Limburg (, ) is the southernmost of the twelve
provinces of the Netherlands
There are twelve provinces of the Netherlands (), representing the administrative layer between the national government and the local municipalities, with responsibility for matters of subnational or regional importance.
The most populous prov ...
. It is bordered by
Gelderland
Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...
to the north and by
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 ...
to its west. Its long eastern boundary forms the
international border
Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...
with the
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...
in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. To the west is the
international border
Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...
with the similarly named
Belgian province of
Limburg
Limburg or Limbourg may refer to:
Regions
* Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium
* Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands
* Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...
, part of which is delineated by the river
Meuse
The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) 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 t ...
. The
Vaalserberg
The Vaalserberg (, Ripuarian: ) is a hill with a height of above NAP and is the highest point in the European part of the Netherlands, also known as "Dutch Mountains". The Vaalserberg is located in the province of Limburg, at the south-easte ...
is on the extreme southeastern point, marking the
tripoint
A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...
of the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
Limburg's main
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
are the provincial capital
Maastricht
Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...
(population 120,837 as of January 2022),
Venlo
Venlo () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands, close to the border with Germany. It is situated in the province of Limburg (Netherland ...
(population 102,176) in the northeast, as well as
Sittard-Geleen
Sittard-Geleen (; li, Zittert-Gelaen ) is a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It was formed in 2001 from the former municipalities Sittard, Geleen and Born.
The combined municipality has approximately 92,518 inhabitants (March 2019) ...
(population 91,760, bordering both Belgium and Germany) and
Heerlen
Heerlen (; li, Heële ) is a city and a municipality in the southeast of the Netherlands. It is the third largest settlement proper in the province of Limburg. Measured as municipality, it is the fourth municipality in the province of Limburg.
...
(population 86,874) in the south. More than half of the population, approximately 650,000 people, live in the south of Limburg, which corresponds to roughly one-third of the province's area proper. In
South Limburg
South Limburg (Dutch: ''Zuid-Limburg'', Limburgish: ''Zuud-Limburg'') is both a COROP (statistical) region as well as a '' landstreek'' (area) of the Netherlands located in the province of Limburg. The Dutch term ''landstreek'', literally transla ...
, most people live in the urban agglomerations of Maastricht,
Parkstad
Parkstad Limburg (; Ripuarian and li, Parksjtad Limburg ) is a conurbation of eight municipalities in the southern part of the province of Limburg in the Netherlands. Consisting Heerlen, Kerkrade, Landgraaf, Brunssum, Simpelveld, Voerendaal, Nu ...
and Sittard-Geleen.
Name
Limburg's name derives from the
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...
fortified town of the same name,
Limbourg-sur-Vesdre
Limbourg (; German and Dutch: ''Limburg''; wa, Limbôr) or Limbourg-sur-Vesdre is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium.
On 1 January 2008, Limbourg had a total population of 5,680. The total area is 2 ...
, now in the nearby
Liège Province
Liège (; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is the easternmost province of the Wallonia region of Belgium.
Liège Province is the only Belgian province that has borders with three countries. It borders (clockwise from the north) the Du ...
, immediately south of Limburg. The name of Limbourg-sur-Vesdre was important to the region because it had been the seat of the medieval
Duchy of Limburg
The Duchy of Limburg or Limbourg was an imperial estate of the Holy Roman Empire. Much of the area of the duchy is today located within Liège Province of Belgium, with a small portion in the municipality of Voeren, an Enclave and exclave, excla ...
.
There are several proposals concerning the etymology of Limbourg. The second part, "bourg" or "burg" is common in placenames, and refers to a fortified town. The first part is often suggested to refer to lime or linden trees (species of ''
Tilia
''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperateness, temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Britain a ...
''). The historian Jean-Louis Kupper has proposed that its founder
Frederick, Duke of Lower Lorraine
Frederick of Luxembourg ( – 18 May 1065) was the ''advocatus'' of Abbey of Stavelot-Malmedy from 1033, Duke of Lower Lorraine from 1046, ''advocatus'' of the Abbey of St Truiden from around 1060 or earlier. He was also lord of a large domain ...
named it after
Limburg Abbey
Limburg Abbey is a ruined abbey near Bad Dürkheim, at the edge of the Palatinate Forest in Germany. In the 9th century, the Salian Dukes from Worms built a fortress on the ''Linthberg'' as their family seat. In the early 11th century, the fortr ...
in Germany. He favours a derivation from a Germanic word "lint" meaning "dragon".
[Jean-Louis Kupper (2007) Les origines du duché de Limbourg-sur-Vesdre", ''Revue belge de Philologie et d'Histoire'' Année 85-3-4 pp. 609-63]
/ref>
Ironically the area under the direct lordship of the old Duchy did not overlap at all with the modern Belgian and Dutch provinces named after it today, though the medieval Duchy was a high status title in the region. On the other hand, while the Duchy's effective power was limited, the Duchy and what is now South Limburg
South Limburg (Dutch: ''Zuid-Limburg'', Limburgish: ''Zuud-Limburg'') is both a COROP (statistical) region as well as a '' landstreek'' (area) of the Netherlands located in the province of Limburg. The Dutch term ''landstreek'', literally transla ...
(referred to as Overmaas) did have a long history of connection under the lordship of the Dukes of Brabant
The Duke of Brabant (, ) was the ruler of the Duchy of Brabant since 1183/1184. The title was created by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in favor of Henry I of the House of Reginar, son of Godfrey III of Leuven (who was duke of Low ...
. During this long period, from the Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
until the French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, they were sometimes referred to collectively under one name (Overmaas or Limburg).
After 1794, it was the French Republic which unified the region, along with Belgian Limburg, and removed all ties to the old feudal society (the ''ancien regime
''Ancien'' may refer to
* the French word for "ancient, old"
** Société des anciens textes français
* the French for "former, senior"
** Virelai ancien
** Ancien Régime
** Ancien Régime in France
''Ancien'' may refer to
* the French word fo ...
''). The new name, as with all the names of the ''départements
A department (, ) is an administrative or political division in several countries. Departments are the first-level divisions of 11 countries, nine in the Americas and two in Africa. An additional 10 countries use departments as second-level divi ...
'', was based on natural features such as rivers, in this case Meuse-Inférieure
Meuse-Inférieure ( "Lower Meuse"; ; ) was a department of the French First Republic and French First Empire in present-day Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. It was named after the river Meuse. Its territory corresponded largely with the present-d ...
or Neder-Maas ("Lower Meuse").
After the defeat of Napoleon the newly created United Kingdom of the Netherlands
The United Kingdom of the Netherlands ( nl, Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden; french: Royaume uni des Pays-Bas) is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed between 1815 and 1839. The United Netherlands was cr ...
desired a new name for this province. It was decided that the historic connection to the duchy of Limburg was to be restored, albeit only in name.
History
The current province Limburg of the Netherlands only came into existence in 1839, after the finalization of the separation of Belgium from the Netherlands which had begun in 1830. The two Limburgs had been brought together under French revolutionary administration some decades earlier, but they and the surrounding region shared much of their history. For long periods of history however, the region was not united under the same rule.
For centuries, the strategic location of the current province, stretching along the Maas river route, made it a much-coveted region among Europe's major powers. Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
, Carolingians
The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippin ...
, Habsburg Spaniards, Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
ns, Habsburg Austrians and France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
have all ruled parts of Limburg.
The first inhabitants of whom traces have been found were Neanderthals
Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an Extinction, extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ag ...
who camped in South Limburg. In Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
times, flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...
was mined in underground mines.
Roman era
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
conquered the area in 53 BC, and wrote that he had extinguished the name of the Eburones
The Eburones (Greek: ) were a Gallic- Germanic tribe dwelling in the northeast of Gaul, in what is now the southern Netherlands, eastern Belgium and the German Rhineland, in the period immediately preceding the Roman conquest of the region. Thou ...
, the inhabitants of most of the area of current Limburg, as a punishment for their revolt under Ambiorix
Ambiorix (Gaulish "king of the surroundings", or "king-protector") ( 54–53 BC) was, together with Cativolcus, prince of the Eburones, leader of a Belgic tribe of north-eastern Gaul (Gallia Belgica), where modern Belgium is located. In the nin ...
.
The north–south route along the Maas was crossed by the Via Belgica
Via or VIA may refer to the following:
Science and technology
* MOS Technology 6522, Versatile Interface Adapter
* ''Via'' (moth), a genus of moths in the family Noctuidae
* Via (electronics), a through-connection
* VIA Technologies, a Taiwan ...
