces of the Netherlands and towns: Main cities and tributaries will be in bold . France Grand Est Region Haute-Marne Department [REDACTED] Le Châtelet-sur-Meuse [REDACTED] Premier pont de la Meuse [REDACTED] Pont de Malroy [REDACTED] Pont du Pâtis des Vannees [REDACTED] Ruisseau de Pré Chatenay [REDACTED] Pont de Meuse (D429 Val-de-Meuse - Dombrot-le-Sec ) [REDACTED] Ruisseau d'Avrecourt [REDACTED] Railway bridge Culmont-Chalindrey - Toul line [REDACTED] Ru d'Ouette [REDACTED] Ru des Fossés [REDACTED] Ruisseau de Bocheret [REDACTED] Provenchères-sur-Meuse [REDACTED] Pont de Val-de-Meuse (D189) [REDACTED] Ruisseau des Aimeguenons [REDACTED] Pont de l'A31 ( A31 Nancy - Dijon ) [REDACTED] Ruisseau de Joncourt [REDACTED] Pont de D132 [REDACTED] Ruisseau de l'Étange Swifterbant culture The Swifterbant culture

710-562: A similar fate. Pottery technology had however apparently been taken up by local tribes of the Swifterbant culture , who remained present throughout. The area became permanently agricultural only in the Bronze Age with the Urnfield culture around 1200 BC, followed by the possibly related Halstatt and La Tène material cultures , which are generally associated with Celts . Under these cultures

781-719: A similar impact across the continent. Caesar gave the first surviving written description of the area around 55 BC and described its people as the Germani cisrhenani . He described them as allies of the Belgae and Treveri , and reported that they had ancestral links with their neighbours on the east side of the Rhine. Somewhat earlier, we know from surviving fragments of his work that Poseidonius had already mentioned these same Germani , saying that they roasted meat in separate joints, and drank milk and unmixed wine. Caesar noted several peoples within

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852-456: Is grown. Coal mining has been an important industry in the 20th century, but has now ended in this province. Nevertheless, it has laid the basis for a more complex modern economy and community. In the 20th century, Limburg became a centre for the secondary sector , attracting Ford , who had a major production centre in Genk that closed in December 2014, and the electronics company Philips, who had

923-604: Is joined by the Sambre . Beyond Namur the Meuse winds eastwards and passes Liège before turning north. The river then forms part of the Belgian-Dutch border, except that at Maastricht the border lies further to the west. In the Netherlands it continues northwards through Venlo closely along the border to Germany, then turns towards the west, where it runs parallel to the Waal and forms part of

994-532: Is navigable over a substantial part of its total length: In the Netherlands and Belgium, the river is part of the major inland navigation infrastructure, connecting the Rotterdam-Amsterdam-Antwerp port areas to the industrial areas upstream: 's-Hertogenbosch, Venlo, Maastricht, Liège, Namur. Between Maastricht and Maasbracht , an unnavigable section of the Meuse is bypassed by the 36 km (22.4 mi) Juliana Canal . South of Namur, further upstream,

1065-595: Is older than the finds in Swifterbant, and contemporary to older stages of this culture as found in Hoge Vaart (Almere) and Hardinxveld. Contact between Swifterbant and Rössen expressed itself by some hybrid early Swifterbant pots in Antwerp (Doel) and hybrid Rössen pottery Hamburg-Boberg. In general, Swifterbant pottery does not show the same variety as Rössen pottery and Swifterbant pottery with Rössen influences are rare. Possibly

1136-667: The 2021 European floods . The name Meuse is derived from the French name of the river, derived from its Latin name, Mosa , which ultimately derives from the Celtic or Proto-Celtic name * Mosā . This probably derives from the same root as English " maze ", referring to the river's twists and turns. The Dutch name Maas descends from Middle Dutch Mase , which comes from the presumed but unattested Old Dutch form * Masa , from Proto-Germanic * Masō . Modern Dutch and German Maas and Limburgish Maos preserve this Germanic form. Despite

