The Grote Waard or Hollandse Waard was a farming region in the

County of Holland The County of Holland was a State of the Holy Roman Empire and from 1433 part of the Burgundian Netherlands, from 1482 part of the Habsburg Netherlands and from 1581 onward the leading province of the Dutch Republic, of which it remained a part ...

at the border of the

Duchy of Brabant The Duchy of Brabant was a State of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries, part of the Burgundian Netherlands from 1430 and of the Habsburg Neth ...

, that disappeared in the St. Elizabeth's flood. Parts of this

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a lake or the seabed # Flood plains s ...

are now separated by water:

Hoekse Waard The Hoekse Waard (; pre-1947 spelling: Hoeksche Waard) is an island between the Oude Maas, Dordtsche Kil, Hollands Diep, Haringvliet and Spui rivers in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. The island, part of the namesake municipa ...

, Eiland van Dordrecht,

De Biesbosch De Biesbosch National Park is one of the largest national parks of the Netherlands and one of the last extensive areas of freshwater tidal wetlands in Northwestern Europe. The Biesbosch ('forest of sedges' or 'rushwoods') consists of a large ...

, and parts of

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the we ...

. The Grote Waard was a damp peat region, which was roughly limited by what now is the

Afgedamde Maas The Afgedamde Maas (; Dammed-up Meuse) is a former distributary of the Maas River (French: Meuse) in the Dutch provinces of North Brabant and Gelderland. The Maas splits near Heusden with one channel flowing north until its confluence with the r ...

between

Heusden Heusden () is a municipality and a town in the South of the Netherlands. It is located between the towns of Waalwijk and 's-Hertogenbosch. The municipality of Heusden, including Herpt, Heesbeen, Hedikhuizen, Doeveren, and Oudheusden, merged with ...

and

Woudrichem Woudrichem (; Brabantian: ''Woerkum'') is a city and former municipality in the province of North Brabant in the Netherlands. History The city of Woudrichem was granted city rights in 1356. Geography The municipality is located at in th ...

, the

Boven Merwede The Boven Merwede () is a stretch of river in the Netherlands, mainly fed by the river Rhine. The Afgedamde Maas river joins the Waal at Woudrichem to form the Boven Merwede, which at Hardinxveld-Giessendam splits into the Beneden Merwede rive ...

and

Beneden Merwede The Beneden Merwede () is a stretch of river in the Netherlands, mainly fed by the river Rhine. It starts as the continuation of the Boven Merwede after the branching-off of the Nieuwe Merwede ship canal. It flows from Hardinxveld-Giessendam to D ...

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...

Maasdam Maasdam is a village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is located about 14 km south of the city of Rotterdam, in the municipality of Hoeksche Waard, on the rural Hoeksche Waard island. From the 14th Century until around 1800, Maasd ...

, the

Keizersdijk Keizersdijk is a hamlet in the Dutch province of South Holland and is part of the municipality of Hoeksche Waard The Hoekse Waard (; pre-1947 spelling: Hoeksche Waard) is an island between the Oude Maas, Dordtsche Kil, Hollands Diep, Hari ...

between Maasdam and Strijen, Strijensas,

Lage Zwaluwe Lage Zwaluwe is a village in the municipality Drimmelen, North Brabant, the Netherlands. The Lage Zwaluwe railway station and the Moerdijk bridges lie to the west of the village. History The village was first mentioned in as 1291 Zwaluwe, and ...

, and

Hooge Zwaluwe Hooge Zwaluwe is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Drimmelen, about 3.5 km north-west of Made. History The village was first mentioned in 1291 as Zwaluwe, and refers to a river ( Grote H ...

References

Floods in the Netherlands 15th century in the Netherlands Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta History of North Brabant History of South Holland {{netherlands-hist-stub

See also

References