, a road crossing South Limburg and connecting the two local capitals of Tongeren and Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
. ''Mosa Trajectum'' (Maastricht) and ''Coriovallum'' (Heerlen) were founded by the Romans upon this route. The area became strongly Romanized. Bishop Servatius introduced Christianity in Roman Maastricht, where he died in 384. Maastricht appears to have taken over from Tongeren for some time as regional capital for the Romanized and Christian population, before the bishopric was re-established in Liège
Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège.
The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
, south of Maastricht.
Medieval era
As Roman authority in the area weakened, Franks
The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...
took over from the Romans, but the area came to flourish under their rule, with Cologne continuing to be the most important local capital. The Maas valley, especially the middle and southern part of the current province, formed an important part of the heartland of Merovingian
The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...
Austrasia
Austrasia was a territory which formed the north-eastern section of the Merovingian Kingdom of the Franks during the 6th to 8th centuries. It was centred on the Meuse, Middle Rhine and the Moselle rivers, and was the original territory of the F ...
.
With the rise of the Carolingian dynasty, who were themselves from this region, the Maas valley became more culturally and politically one of the most important regions in Europe. In 714 Susteren Abbey
Susteren Abbey ( nl, Abdij van Susteren) is a former Benedictine abbey at Susteren near Roermond, in the Dutch province of Limburg, founded in the 8th century. The former abbey church is now St. Amelberga's Basilica.
History
The abbey is first re ...
was founded, as far as is known the first proprietary abbey in the current Netherlands. The main benefactor was Plectrude
Plectrude ( la, Plectrudis; german: Plektrud, Plechtrudis) (died 718) was the consort of Pepin of Herstal, the mayor of the palace and duke of the Franks, from about 670. She was the daughter of Hugobert, seneschal of Clovis IV, and Irmina of O ...
, the consort of Pepin of Herstal
Pepin II (c. 635 – 16 December 714), commonly known as Pepin of Herstal, was a Frankish statesman and military leader who de facto ruled Francia as the Mayor of the Palace from 680 until his death. He took the title Duke and Prince of the Fr ...
. Charles Martel
Charles Martel ( – 22 October 741) was a Frankish political and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was the de facto ruler of Francia from 718 until his death. He was a son of the Frankish statesma ...
was born in nearby Herstal
Herstal (; wa, Hesta), formerly known as Heristal, or Héristal, is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. It lies along the Meuse river. Herstal is included in the "Greater Liège" agglomeration, which c ...
. Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...
made Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
, today a German city which has suburban sprawl stretching into South Limburg, the capital of the Frankish empire
Francia, also called the Kingdom of the Franks ( la, Regnum Francorum), Frankish Kingdom, Frankland or Frankish Empire ( la, Imperium Francorum), was the largest post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks dur ...
.
After the death of Charlemagne, the Frankish dominions were again split between kings. While the Austrasian lands remained a separate "Middle Kingdom", sometimes now referred to as Lotharingia
Lotharingia ( la, regnum Lotharii regnum Lothariense Lotharingia; french: Lotharingie; german: Reich des Lothar Lotharingien Mittelreich; nl, Lotharingen) was a short-lived medieval successor kingdom of the Carolingian Empire. As a more durable ...
, in the treaties of Verdun
Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department.
Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...
(843), and Prüm
Prüm () is a town in the Westeifel (Rhineland-Palatinate), Germany. Formerly a district capital, today it is the administrative seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Prüm.
Geography
Prüm lies on the river Prüm (a tri ...
(855), in the 870 Treaty of Meerssen
The Treaty of Mersen or Meerssen, concluded on 8 August 870, was a treaty to partition the realm of Lothair II, known as Lotharingia, by his uncles Louis the German of East Francia and Charles the Bald of West Francia, the two surviving sons of ...
, signed in South Limburg itself, Lotharingia was divided. The river Meuse
The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) 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 t ...
became the border between the Western- and Eastern Frankish kingdoms, placing most of the current Dutch province of Limburg on the western boundary of the Eastern Frankish kingdom, with Belgian Limburg in the Western Kingdom. In the Treaty of Ribemont
, Participants = Louis the Younger, Louis III of France, Carloman II
, Location = Ribemont
, Date = 880
, Result = All of Lotharingia given to East Francia
The Treaty of Ribemont in 880 was the last treaty on the ...
of 888, the Eastern Kingdom was granted control of the whole of Lotharingia, including all of the modern Netherlands and Luxembourg, and most of modern Belgium.
The region of Thorn, Netherlands
Thorn (; li, Toear or ''Thoear'') is a village in the municipality of Maasgouw, in the Dutch province of Limburg. It lies on the rivers Meuse and Witbeek. It is known as 'the white village' for its white-washed brick houses in the centre of town. ...
was drained and about 975 a swamp nearby the Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
between Maastricht
Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...
and Nijmegen
Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...
. Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
Ansfried of Utrecht
Saint Ansfried (also Ansfrid, Ansfridus) of Utrecht sometimes called Ansfried the younger (died 3 May 1010 near Leusden) was Count of Huy and the sword-bearer for Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor. He became Bishop of Utrecht in 995. He appears to have ...
founded a Benedictine nunnery. This developed from the 12th century into a secular ''stift'' or convent
A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
. The principal of the ''stift'' was the abbess
An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey.
Description
In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic ...
. She was assisted by a chapter of at most twenty ladies of the highest nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...
.
During the period of West Frankish control under the Treaty of Meerssen, effective Frankish power in the area of the current Netherlands more or less collapsed. For two or more years a large Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
army, operating from a place on or near the Meuse called Ascloa (or Hasloa or Haslon), wrought havoc in the neighbourhood. The damage was such that the emperor, Charles the Fat
Charles III (839 – 13 January 888), also known as Charles the Fat, was the emperor of the Carolingian Empire from 881 to 888. A member of the Carolingian dynasty, Charles was the youngest son of Louis the German and Hemma, and a great-grandso ...
was forced to assemble a large multinational army, that in 882 unsuccessfully besieged this island.
In the 10th century, the Eastern kingdom consolidated its control of Lotharingia and became the Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
. In the first decades of this empire the founding imperial family has close ties to areas in current northern Limburg. The emperor Otto III
Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu.
Otto III was crowned as King of ...
for instance was born in 980 in Kessel, practically on the current border between Limburg and North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...
, just east from Gennep
Gennep () is a municipality and a city in upper southeastern Netherlands. It lies in the very northern part of the province of Limburg, 18 km south of Nijmegen. Furthermore, it lies on the right bank of the Meuse river, and south of the forest o ...
. In 1080 in Genneperhuis, just north of Gennep, Norbert of Gennep was born as a son of the count of Gennep. He was the founder of the order of the Premonstratensians
The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...
.
South Limburg in the early Middle Ages was mainly made up of the lordships of Valkenburg, Dalhem
Dalhem (; wa, Dålem) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium.
On 1 January 2012 Dalhem had a total population of 6,996. The total area is 36.06 km² which gives a population density of 180 inhabitants pe ...
, and Herzogenrath
Herzogenrath ( Ripuarian: ; li, Hertseraoj; nl, ’s-Hertogenrade) is a municipality in the district of Aachen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It borders the Dutch town of Kerkrade, the national border in one section running along ...
. All of these lands were, however, united with the Duchy of Limburg, under the rule 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 ...
, when they were known collectively as the Lands of Overmaas.
The Duchy of Limburg and its dependencies first came under Brabantian control in 1288, as a result of the Battle of Worringen
The Battle of Worringen was fought on 5 June 1288 near the town of Worringen (also spelled Woeringen), which is now the northernmost borough of Cologne. It was the decisive battle of the War of the Limburg Succession, fought for the possession o ...
, then in the 15th century under the Duchy of Burgundy
The Duchy of Burgundy (; la, Ducatus Burgundiae; french: Duché de Bourgogne, ) emerged in the 9th century as one of the successors of the ancient Kingdom of the Burgundians, which after its conquest in 532 had formed a constituent part of the ...
. By 1473, the Lands of Overmaas and the Duchy of Limburg formed one unified delegation to the States General of the Burgundian Netherlands
In the history of the Low Countries, the Burgundian Netherlands (french: Pays-Bas bourguignons, nl, Bourgondische Nederlanden, lb, Burgundeschen Nidderlanden, wa, Bas Payis borguignons) or the Burgundian Age is the period between 1384 and ...