1207-591: The Afgedamde Maas ) so that little water from the Meuse entered the old Maas courses or the Rhine distributaries. The resulting separation of the rivers Rhine and Meuse is considered to be the greatest achievement in Dutch hydraulic engineering before the completion of the Zuiderzee Works and Delta Works . In 1970 the Haringvlietdam has been finished. Since then the reunited Rhine and Meuse waters have reached

1278-672: The Battle of Waterloo until 1828. He was followed by Maximilien de Beeckman who governed the united province until 1830, when the Belgian revolution began and division of Limburg began, first with the separation of Maastricht. The splitting of Dutch and Belgian Limburg was completed by 1839. There were also breaks in the sequence of governors in the First World War and at the end of the Second World War. The following list contains all governors of

1349-469: The Belgian Revolution of 1830, the province of Limburg was at first almost entirely under Belgian rule, but the status of both Limburg and Luxembourg became unclear. During the " Ten days campaign ", 2–12 August 1831, Dutch armies entered Belgium and took control of several Belgian cities in order to negotiate from a stronger position. Several Belgian militias and armies were easily defeated including

1420-626: The Germani group, the most important of which were the Eburones who fought against Julius Caesar under their leaders Ambiorix and Cativolcus . Apart from the Germani , somewhere to the west of the Eburones (possibly outside Limburg) were the Aduatuci , who Caesar reported to be the descendants of the Cimbri and Teutones who had migrated around Europe some generations before Caesar. Under Roman imperial rule,

1491-631: The Holy Roman Empire with the Kingdom of France , after Count Henry III of Bar had to receive the western part of the County of Bar ( Barrois mouvant ) as a French fief from the hands of King Philip IV . In 1408, a Burgundian army led by John the Fearless went to the aid of John III against the citizens of Liège, who were in open revolt. After the battle , which saw the men from Liège defeated, John ordered

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1562-714: The KU Leuven , VITO, imec , and UHasselt . The region today promotes itself as a centre for trade in the heart of industrialised Europe. It is part of the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion , which represents a partnership between this province and neighbouring provinces in Germany, the Netherlands and Wallonia. Essential elements in Limburgian culture are: Like the rest of Belgium, association football ( soccer ) and cycling, including cyclocross , are dominant sports, and tennis has gained

1633-502: The 10th-century the region slowly came under the permanent control of Eastern Francia , which was to become the Holy Roman Empire . Under the Ottonians the archbishops became responsible for a very large territory stretching up to the delta of the river Maas . Another early saint in the south of Limburg was St Trudo , whose name survives in one of the major towns in southern Limburg, Saint Truiden . Belgian Limburg corresponds closely to

1704-524: The Belgian Army of the Meuse near Hasselt, on 8 August. The French and British intervened, leading to a ceasefire. After a Conference in London , they signed a treaty in 1839 and established after that both Limburg and Luxemburg would be split between the two states. That happened; Limburg was split into so-called Dutch Limburg and Belgian Limburg. Belgian Limburg became officially Flemish when Belgium

1775-508: The Belgian and Dutch provinces of that name, were first united within one province while under the power of revolutionary France , and later the Napoleonic empire , but then under the name of the French department of the Lower Meuse (Maas) . After Napoleon's defeat, a united Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed, containing modern Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. While it kept many of

1846-657: The Franks. The church capital moved from the Roman capital Tongeren to nearby Maastricht, and then Liège . This was the area of activity of St Servatius , and later, Lambert of Maastricht . Limburg was part of the central Austrasian kingdom of the Franks which lay between the parts which would become France and Germany. The divisions of the Frankish empire were eventually fixed in the 9th century when this Middle Kingdom came to be known as Lotharingia after its first king, Lothair II . During

1917-448: The French provincial boundaries, the first king, William I , insisted that the name be changed to the " Province of Limburg ", based on the name of the medieval Duchy of Limburg . The only part of Belgian or Dutch Limburg which was really in the Duchy of Limburg is the extreme east of Voeren , the villages of Teuven and Remersdaal, and these only became part of Belgian Limburg in 1977. After

1988-494: The Maas was given a new, artificial mouth – the Bergse Maas . The resulting separation of the rivers Rhine and Maas reduced the risk of flooding and was considered to be the greatest achievement in Dutch hydraulic engineering before the completion of the Zuiderzee Works and Delta Works . The former main branch was, after the dam at its southern inlet was completed in 1904, renamed Afgedamde Maas and no longer receives water from

2059-619: The Maas. The Meuse and its crossings were a key objective of the Battle of France , the Battle of Sedan and also for the last major German WWII counter-offensive on the Western Front , the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and January 1945. The Meuse is represented in the documentary The River People released in 2012 by Xavier Istasse. In July 2021, the Meuse basin was one of the many regions in Europe to experience catastrophic flooding during

2130-461: The Meuse are listed below in downstream-upstream order, with the town where the tributary meets the river: The mean annual discharge rate of the Meuse has been relatively stable over the last few thousand years. One recent study estimates that average flow has increased by about 10% since 2000 BC. The hydrological distribution of the Meuse changed during the later Middle Ages, when a major flood forced it to shift its main course northwards towards

2201-486: The Meuse has the responsibility of the implementation of the treaty. The costs of this Commission are met by all these countries, in proportion of their own territory in the basin of the Meuse: Netherlands 30%, Wallonia 30%, France 15%, Germany 14.5%, Flanders 5%, Brussels 4.5%, Kingdom of Belgium 0.5%, and Luxembourg 0.5%. The map of the basin area of Meuse was joined to the text of the treaty. As for culture, as

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2272-551: The Meuse split near Heusden into two main distributaries, one flowing north to join the Merwede and one flowing direct to the sea. The branch of the Meuse leading direct to the sea eventually silted up (and now forms the Oude Maasje stream), but in 1904 the canalised Bergse Maas was dug to take over the functions of the silted-up branch. At the same time the branch leading to the Merwede was dammed at Heusden (and has since been known as

2343-600: The Netherlands, and Belgium. Also participating in the agreement were the Belgian regional governments of Flanders , Wallonia , and Brussels (which is not in the basin of the Meuse but pumps running water into the Meuse). Most of the basin area (approximately 36,000 km ) is in Wallonia (12,000 km ), followed by France (9,000 km ), the Netherlands (8,000 km ), Germany (2,000 km ), Flanders (2,000 km ) and Luxembourg (a few km ). An International Commission on

2414-559: The Netherlands, near the villages of Swifterbant and Dronten . Other well-known sites were uncovered in South Holland ( Bergschenhoek ) and the Betuwe ( Hardinxveld-Giessendam ). The oldest finds related to this culture, dated to circa 5600 BC, cannot be distinguished from the Ertebølle culture , normally associated with Northern Germany and Southern Scandinavia. The culture is ancestral to

2485-469: The North Sea either at this site or, during times of lower discharges of the Rhine, at Hook of Holland . A 2008 study notes that the difference between summer and winter flow volumes has increased significantly in the last 100–200 years. It points out that the frequency of serious floods ( i.e. flows > 1000% of normal) has increased markedly. They predict that winter flooding of the Meuse may become

2556-489: The Romans, the Tungri civitas was initially a part of Gallia Belgica . However, it was later split out with the more militarized border regions towards the Rhine, to become Germania Inferior , which was later converted into Germania Secunda . In late Roman and early medieval times , the northern or "Kempen" part of Belgian Limburg became depopulated and uncultivated. This area, still known then by its Roman name as Texandria ,

2627-509: The Western group of the agricultural Funnelbeaker culture (4000–2700 BC), which extended through Northern Netherlands and Northern Germany to the Elbe . The earliest dated sites are season settlements. A transition from hunter-gatherer culture to cattle farming, primarily cows and pigs, occurred around 4800–4500 BC. Pottery has been attested from this period. In the region indications to

2698-459: The area around Limburg was known as the "city" ( civitas ) the Tungri . Tacitus reported that these Tungri were the same as the earlier Germani cisrhenani , and noted that the use of the name "Germani" had been expanded in Roman times to cover many peoples in Germany east of the Rhine. The Tungri are generally accepted to have been speakers of a Germanic language , but modern historians disagree over