. Both the terms Overmaas and Limburg came to be used loosely to refer to this sparsely populated province of the so-called Seventeen Provinces
The Seventeen Provinces were the Imperial states of the Habsburg Netherlands in the 16th century. They roughly covered the Low Countries, i.e., what is now the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and most of the French departments of Nord (Fre ...
. Maastricht was never part of this polity: as a condominium
A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...
, sovereignty over this city was held jointly by the Prince-Bishopric of Liège
The Prince-Bishopric of Liège or Principality of Liège was an Hochstift, ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that was situated for the most part in present-day Belgium. It was an Imperial State, Imperial Estate, so the List of ...
and 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 ...
. Also, the central and northern part of present-day Limburg belonged to different political entities, notably the Duchy of Jülich
The Duchy of Jülich (german: Herzogtum Jülich; nl, Hertogdom Gulik; french: Duché de Juliers) comprised a state within the Holy Roman Empire from the 11th to the 18th centuries. The duchy lay west of the Rhine river and was bordered by th ...
and the Duchy of Guelders
The Duchy of Guelders ( nl, Gelre, french: Gueldre, german: Geldern) is a historical duchy, previously county, of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Low Countries.
Geography
The duchy was named after the town of Geldern (''Gelder'') in p ...
.
By the late Middle Ages most of the present day territory of Limburg had been partitioned to the Duchy of Brabant, the Duchy of Gelderland, the Duchy of Jülich, the Prince-Bishopric of Liège or the Electorate of Cologne
The Electorate of Cologne (german: Kurfürstentum Köln), sometimes referred to as Electoral Cologne (german: Kurköln, links=no), was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the 10th to the early 19th century. ...
. These dukes, prince-bihops and prince-electors
The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, la, Princeps Elector), or electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
From the 13th century onwards, the prince ...
were nominal subordinates of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, but in practice acted as independent sovereigns who were often at war with each other. These conflicts were often fought in and over Limburg, contributing to its fragmentation and a loss of economic importance.
Limburg was the scene of many bloody battles during the Eighty Years' War
The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) ( c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Refo ...
(1568–1648), in which the Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
threw off Habsburg Spanish rule. At the Battle of Mookerheyde
In the Battle of Mookerheyde, Spanish forces defeated Dutch forces composed of German mercenaries on 14 April 1574 during the Eighty Years' War near the village Mook and the river Meuse not far from Nijmegen in Gelderland. Two leaders of the Dutc ...
(14 April 1574), two brothers of Prince William of Orange-Nassau and thousands of "Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
" mercenaries lost their lives. Most Limburgians fought on the Spanish side, being Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
s and being opposed to the Calvinist
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
ers.
Early modern era
In the early modern era, Limburg was largely divided between Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
(and its successor, Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
), Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
, the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
, the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and many independent small fief
A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an Lord, overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a for ...
s.
In 1673, Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
personally commanded the siege of Maastricht
Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...
by French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
troops. During the siege, one of his brigadiers, Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan
Charles de Batz de Castelmore (), also known as d'Artagnan and later Count d'Artagnan ( 1611 – 25 June 1673), was a French Musketeer who served Louis XIV as captain of the Musketeers of the Guard. He died at the siege of Maastricht in the F ...
, perished. He subsequently became known as a major character in ''The Three Musketeers
''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight f ...
'' by Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where ''Suffix (name)#Generational titles, '' is French language, French for 'father', to distinguish him from ...
(1802–1870).
19th century
The modern boundaries of Dutch Limburg, along with its neighbour, Belgian Limburg, were basically set during the period after the French revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, which erased much of the "ancien regime
''Ancien'' may refer to
* the French word for "ancient, old"
** Société des anciens textes français
* the French for "former, senior"
** Virelai ancien
** Ancien Régime
** Ancien Régime in France
''Ancien'' may refer to
* the French word fo ...
" of Europe, with all its old boundaries and titles. These two provinces were part of a new French département
In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...
, named (like many départements) after the river running through it, "Meuse-Inférieure
Meuse-Inférieure ( "Lower Meuse"; ; ) was a department of the French First Republic and French First Empire in present-day Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. It was named after the river Meuse. Its territory corresponded largely with the present-d ...
", meaning simply "lower Maas".
Following the Napoleonic Era
The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislative ...
, the great powers (the United Kingdom, Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
, the Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...
, the Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
and France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
) left the region to the new United Kingdom of the Netherlands
The United Kingdom of the Netherlands ( nl, Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden; french: Royaume uni des Pays-Bas) is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed between 1815 and 1839. The United Netherlands was cr ...
in 1815. A new province was formed which was to receive the name "Maastricht" after its capital. The first king, William I
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087 ...
, who did not want the medieval name to be lost, insisted that it be changed to " Province of Limburg". As such, the name of the new province was derived from the old Duchy of Limburg that had existed until 1795 on the east bank of the Meuse river.
When the Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
-speaking Belgians split away from the mainly Calvinist
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
northern Netherlands in the Belgian Revolution
The Belgian Revolution (, ) was the conflict which led to the secession of the southern provinces (mainly the former Southern Netherlands) from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Belgium.
T ...
of 1830, the Province of Limburg was at first almost entirely under Belgian rule. However, by the 1839 Treaty of London, the province was divided in two, with the eastern part going to the Netherlands and the western part to Belgium, a division that remains today.
With the Treaty of London, what is now the Belgian Province of Luxembourg
Luxembourg (french: Luxembourg ; nl, Luxemburg ; german: Luxemburg ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; wa, Lussimbork), also called Belgian Luxembourg, is the southernmost province of Wallonia and of Belgium. It borders on the country of Luxembourg to the ea ...
was handed over to Belgium and removed from the German Confederation
The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...
. To appease Prussia, which had also lost access to the Meuse after the Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
, the Dutch province of Limburg (but not the cities of Maastricht
Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...
and Venlo
Venlo () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands, close to the border with Germany. It is situated in the province of Limburg (Netherland ...
because without them Limburg's population equalled that of the Province of Luxembourg, 150,00
, was joined to the German Confederation
The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...
between 5 September 1839 and 23 August 1866 as Duchy of Limburg. On 11 May 1867, the Duchy, which from 1839 on had been ''de jure'' a separate polity in personal union with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, was reincorporated into the latter with the Treaty of London (1867), 1867 Treaty of London, though the term "Duchy of Limburg" remained in some official use until February 1907. Another idiosyncrasy survives today: the head of the province, referred to as the "King's Commissioner" in other provinces, is addressed as "Governor" in Limburg.
20th century
The Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
cost the lives of many civilians in Limburg, and a large number of towns and villages were destroyed by bombings and artillery battles. Various cemeteries, too, bear witness to this dark chapter in Limburg's history. Almost 8,500 American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
soldiers, who perished during the liberation of the Netherlands, lie buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial
Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial ( nl, Amerikaanse Begraafplaats Margraten) is a Second World War military war grave cemetery, located in the village of Margraten, east of Maastricht, in the most southern part of the Netherlands. The ...
in Margraten
Margraten (; li, Mergraote) is a village and a former municipality in the southeastern part of the Netherlands.
On 1 January 2011 this former municipality merged with a neighbouring one, which resulted in the new Eijsden-Margraten municipality. ...
. Other big war cemeteries are to be found at Overloon
Overloon is a village with 3,626 inhabitants on the outskirts of the Peel region, in the former municipality of Boxmeer, North Brabant. Since 2022 it has been part of the new municipality of Land van Cuijk.
Located on the outskirts is the Nati ...
(British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
soldiers) and the Ysselsteyn German war cemetery
Ysselsteyn German War Cemetery is a military cemetery interring casualties of the First and Second World Wars. It contains over 31,000 soldiers from around 25 countries, including SS-men and Dutch war criminals. This cemetery is located in the v ...
was constructed in the Municipality of Venray
Venray or Venraij (; li, Venroj) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg, the Netherlands.
The municipality of Venray consists of 14 towns over an area of , with 43,494 inhabitants as o ...
for the 31,000 German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
soldiers who lost their lives.
According to the research of Herman van Rens, the residents of Limburg were especially active in hiding local and refugee Jews during the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
, to the extent that the Jewish population even increased during the war. Jews in hiding were three times as likely to survive in Limburg as in Amsterdam.
In December 1991, the European Community
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...
(now European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
) held a summit in Maastricht. At that summit, the "Treaty on European Union" or so-called Maastricht Treaty
The Treaty on European Union, commonly known as the Maastricht Treaty, is the foundation treaty of the European Union (EU). Concluded in 1992 between the then-twelve member states of the European Communities, it announced "a new stage in the ...
was signed by the European Community member states. With that treaty, the European Union came into existence.