2769-432: The area. English has also now become a language which is widely understood and used in business and cultural activities, and is supplanting French in this regard. Veldeke, the medieval property of the family of Hendrik van Veldeke , was near Hasselt, along the river Demer, to the west of Kuringen. The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the province was 28.7 billion € in 2018. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power

2840-632: The central and southern part of the province, except for the southeastern corner, where the Jeker (in French: (le) Geer ) runs past Tongeren and into the river Maas (in French: (la) Meuse ) at Maastricht . The eastern border of the province corresponds to the western bank of the Maas, which originates in France. Its drainage basin includes not only the Jeker but most of the northern part of Belgian Limburg. The south of

2911-463: The current capital Hasselt , and other large towns including Sint-Truiden , Genk , and Tongeren . Tongeren is the only Roman city in the province, and regarded as the oldest city of Belgium. The municipality of Voeren is geographically detached from Limburg and the rest of Flanders, with the Netherlands to the north and the Walloon province of Liège to the south. This municipality was established by

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2982-603: The defeat of France. The first wave of people who brought farming and pottery technology from the Middle East to northern Europe was the LBK culture , which originated in central Europe and reached a geographical limit in the fertile southern Haspengouw part of Limburg about 5000 BC, only to die out about 4000 BC. A later wave of people from this farming culture, the Michelsburg culture , arrived from central Europe about 3500 BC and shared

3053-585: The drowning in the Meuse of burghers and noblemen in Liège whose loyalties he suspected. The border remained relatively stable until the annexation of the Three Bishoprics Metz, Toul and Verdun by King Henry II in 1552 and the occupation of the Duchy of Lorraine by the forces of King Louis XIII in 1633. Its lower Belgian ( Walloon ) portion, part of the sillon industriel , was the first fully industrialized area in continental Europe. The Afgedamde Maas

3124-493: The existence of pottery are present from before the arrival of the Linear Pottery culture in the neighbourhood. The material culture reflects a local evolution from Mesolithic communities, with a pottery in a Nordic ( Ertebølle ) style and trade relationships with southern late Rössen culture communities, as testified by the presence of true Breitkeile pottery sherds. The Rössen culture, being an offshoot of Linear Pottery,

3195-557: The extensive Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta , together with the Scheldt to its south and the Rhine to the north. The river has been divided near Heusden into the Afgedamde Maas on the right and the Bergse Maas on the left. The Bergse Maas continues under the name of Amer , which is part of De Biesbosch . The Afgedamde Maas joins the Waal, the main stem of the Rhine at Woudrichem , and then flows under

3266-499: The extent to which they descend from new immigrants who came from over the Rhine after Caesar. Notably, the Tungri participated on the Roman side in the revolt of the Batavi against Roman rule, which was a major event in this region. In the north of Limburg during Roman times lived the Texandri . The site of the fort where Caesar's soldiers encamped was called Aduatuca . This was apparently

3337-400: The idea of cooking could be derived from agricultural neighbours. However, the technical style for making pottery are too different to consider such external influences. Wetland settlement, unlike previous opinions, was a deliberate choice by prehistoric communities, as this offered attractive ecological conditions and a high natural productivity or agricultural potential. The economy covered

3408-412: The late-18th century, following the French Revolution and the subsequent French Campaign in the Low Countries , the region became part of the newly created Lower Meuse Department of the French First Republic (later the First French Empire ), along with a significant part of what would become Dutch Limburg. After the defeat of the French empire and the Congress of Vienna in 1815, this department

3479-409: The male line of the counts ended with Louis IV in 1336, the bishops began to take direct control, and the last claimant to that inheritance, Arnold of Rumigny, count of Chiny gave up his claim. Loon, and the rest of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège , were not joined politically with the rest of what would become Belgium until the French Revolution . Nevertheless, in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries

3550-413: The medieval territory of the County of Loon (French Looz ) which starts to appear in records only in the 11th century. This county originally centred on the fortified town of Borgloon , which was originally simply known as Loon. Although the exact details are unclear today, from an early time Loon was subservient, not only spiritually but also politically, to the powerful Prince-Bishopric of Liège . When

3621-419: The municipal reform of 1977, and on 1 January 2008, with its six villages, it had a total population of 4,207. Its total area is 50.63 km (19.55 sq mi). The name Limburg was not applied to the territory of Belgian Limburg until the 19th century. Instead, the territory broadly coincides with that of the medieval County of Loon , which was one of the main parts of the Prince-bishopric of Liège . In

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3692-495: The name of Boven Merwede to Hardinxveld-Giessendam , where it splits into Nieuwe Merwede and Beneden Merwede . Near Lage Zwaluwe , the Nieuwe Merwede joins the Amer, forming the Hollands Diep , which splits into Grevelingen and Haringvliet , before finally flowing into the North Sea. The Meuse is crossed by railway bridges between the following stations (on the left and right banks respectively): There are also numerous road bridges and around 32 ferry crossings. The Meuse

3763-466: The nearby Ruhr valley region of Germany. And there are also related dialects around Aachen in Germany as well as in the extreme northeast of the mainly French-speaking province of Liège. As in the rest of Flanders a high level of multi-lingualism is found in the population. Limburg is close to Germany and Wallonia , and because of the natural political, cultural and economics links, French and German have long been important second languages in

3834-446: The old Roman civitates ("cities"), but under the Merovingians one empire formed, which was divided each generation among family members. In the period around 881 and 882 the areas along the Maas and in the Haspengouw were plundered by Vikings , who established a base on the Maas river. Early Christianity was established first in the Romanised southern parts of Limburg, around Tongeren, and missionaries went north from there to convert

3905-411: The population increased in the region, and it is also during this period that Indo-European languages are thought to have arrived. Although these new technologies and languages once again arrived from the direction of Germany, they can partly be traced back to peoples who arrived in Europe, not from the Middle East, but from the direction of Ukraine and southern Russia around 2000 BC. This migration had

3976-403: The population of Loon was constantly and badly affected by the large-scale international wars of the neighbouring Spanish Netherlands and Dutch Republic , including the Eighty Years' War , the Nine Years' War , the War of the Spanish Succession , the War of the Austrian Succession , the Seven Years' War , and even the Brabant Revolution . During this period the region's episcopal government

4047-429: The province is the northern part of the Hesbaye region (in Dutch: Haspengouw ), with fertile soils, farming and fruit-growing, and historically the higher population density. The hilliness increases in the southeast, including the detached Voeren part of Limburg. North of the river Demer and the Albert Canal is part of the Campine (in Dutch: (de) Kempen ) region, with sandy soils, heathlands, and forests. This area

4118-419: The province of Limburg since the Second World War. Sports & Entertainment Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river , rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta . It has a total length of 925 km (575 miles). From 1301, the upper Meuse roughly marked the western border of

4189-423: The river Merwede . From then on several stretches of the original Merwede were renamed "Maas" (i.e. Meuse) and served as the primary outflow of that river. Those branches are currently known as the Nieuwe Maas and Oude Maas. However during another series of severe floods the Meuse found an additional path towards the sea, resulting in the creation of the Biesbosch wetlands and Hollands Diep estuaries. Thereafter

4260-540: The river can only carry more modest vessels, although a barge as long as 100 m (328 ft). can still reach the French border town of Givet. From Givet, the river is canalized over a distance of 272 kilometres (169 mi). The canalized Meuse used to be called the "Canal de l'Est — Branche Nord" but was recently rebaptized into "Canal de la Meuse". The waterway can be used by the smallest barges that are still in use commercially almost 40 m (131 ft) long and just over 5 metres (16 ft) wide. Just upstream of

4331-414: The similarity, the Germanic name is not derived from the Celtic name, judging from the change from earlier o into a , which is characteristic of the Germanic languages. The Meuse rises in Pouilly-en-Bassigny, commune of Le Châtelet-sur-Meuse on the Langres plateau in France from where it flows northwards past Sedan (the head of navigation ) and Charleville-Mézières into Belgium. At Namur it