Anthem
''Limburg mijn Vaderland
Limburg mijn Vaderland ("Limburg my Fatherland") is the official anthem of the two provinces of Limburg, Netherlands Limburg and Belgian Limburg.
History
The anthem was written by the schoolteacher Gerard Krekelberg in 1909. The music was co ...
'' (Limburg my Fatherland) is the official anthem
An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...
of both Belgian and Dutch Limburg.
Language
Although standard Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
is the official language and the one most used, Limburgish
Limburgish ( li, Limburgs or ; nl, Limburgs ; german: Limburgisch ; french: Limbourgeois ), also called Limburgan, Limburgian, or Limburgic, is a West Germanic language spoken in the Dutch and Belgian provinces of Limburg (Netherlands), L ...
is currently considered a regional language as described in the a page of the Dutch Government, unfortunately only a Dutch version is available. It has been an official regional language
*
A regional language is a language spoken in a region of a sovereign state, whether it be a small area, a federated state or province or some wider area.
Internationally, for the purposes of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Lan ...
since 1997 and it receives moderate protection under Chapter 2 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is a European treaty (CETS 148) adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. However, the ...
. The German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
and Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...
governments do not recognise it as an official language. Before the 20th century, most newspapers were in French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
or in German, schools in Maastricht taught French, as the city has historic ties with the Belgian city of Liège
Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège.
The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
. Other parts of the province taught German.
Limburgish is spoken by an estimated 1.6 million people in Dutch Limburg, Belgian Limburg
Limburg ( nl, Limburg, ; li, Limburg or ''Wes-Limburg'' ; french: Limbourg, ) is a province in Belgium. It is the easternmost of the five Dutch-speaking provinces that together form the Region of Flanders, one of the three main political and c ...
, and Germany. There are many different dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...
s of Limburgish; almost every town and village has its own. A lot of isogloss
An isogloss, also called a heterogloss (see Etymology below), is the geographic boundary of a certain linguistic feature, such as the pronunciation of a vowel, the meaning of a word, or the use of some morphological or syntactic feature. Major d ...
es cross through Limburg. No single dialect can fully represent Limburgish as a whole. Dialects in the north, nearby Venray
Venray or Venraij (; li, Venroj) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg, the Netherlands.
The municipality of Venray consists of 14 towns over an area of , with 43,494 inhabitants as o ...
and Gennep
Gennep () is a municipality and a city in upper southeastern Netherlands. It lies in the very northern part of the province of Limburg, 18 km south of Nijmegen. Furthermore, it lies on the right bank of the Meuse river, and south of the forest o ...
, are classified as South Guelderish
South Guelderish ( nl, Zuid-Gelders , german: Südgeldersch, ''Kleverländisch'') refers to the easternmost group of Dutch dialects spoken along the lower Rhine (Dutch Nederrijn and German Niederrhein). In its narrower sense, the term refers str ...
and are closely connected to the dialects in the northeast of Brabant Brabant is a traditional geographical region (or regions) in the Low Countries of Europe. It may refer to:
Place names in Europe
* London-Brabant Massif, a geological structure stretching from England to northern Germany
Belgium
* Province of Bra ...
(Land van Cuijk) and the region of Nijmegen
Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...
. Dialects in the southeast (near Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
) are closer to Ripuarian and are sometimes classified as Southeast Limburgish
Southeast Limburgish (Dutch: ''Zuidoost-Limburgs'', Ripuarian: ''Süüdoß-Limburjesch''), also referred to as Southern Meuse-Rhenish, is a subdivision of what recently has been named Meuse-Rhenish. Both terms denote a rather compact grouping of ...
. Dialects in the western part of Limburg, surrounding Weert
Weert (; li, Wieërt ) is a municipality and city in the southeastern Netherlands located in the western part of the province of Limburg. It lies on the Eindhoven–Maastricht railway line, and is also astride the Zuid-Willemsvaart canal.
Popu ...
, are influenced by the neighbouring dialects of southeast Brabant Brabant is a traditional geographical region (or regions) in the Low Countries of Europe. It may refer to:
Place names in Europe
* London-Brabant Massif, a geological structure stretching from England to northern Germany
Belgium
* Province of Bra ...
, which means that the tone is more Brabantic
Brabantian or Brabantish, also Brabantic or Brabantine ( nl, Brabants, Standard Dutch pronunciation: , ), is a dialect group of the Dutch language. It is named after the historical Duchy of Brabant, which corresponded mainly to the Dutch provi ...
than in the rest of Limburg.
Politics
The provincial council (States-Provincial
The provincial council (, PS), also known as the States Provincial, is the provincial parliament and legislative assembly in each of the provinces of the Netherlands. It is elected for each province simultaneously once every four years and has ...
- ''Provinciale Staten'') has 47 seats, and is headed by a King's Commissioner (''Commissaris van de Koning'') who unofficially is called the Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
. While the provincial council is elected by the inhabitants, the King's Commissioner is appointed by the King and the cabinet of the Netherlands. Since December 2021 Emile Roemer
Emile Gerardus Maria Roemer (born 24 August 1962) is a Dutch politician serving as King's Commissioner of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg since December 2021. A member of the Socialist Party (Netherlands), Socialist Party (SP), he was its Leader of ...
( SP) has been holding the office of 'Governor'.
Since the 2011 elections the Christian Democratic Appeal
The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary ...
(CDA) was the largest party in the council, although the Party for Freedom
The Party for Freedom ( nl, Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands.
Founded in 2006 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man faction in the House of Representatives, it won nine ...
(PVV) won the most votes during the election. However, two members of the PVV left the party, taking their seats with them, which lost the PVV their number one status.
Since the 2015 elections the CDA (11 seats) has again been the largest party, followed by the PVV (9 seats) and the Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
(SP) (8 seats).
The province's daily affairs are taken care of by the Provincial-Executive
The provincial executive (, GS) is the executive branch of government of a province in the Netherlands. It is the equivalent of the municipal executive at the provincial level. The provincial executive consists of the King's Commissioner (chair) ...
(''Gedeputeerde Staten''), which are also headed by the King's Commissioner; its members (''gedeputeerden'') can be compared with ministers.
States-Provincial
Results of the elections for the States-Provincial
The provincial council (, PS), also known as the States Provincial, is the provincial parliament and legislative assembly in each of the provinces of the Netherlands. It is elected for each province simultaneously once every four years and has ...
:
* See also: States of Limburg
The Provincial Council of Limburg ( nl, Provinciale Staten van Limburg), also called Limburgs Parlement, are the provincial council for the Dutch province of Limburg. It forms the legislative body of the province. Its 47 seats are distributed eve ...
'' (more information)
Provincial-Executive
The Provincial-Executive
The provincial executive (, GS) is the executive branch of government of a province in the Netherlands. It is the equivalent of the municipal executive at the provincial level. The provincial executive consists of the King's Commissioner (chair) ...
2015-2019 consists of the following parties: CDA, SP, VVD, D66 and PvdA.
Geography
Limburg is a salient of the Netherlands into Belgium.
Compared to the rest of the Netherlands the southern part of Limburg is less flat, slightly undulated. The highest point in the continental Netherlands is the Vaalserberg
The Vaalserberg (, Ripuarian: ) is a hill with a height of above NAP and is the highest point in the European part of the Netherlands, also known as "Dutch Mountains". The Vaalserberg is located in the province of Limburg, at the south-easte ...
(meaning 'mountain' of Vaals) with a height of 322.4 metres (1,058 ft) above NAP
A nap is a short period of sleep, typically taken during daytime hours as an adjunct to the usual nocturnal sleep period. Naps are most often taken as a response to drowsiness during waking hours. A nap is a form of biphasic or polyphasic sl ...
, rising approximately 110 metres above the village Vaals, where three countries (Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
and Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
) border each other at the so-called " Three-country-point".
Limburg's main river is the Meuse
The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) 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 t ...
, which passes through the province's entire length from south to north.
Limburg's surface is largely formed by deposits from the Meuse, consisting of river clay, fertile loessial soil and large deposits of pebblestone, currently being quarried for the construction industry. In the north of the province, further away from the riverbed, the soil primarily consists of sand and peat.
Limburg makes up one region of the International Organization for Standardization
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ) is an international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Membership requirements are given in Ar ...
world region code system, having the code ISO 3166-2:NL-LI.
Municipalities
The province of Limburg has 31 municipalities.
*North Limburg COROP group
**Beesel
Beesel (; li, Bezel ) is a municipality and a town in the province of Limburg in the southeastern Netherlands.