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4402-401: The town of Commercy, the Canal de la Meuse connects with the Marne–Rhine Canal by means of a short diversion canal. The Cretaceous sea reptile Mosasaur is named after the river Meuse. The first fossils of it were discovered outside Maastricht in 1780. An international agreement was signed in 2002 in Ghent , Belgium, about the management of the river amongst France, Germany, Luxembourg ,

4473-467: The west, and the Dutch province of North Brabant to the north. Historically Belgian Limburg is roughly equivalent to the Dutch-speaking part of the secular lordship of the medieval Prince-Bishopric of Liège , which was dominated by the County of Loon . The province of Limburg has an area of 2,427 km (937 sq mi) which comprises three arrondissements ( arrondissementen in Dutch ) containing 44 municipalities. Among these municipalities are

4544-497: Was 29,000 € or 96% of the EU27 average in the same year. In the economic field tourism is being actively promoted with publicized attractions including Limburg's claim to be a "Bicycle Paradise" ( Fietsparadijs ). There's also the possibility to walk in nature reserves, such as the "High Kempen National Park". In the south, the Haspengouw ( Hesbaye ), predominantly situated in Limburg, is now Belgium's major area for fruit growing . In Limburg more than 50% of Belgium's fruit production

4615-401: Was a Subneolithic archaeological culture in the Netherlands , dated between 5300 BC and 3400 BC. Like the Ertebølle culture , the settlements were concentrated near water, in this case creeks, riverdunes and bogs along post-glacial banks of rivers like the Overijsselse Vecht . In the 1960s and 1970s, artifacts classified as "Swifterbant culture" were found in the (now dry) Flevopolder in

4686-417: Was created in the late Middle Ages, when a major flood made a connection between the Maas and the Merwede at the town of Woudrichem . From that moment on, the current Afgedamde Maas was the main branch of the lower Meuse. The former main branch eventually silted up and is today called the Oude Maasje . In the late 19th century and early 20th century the connection between the Maas and Rhine was closed off and

4757-479: Was divided into language areas in 1962. In the case of Voeren , surrounded by French speaking parts of Belgium, and having a significant population of French speakers, this was not without controversy. Only in 1967, the Catholic Church created a diocese of Hasselt , separate from the diocese of Liège . The centre of Belgian Limburg is crossed east to west by the river Demer and the Albert Canal , which run similar paths. The Demer's drainage basin covers most of

4828-467: Was often unable to maintain law and order, and the economy of the area was often desperately bad, affected by plundering soldiers and gangs of thieves such as the " Bokkenrijders ". Nevertheless, the population contained strongly conservative Catholic elements, and not only supported the conservative Brabant revolution, but also rebelled unsuccessfully against the revolutionary French regime in the Peasants' War of 1798 . The modern Limburg region, containing

4899-407: Was reconstituted into the Province of Limburg as part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands . The new name had its own medieval history, being associated with the extinct Duchy of Limburg , which had its capital at nearby Limbourg-sur-Vesdre , now in the French-speaking Belgian province of Liège . The new Dutch monarchy chose this name because it desired to recreate the prestigious old title in

4970-503: Was relatively less populated, until coal-mining started in the 19th century, attracting immigration from other areas, including Mediterranean countries. As in all Flemish provinces, the official language is Dutch , but two municipalities, Herstappe and Voeren , are to a certain extent allowed to use French to communicate with their citizens. They are two of the municipalities with language facilities in Belgium. Several variations of Limburgish are also still actively used, these being

5041-508: Was settled by incoming Salian Franks from the north, who were under pressure from Saxons . The southern or "Haspengouw" part of Belgian Limburg was an important agricultural region and remained more heavily Romanised, and eventually became a core land of the Frankish empires. By the 9th century, the Frankish Carolingian dynasty , who had lands in and around Belgian Limburg, ruled an empire that included much of Western Europe . The Franks originally had several smaller kingdoms ruling each of

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