Population centres
*Beesel
* Offenbeek
*Reuver
Topography
''Topographic map of the municipality of Beesel, June 2015.''
The town ...
**Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...
**Gennep
Gennep () is a municipality and a city in upper southeastern Netherlands. It lies in the very northern part of the province of Limburg, 18 km south of Nijmegen. Furthermore, it lies on the right bank of the Meuse river, and south of the forest o ...
**Horst aan de Maas
Horst aan de Maas (; li, Haors aan de Maos ) is a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands, in the province of Limburg. In 2010 the municipalities Sevenum and part of Meerlo-Wanssum joined the municipality.
Population centres
America, Bro ...
**Mook en Middelaar
Mook en Middelaar (; li, Mook en Middelar) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the upper southeastern part of the Netherlands, at the northern tip of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg ...
**Peel en Maas
Peel en Maas (; li, Pieël en Maas) has been a new municipality in the southeastern Netherlands since 1 January 2010. It is situated in the province of Limburg. The municipality is formed by the towns of Panningen, Helden, Kessel, Kessel-Eik, Ma ...
**Venlo
Venlo () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands, close to the border with Germany. It is situated in the province of Limburg (Netherland ...
**Venray
Venray or Venraij (; li, Venroj) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg, the Netherlands.
The municipality of Venray consists of 14 towns over an area of , with 43,494 inhabitants as o ...
*Mid Limburg COROP group
**Echt-Susteren
Echt-Susteren (; li, Ech-Zöstere ) is a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. Echt-Susteren was created in 2003 by merging the former municipalities of Echt and Susteren.
Echt-Susteren is situated in a Euregional area. In the west the mu ...
**Leudal
Leudal (Limburgish: ''Leudaal'') is a municipality in the Dutch province of Limburg. It was formed on January 1, 2007 in a merger of the municipalities of Heythuysen, Haelen, Hunsel, and Roggel en Neer.
Population centres
The municipality cont ...
**Maasgouw
Maasgouw () is a municipality in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is located on both banks of the river Meuse southwest of the city of Roermond. It was formed in a merger of the former municipalities of Heel, Maasbracht and Thorn on 1 January 2007 ...
**Nederweert
Nederweert (; li, Ni-jwieërt ) is a municipality and a town in southeastern Netherlands with a population of as of and has an area of of which is water.
Nederweert lies at the intersection of three channels: the Zuid-Willemsvaart, the Noord ...
**Roerdalen
Roerdalen (; li, Roerdale ) is a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands, in the province of Limburg. As of , it had about inhabitants and borders Germany.
Roerdalen is the renaming of the municipality of Melick en Herkenbosch in 1993.
P ...
**Roermond
Roermond (; li, Remunj or ) is a city, municipality, and diocese in the Limburg province of the Netherlands. Roermond is a historically important town on the lower Roer on the east bank of the river Meuse. It received town rights in 1231. Roer ...
**Weert
Weert (; li, Wieërt ) is a municipality and city in the southeastern Netherlands located in the western part of the province of Limburg. It lies on the Eindhoven–Maastricht railway line, and is also astride the Zuid-Willemsvaart canal.
Popu ...
*South Limburg
South Limburg (Dutch: ''Zuid-Limburg'', Limburgish: ''Zuud-Limburg'') is both a COROP (statistical) region as well as a '' landstreek'' (area) of the Netherlands located in the province of Limburg. The Dutch term ''landstreek'', literally transla ...
COROP group
**Beek
Beek (; li, Baek ) is a town and municipality in the southeastern Netherlands, in the province of Limburg. As of 2012, Beek has a population of about 16,400, of which about 8,800 live in the town of Beek.
The municipality of Beek makes part o ...
**Beekdaelen
Beekdaelen (; li, Baekdale ) is a municipality in the province of Limburg, situated in the southern Netherlands. It was formed as a merger of Nuth, Onderbanken and Schinnen.
Beekdaelen has 35,853 inhabitants. It does not have a capital. The town ...
**Brunssum
Brunssum (; li, Broensem) is a municipality and a town in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands. The municipality of Brunssum has residents as of .
Brunssum was a center of coal mining until 1973.
Population centres
Topography
Histor ...
**Eijsden-Margraten
Eijsden-Margraten (; ( li, Èèsjde-Mergraote) is a municipality situated in the very south of the Netherlands. There it is located in the southeastern part of the province of Limburg.
This municipality was formed in 2011 from the former municipal ...
**Gulpen-Wittem
Gulpen-Wittem (; li, Gullepe-Wittem ) is a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands (in the province of Limburg) with inhabitants as of .
Gulpen-Wittem came into being after the merger of the municipalities Gulpen and Wittem. This took plac ...
**Heerlen
Heerlen (; li, Heële ) is a city and a municipality in the southeast of the Netherlands. It is the third largest settlement proper in the province of Limburg. Measured as municipality, it is the fourth municipality in the province of Limburg.
...
**Kerkrade
Kerkrade ( Ripuarian: ; li, Kirkraoj; german: Kerkrade or ''Kirchrath'') is a town and a municipality in the southeast of Limburg; the southernmost province of the Netherlands. It forms part of the Parkstad Limburg agglomeration.
Kerkrade is the ...
**Landgraaf
Landgraaf (; li, Lankgraaf ) is a municipality in southeastern Limburg, Netherlands, forming part of the Parkstad Limburg agglomeration. ''Snow World'' is the largest indoor ski piste in Europe.
Population centres
*Nieuwenhagen
*Schaesberg
*Ub ...
**Maastricht
Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...
**Meerssen
Meerssen (; li, Meersje ) is a town and a municipality in southeastern Netherlands.
History
The Treaty of Meerssen was signed in Meerssen in 870. The Treaty of Meerssen was an agreement of the division of the Carolingian Empire by the surviving ...
**Simpelveld
Simpelveld (; li, Zumpelveld ) is a municipality and a town in the southeastern Netherlands. It is part of the municipal cooperative unit Parkstad Limburg.
Simpelveld is part of the ''Mergelland'', named after the presence of chalk (mergel), hi ...
**Sittard-Geleen
Sittard-Geleen (; li, Zittert-Gelaen ) is a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It was formed in 2001 from the former municipalities Sittard, Geleen and Born.
The combined municipality has approximately 92,518 inhabitants (March 2019) ...
**Stein
Stein is a German, Yiddish and Norwegian word meaning "stone" and "pip" or "kernel". It stems from the same Germanic root as the English word stone. It may refer to:
Places In Austria
* Stein, a neighbourhood of Krems an der Donau, Lower Austr ...
**Vaals
Vaals (; Ripuarian: ) is a town in the extreme southeastern part of the Dutch province of Limburg, which is in the southeastern part of the Netherlands.
The municipality covers an area of in the foothills of the Ardennes–Eifelrange a ...
**Valkenburg aan de Geul
Valkenburg aan de Geul (; li, Valkeberg ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the southeastern Dutch Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. The name refers to the central town in the ...
**Voerendaal
Voerendaal (; li, Voelender) is a municipality and a town in the southeastern Netherlands.
Population centres
''Dutch topographic map of the municipality of Voerendaal, June 2015''
History
The Romans left the ruins from a Roman villa rustic ...
Cities
From North to South: Gennep
Gennep () is a municipality and a city in upper southeastern Netherlands. It lies in the very northern part of the province of Limburg, 18 km south of Nijmegen. Furthermore, it lies on the right bank of the Meuse river, and south of the forest o ...
, Venray
Venray or Venraij (; li, Venroj) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg, the Netherlands.
The municipality of Venray consists of 14 towns over an area of , with 43,494 inhabitants as o ...
, Venlo
Venlo () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands, close to the border with Germany. It is situated in the province of Limburg (Netherland ...
, Weert
Weert (; li, Wieërt ) is a municipality and city in the southeastern Netherlands located in the western part of the province of Limburg. It lies on the Eindhoven–Maastricht railway line, and is also astride the Zuid-Willemsvaart canal.
Popu ...
, Roermond
Roermond (; li, Remunj or ) is a city, municipality, and diocese in the Limburg province of the Netherlands. Roermond is a historically important town on the lower Roer on the east bank of the river Meuse. It received town rights in 1231. Roer ...
, Thorn
Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to:
Botany
* Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants
* ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species
Comics and literature
* Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Com ...
, Sittard
Sittard (; ) is a city in the Netherlands, situated in the southernmost province of Limburg.
The town is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen and has almost 37.500 inhabitants in 2016.
In its east, Sittard borders the German municipali ...
, Geleen
Geleen (; li, Gelaen ) is a city in the southern part of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg in the Netherlands. With 31,670 inhabitants in 2020, it is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen. Geleen is situated along the river Gele ...
, Heerlen
Heerlen (; li, Heële ) is a city and a municipality in the southeast of the Netherlands. It is the third largest settlement proper in the province of Limburg. Measured as municipality, it is the fourth municipality in the province of Limburg.
...
, Valkenburg, Kerkrade
Kerkrade ( Ripuarian: ; li, Kirkraoj; german: Kerkrade or ''Kirchrath'') is a town and a municipality in the southeast of Limburg; the southernmost province of the Netherlands. It forms part of the Parkstad Limburg agglomeration.
Kerkrade is the ...
, Maastricht
Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...
, Vaals
Vaals (; Ripuarian: ) is a town in the extreme southeastern part of the Dutch province of Limburg, which is in the southeastern part of the Netherlands.
The municipality covers an area of in the foothills of the Ardennes–Eifelrange a ...
.
Economy
The Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a money, monetary Measurement in economics, measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjec ...
(GDP) of the province was €44.5 billion in 2018, accounting for 5.7% of the Netherlands economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was €34,700 or 115% of the EU27 average in the same year.
In the past peat
Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...
and coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
were mined in Limburg. In 1965–75 the coal mines were finally closed. As a result, 60,000 people lost their jobs in the two coal mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
areas, Heerlen-Kerkrade-Brunssum and Sittard-Geleen. A difficult period of economic readjustment started. The Dutch government partly eased the pain by moving several government offices (including Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP
Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP ("National Civil Pension Fund"), frequently referred to as ABP, is the pension fund for government and education employees in the Netherlands. For the quarter ended 31 December 2014, ABP had 2.8 million participants an ...
and CBS Statistics Netherlands
Statistics Netherlands, founded in 1899, is a Dutch governmental institution that gathers statistical information about the Netherlands. In Dutch it is known as the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (''Central Agency for Statistics''), often ...
) to Heerlen.
The state-owned corporation that once mined in Limburg, DSM
DSM or dsm may refer to:
Science and technology
* Deep space maneuver
* Design structure matrix or dependency structure matrix, a representation of a system or project
* Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
** DSM-5, the fifth ed ...
, is now a major chemical company, still operating in Limburg. In 2002 DSM sold its petrochemical division (naphtha crackers and polyolefin plants) to SABIC
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation ( ar, الشركة السعودية للصناعات الأساسية), known as SABIC ( ar, سابك), is a Saudi chemical manufacturing company. 70% of SABIC's shares are owned by Saudi Aramco. It is active in ...
of Saudi Arabia. In 2010, the agro and melamine business groups were sold to OCI Nitrogen. SABIC
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation ( ar, الشركة السعودية للصناعات الأساسية), known as SABIC ( ar, سابك), is a Saudi chemical manufacturing company. 70% of SABIC's shares are owned by Saudi Aramco. It is active in ...
is located on the Chemelot campus in Sittard-Geleen
Sittard-Geleen (; li, Zittert-Gelaen ) is a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It was formed in 2001 from the former municipalities Sittard, Geleen and Born.
The combined municipality has approximately 92,518 inhabitants (March 2019) ...
, which is bounded by the Chemelot Industrial Park, one of Western Europe's biggest industrial sites. At this moment 8000 people work at Chemelot, of which 1000 are active at the Campus. The innovation and licensing division Stamicarbon of DSM was sold in 2009 to Maire Tecnimont, the parent company of an engineering, main contracting and licensing group that operates worldwide in the oil, gas & petrochemicals, power, infrastructure and civil engineering sectors. Stamicarbon Stamicarbon is the licensing and IP center of Maire Tecnimont SpA which licenses technology for manufacturing urea as well as provide follow-up services designed to ensure the best possible operation of the urea plant throughout its working life. ...
is based in Sittard-Geleen.
VDL Nedcar
VDL Nedcar is an automotive manufacturing company in Born, Netherlands. Since December 2012 it has been owned by the Dutch industrial conglomerate VDL Groep. Previous owners were Mitsubishi Motors and Volvo Cars. The company had its origins in a ...
in Born
Born may refer to:
* Childbirth
* Born (surname), a surname (see also for a list of people with the name)
* ''Born'' (comics), a comic book limited series
Places
* Born, Belgium, a village in the German-speaking Community of Belgium
* Born, Luxe ...
(Sittard-Geleen
Sittard-Geleen (; li, Zittert-Gelaen ) is a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It was formed in 2001 from the former municipalities Sittard, Geleen and Born.
The combined municipality has approximately 92,518 inhabitants (March 2019) ...
) is the only large-scale car manufacturer in the Netherlands, currently manufacturing MINI
The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...
s and BMW X1
The BMW X1 is a line of subcompact luxury crossovers produced by BMW. Debuted in 2009, the first-generation X1 has been based on the E90 3 Series and offers rear-wheel drive layout as standard. At its introduction, it was positioned as the sm ...
s. Other industries include rockwool
Mineral wool is any fibrous material formed by spinning or drawing molten mineral or rock materials such as slag and ceramics.
Applications of mineral wool include thermal insulation (as both structural insulation and pipe insulation), f ...
in Roermond, Océ
Canon Production Printing, formerly known as Océ until the end of 2019, is a Netherlands-based subset of Canon that develops, manufactures and sells printing and copying hardware and related software. The product line includes office printing an ...
copiers and printers manufacturers in Venlo
Venlo () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands, close to the border with Germany. It is situated in the province of Limburg (Netherland ...
and a paper factory in Maastricht. There are four large beer
Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...
breweries in Limburg.
Southern Limburg has long been one of the country's two main fruit-growing areas, but over the last four decades, many fruit-growing areas have been replaced by water as a result of gravel
Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone.
Gravel is classifi ...
quarrying near the Meuse
The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) 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 t ...
.
Limburg is one of the most important provinces when it comes to Dutch wine
Dutch wine (Dutch: ''Nederlandse wijn'') is wine made in the Netherlands. Although a small producer of wine, it is nowadays a strong growing branch of Dutch agriculture. Currently, the country has 180 commercial vineyards.
History
It is assumed th ...
production. South Limburg
South Limburg (Dutch: ''Zuid-Limburg'', Limburgish: ''Zuud-Limburg'') is both a COROP (statistical) region as well as a '' landstreek'' (area) of the Netherlands located in the province of Limburg. The Dutch term ''landstreek'', literally transla ...
has the highest concentration of vineyards in the Netherlands. Limburg's wine regions have 3 Appellations
An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...
: Maasvallei, Mergelland and Vijlen. Voerendaalse bergen is expected to be recognized somewhere in 2021.
Tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
is an essential sector of the economy, especially in the hilly southern part of the province. The town of Valkenburg is the main centre.
In 2005, the two provincial newspapers, ''De Limburger'' and ''Limburgs Dagblad'', merged.
Culture
Essential elements in Limburgian culture are
* Music;
* Religion (predominantly Roman Catholic);
* Folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
(in especially the southern part of the province);
* Carnival
Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...
;
* Sports, of which especially bicycle racing
Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling s ...
and soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
are most popular;
* Art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
(architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
, among others).
Music
Choral singing is popular in Limburg. One of its best-known choruses is the Mastreechter Staar (Maastricht Star), which performs nationally and internationally.
Every four years the World Music Contest
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
, a competition for professional, amateur and military band sometimes called the Olympic Games of brass band music is held in Kerkrade.
In 2013 and 2009 the winner in the World Concert Division was the Koninklijke Harmonie Sainte Cécile, from Eijsden
Eijsden (; li, Èèsjde ) is a village situated in the very south of the European country the Netherlands. It is located in the southwestern part of the province of Limburg.
Until 1 January 2011, Eijsden was the main village in a municipality ...
(Limburg).
Also held in Kerkrade (situated on the German border) is the Schlagerfestival, a nationally broadcast event presenting singers of German-language pop music called Schlagers.
Since 1969 yearly on the Pentecost weekend an international pop music festival called Pinkpop Festival
The Pinkpop Festival is an annual music festival held at Landgraaf, Netherlands. It is usually held on the Pentecost weekend (''Pinksteren'' in Dutch, hence the name). If Pentecost falls on an early date in May, the festival is held later in June. ...
takes place in the southern part of Limburg; initially at Geleen, since 1988 at Schaesberg
Schaesberg ( li, D'r Sjeet ) is a neighbourhood of Landgraaf and former village in the Dutch province of Limburg.
History
The village was first mentioned in 16th century as Gaesberg. The etymology is unknown. Schaesberg developed in the 17th ce ...
.
More nationally or internationally known musicians from this province are mentioned hereunder in section "Famous Limburgians".
The Limburg Symphony Orchestra
The Limburgs Symfonie Orkest (English: Limburg Symphony Orchestra) was a Dutch orchestra based in Maastricht, Netherlands. The orchestra was resident at the ''Theater aan het Vrijthof'' in Maastricht since 1992, and also performed in opera producti ...
, that resided and rehearsed in Maastricht, and was the oldest symphony orchestra of the Netherlands (founded in 1883) following elimination of government grants merged with ''Het Brabants Orkest Het Brabants Orkest (literal translation, The Brabant Orchestra, also known as ''The Europa Orchestra'') was a Dutch symphony orchestra, based in the province of North Brabant. Its principal concert venue was the Muziekgebouw Frits Philips in Ein ...
'' to form a single ensemble with the new name of the ''philharmonie zuidnederland
* Berliner Philharmonie
* Kölner Philharmonie
* Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg
* Jenaer Philharmonie
* Philharmonie im Gasteig, Munich
* Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt
* Philharmonie de Paris
* Philharmonie Luxembourg
The Philharmonie Luxembourg, also k ...
'', as of April 2013.
Folklore
Many places in both Netherlands' and Belgian Limburg still have their own (by now folkloristic) schutterij
Schutterij () refers to a voluntary city guard or citizen militia in the medieval and early modern Netherlands, intended to protect the town or city from attack and act in case of revolt or fire. Their training grounds were often on open spaces w ...
. An annual festival is held in which all 160 of them compete for the highest honours to be gained, in the "OLS" (Oud Limburgs Schuttersfeest), which is held somewhere in either Belgian or Netherlands' Limburg.
Sports
Football
In Limburg there are currently four professional Football clubs; Roda JC Kerkrade
Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; Ripuarian: ), also known as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. ...
, VVV-Venlo
VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following ...
, MVV Maastricht
Maatschappelijke Voetbal Vereniging Maastricht (), commonly known as MVV Maastricht (, ) or simply as MVV, is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Maastricht. Founded on 2 April 1902, MVV Maastricht currently compete in the Eerst ...
and Fortuna Sittard
Fortuna Sittard (; li, Fortuna Zitterd ) is a football club in Sittard, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was established through a merger ...
. Fortuna Sittard competes in the highest Dutch division, the Eredivisie. The others compete in the second highest division.
Cycling
The annual bike classic Amstel Gold Race
The Amstel Gold Race is an annual one-day classic road cycling race held in the province of Limburg, Netherlands. It traditionally marks the turning point of the spring classics, with the climbers and stage racers replacing the cobbled classics r ...
is run in the southern part of Limburg. The area has also staged the UCI Road World Championships
The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and a mixed team relay.
Events
...
six times, once hosted by Heerlen
Heerlen (; li, Heële ) is a city and a municipality in the southeast of the Netherlands. It is the third largest settlement proper in the province of Limburg. Measured as municipality, it is the fourth municipality in the province of Limburg.
...
and five times by Valkenburg.
Handball
Team handball
Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...
is the third-most popular sport in Limburg. The women's team, HV Swift Roermond
Swift Roermond is a former Dutch handball club from Roermond. Its women's team was the most successful team in the Dutch Championship with 19 championships between 1963 and 1998, and it reached the European Cup's final in 1976. It remains the ...
, has won the national championship in the highest division 19 times. The male teams, Sittardia
HV Sittardia is a Dutch handball club in Sittard. The club was founded in 1949.
Sittardia is one of the most successful handball teams in Dutch handball history. They won the Dutch National Championship in 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1 ...
(Sittard), Vlug en Lenig (Geleen) and BFC (Beek
Beek (; li, Baek ) is a town and municipality in the southeastern Netherlands, in the province of Limburg. As of 2012, Beek has a population of about 16,400, of which about 8,800 live in the town of Beek.
The municipality of Beek makes part o ...
), which in 2008 merged as the ''Limburg Lions'', have in total won the national championship 25 times.
Religion
Famous Limburgians
Politics, science, religion
* Louis Beel
Louis Joseph Maria Beel (12 April 1902 – 11 February 1977) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Roman Catholic State Party (RKSP) and later co-founder of the Catholic People's Party (KVP) now the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and ju ...
(1902–1977) - Politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
* Jo Cals
Jozef Maria Laurens Theo "Jo" Cals (18 July 1914 – 30 December 1971) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) now the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherland ...
(1914–1971) - Politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
* Jacob Chimarrhaeus
Jacob Chimarrhaeus (1542–1614) was grand almoner to Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II.
Life
Chimarrhaeus was a native of Roermond in the duchy of Guelders who became a singer in the court chapel of Rudolph II and was promoted first to chaplain and ...
(1542–1614) - Grand almoner
* Jan van der Croon
Jan van der Croon (c. 1600 – 6 November 1665), also called ''Jan della Croon'', ''Johann de la Corona'', or ''von der Cron'', was a Dutch professional soldier and military commander in Spanish and Imperial service who reached the rank of lieutena ...
(c. 1600–1665) - Military commander
* Eduard Cuypers
Eduard Cuypers (18 April 1859 Roermond – 1 June 1927, The Hague) was a Dutch architect. He worked in Amsterdam and the Dutch East Indies.
Biography
Cuypers was trained in the architectural practice of his uncle Pierre Cuypers, the countr ...
(1859–1927) - Architect
* Pierre Cuypers
Petrus Josephus Hubertus "Pierre" Cuypers (16 May 1827 – 3 March 1921) was a Dutch architect. His name is most frequently associated with the Amsterdam Central Station (1881–1889) and the Rijksmuseum (1876–1885), both in Amsterdam. M ...
(1827–1921) - Architect (designer of a.o. Amsterdam Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...
)
* Peter 'Pie' Debye (1884–1966) - Physicist, Nobel prize winner
* Hub van Doorne
Hubert Jozef ("Hub") van Doorne (1 January 1900 – 23 May 1979) was the founder of Van Doorne's Aanhangwagenfabriek (Trailer factory) and of Van Doorne's Automobielfabriek (vehicle factory) known as DAF Trucks, DAF, together with his brother Wille ...
(1900–1979) - Founder of DAF
Daf ( fa, دف) also known as Dâyere and Riq is a Middle Eastern (mainly Iranian) frame drum musical instrument, used in popular and classical music in South and Central Asia. It is also used in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbe ...
* Eugène Dubois
Marie Eugène François Thomas Dubois (; 28 January 1858 – 16 December 1940) was a Dutch paleoanthropologist and geologist. He earned worldwide fame for his discovery of ''Pithecanthropus erectus'' (later redesignated ''Homo erectus''), or "Jav ...
(1858–1940) - Anatomist
* Camiel Eurlings
Camiel Martinus Petrus Stephanus Eurlings (; born 16 September 1973) is a Dutch politician and businessman. A member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), he served as Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management from 2007 to 201 ...
(1973) - Politician
* Saint Gerlach
Gerlach (Gerlache, Gerlac, Gerlachus van Houthem, Gerlac of Valkenberg) (d. c. 1170) was a 12th-century Dutch hermit. His cult is centered at Houthem near Valkenburg in the south of the province of Limburg.
Life
The ''Vita Beati Gerlaci Eremyt ...
(c. 1100–c. 1170) - Hermit, saint
* Gerard III (1185–1229) - Count of Guelders
* Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert
Jeanine Antoinette Hennis-Plasschaert (born 7 April 1973) is a Dutch politician and diplomat serving as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq since 1 November 2018. She is a member of t ...
(1973) - Politician and diplomat
* Godfrey Henschen
Godfrey Henschen (also ''Henskens'' or ''Godefridus Henschenius'' in Latin), 21 June 1601 – 11 September 1681, was a Jesuit hagiographer, one of the first Bollandists, from the Spanish Netherlands.
Life
Henschen was born at Venray, Limbur ...
(1601–1681) - Hagiographer
* Willem van Heythuysen
Willem van Heythuysen (1590s – 1650), was a Dutch cloth merchant and hofje founder in Haarlem and Weert. He is best known today for his portraits by Frans Hals, though he is remembered locally for his ''Hofje van Willem Heythuijsen'' borde ...
(1590s–1650) - Cloth merchant and hofje
{{inline refs needed, date=May 2012
A hofje (diminutive of 'hof', 'court') is a Dutch word for a courtyard with almshouses around it. Hofjes have existed since the Middle Ages.
A hofje provided housing for elderly people (mostly women). T ...
founder
* Cesar van Hoensbroeck (1724–1792) - Ecclesiastic, Prince-bishop of Liège
* Maria van der Hoeven
Maria Josephina Arnoldina van der Hoeven (born 13 September 1949) is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and nonprofit director.
Van der Hoeven attended a Lyceum in Maastricht from April 1966 until May 1969 ...
(1949) - Politician
* Auguste Kerckhoffs
Auguste Kerckhoffs (19 January 1835 – 9 August 1903) was a Dutch linguistics, linguist and cryptographer in the late 19th century.
Biography
Kerckhoffs was born in Nuth, the Netherlands, as Jean Guillaume Auguste Victor François Huber ...
(1835–1903) - Linguist and cryptographer
* Jan Gerard Kerkherdere
Jan Gerard Kerkherdere (7 November 1677 – 16 March 1738) was a Dutch Latinist. He was a Latin teacher at the Collegium Trilingue in Leuven, in the Spanish Netherlands (from 1713 known as the Austrian Netherlands). Kerkherdere provoked controversy ...
(1677–1738) - Latinist
* Lambert of Maastricht
Lambert of Maastricht, commonly referred to as Saint Lambert ( la, Lambertus; Middle Dutch: ''Sint-Lambrecht''; li, Lambaer, Baer, Bert(us); 636 – c. 705 AD) was the bishop of Maastricht-Liège (Tongeren) from about 670 until his death. Lam ...
(c. 1100–c. 1170) - Bishop, saint
* Annemarie Mol
Annemarie Mol (born 13 September 1958) is a Dutch ethnographer and philosopher. She is the Professor of Anthropology of the Body at the University of Amsterdam.
Winner of the Constantijn & Christiaan Huijgens Grant from the NWO in 1990 to study ...
(1943) - Ethnographer and philosopher
* Rene van der Linden (1943) - Politician
* Joep Lange
Joseph Marie Albert "Joep" Lange (; 25 September 1954 – 17 July 2014) was a Dutch clinical researcher specialising in HIV therapy. He served as the president of the International AIDS Society from 2002 to 2004. He was a passenger on Malaysia ...
(1954–2014) - Clinical researcher specializing in HIV therapy
* Pierre Lardinois
Pierre Joseph Lardinois (13 August 1924 – 16 July 1987) was a Dutch politician and diplomat of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and agronomist.
Lardinois applied at the Wa ...
(1924–1987) - Politician
* Gerd Leers
Gerardus Bernardus Maria "Gerd" Leers (born 12 July 1951) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party. He is the acting Mayor of Brunssum since 1 January 2018.
Biography Politics
On 4 September 1990 Leers became a Mem ...
(1951) - Politician, Minister of Immigration and Asylum
* Jan Pieter Minckeleers
Jean-Pierre or Jan Pieter Minckelers (also Minkelers, Minckeleers) (1748-1824) was a Dutch academic and inventor of coal gasification and illuminating gas.
Minckelers was the son of Anna Margaretha Denis en Laurens Michael Minckelers, a pharm ...
(1748–1824) - Physician, inventor
* Philip de Montmorency
Philip de Montmorency (ca. 1524 – 5 June 1568 in Brussels), also known as Count of Horn, ''Horne'', ''Hoorne'' or ''Hoorn'', was a victim of the Inquisition in the Spanish Netherlands.
Biography
De Montmorency was born as the eldest of four chi ...
(c. 1524–1568) - Victim of the Inquisition in the Spanish Netherlands
Spanish Netherlands (Spanish: Países Bajos Españoles; Dutch: Spaanse Nederlanden; French: Pays-Bas espagnols; German: Spanische Niederlande.) (historically in Spanish: ''Flandes'', the name "Flanders" was used as a ''pars pro toto'') was the Ha ...
* Charles of Mount Argus
Charles of Mount Argus (11 December 1821 – 5 January 1893), was a Dutch Passionist priest who served in 19th-century Ireland. He gained a reputation for his compassion for the sick and those in need of guidance. His reputation for healings ...
(1821–1893) - Priest, saint
* Johannes Murmellius
Johannes Murmellius (c. 1480 – 2 October 1517) was a Dutch teacher and humanist, known for numerous textbooks, and his spreading of humanism, particularly in the Prince-Bishopric of Münster.
Life
He was born in Roermond, and was a pupil of Alex ...
(c. 1480–1517) - Teacher and humanist
* Erycius Puteanus
Erycius Puteanus (4 November 1574 – 17 September 1646) was a humanist and philologist from the Low Countries.
Name
Erycius Puteanus is a latinization of his name, which was rendered in various ways, including Hendrick van den Putte (Put, Putt ...
(1574–1646) - Humanist
* Christian Quix
Christian Quix (8 October 1773, Hoensbroek – 13 January 1844, Aachen) was a Roman Catholic priest, heimatforscher (local historian) and from 1833 the director of the Stadtbibliothek Aachen, the city library of Aachen.
Life
The son of a typica ...
(1773–1844) - Priest, historian, director of the city library of Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...
* Richardis of Bavaria
Richardis of Bavaria (1173 – 7 December 1231) was a German noblewoman. She was a daughter of Count Palatine Otto I of Bavaria, who later became the first Wittelsbach ''Duke'' of Bavaria, and his wife Agnes of Loon.
Richardis married Otto ...
(1173–1231) - Abbess
* Ria Oomen-Ruijten
Ria Oomen-Ruijten (born 6 September 1950 in Echt, Limburg) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) who has been serving as a member of the Senate since 9 June 2015.
Oomen is a former Member of the European Parliament. As ...
(1950) - Politician and member of the European Parliament
* Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck
Charles Joseph Marie Ruijs de Beerenbrouck (1 December 1873 – 17 April 1936) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Roman Catholic State Party (RKSP), later formed to the Catholic People's Party (KVP) now merged into the Christian Democratic A ...
(1873–1936) - Politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
* Jolande Sap
Johanna Catharina Maria "Jolande" Sap (born 22 May 1963) is a former Dutch politician and former educator and civil servant. A member of GroenLinks (GL), she replaced Wijnand Duyvendak as a member of the House of Representatives on 3 September 2 ...
(1963) - Politician
* Frans Schraven
Frans Schraven (13 October 1873 – 9 October 1937) was a Dutch Catholic Bishop who served as a missionary in China. He died in Zhengding, Hebei, China while attempting to protect the local population during the Sino-Japanese war.
Early life
...
(1873–1937) - Bishop in China
* François Vincent Henri Antoine de Stuers
François Vincent Henri Antoine de Stuers (29 November 1792 – 29 December 1881) was a Dutch general, commander of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, Indies army.
Biography Napoleonic Wars and Java War
De Stuers grew up in 's-Heerenberg, bec ...
(1792–1881) - Dutch general and commander of the East Indies Army
* H. J. J. L. de Stuers (1788–1861) - Dutch general and commander of the East Indies Army
* Victor de Stuers
Victor Eugène Louis de Stuers (20 October 1843, Maastricht – 21 March 1916, The Hague) was a Dutch art historian, lawyer, civil servant and politician. Widely regarded as the father of historic preservation in the Netherlands, he played a notabl ...
(1843–1916) - Historian, lawyer, civil servant and politician
* Frans Timmermans
Frans is an Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish given name, sometimes as a short form of ''François''. One cognate of Frans in English is ''Francis''.
Given name
* Frans van Aarssens (1572–1641), Dutch diploma ...
(1961) - Politician, current First Vice President of the European Commission and former Minister of Foreign Affairs
* Yvonne Timmerman-Buck
Yvonne Elisabeth Marie Antoinette Timmerman-Buck (born 26 July 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist. She has been a Member of the Council of State since 1 November 2009.
Early life
Timmerman-Buck ...
(1956) - Politician, List of presidents of the Senate (Netherlands), President of the Senate of the Netherlands
* Jac. P. Thijsse (1865–1945) - Biologist, ecologist
* Johannes Herman Frederik Umbgrove (1899–1954) - Geologist and earth scientist
* Maxime Verhagen (1956) - Politician, former Minister of Economic Affairs
* Waleran III, Duke of Limburg, Waleran III (c. 1165–1226) - Count of Arlon and Duke of Limburg
* Frans de Wever (1869–1940) - General practicioner
* Geert Wilders (1963) - Politician
Entertainment, arts
* Jean-Eugène-Charles Alberti (1777–c. 1850) - Painter
* Willem Victor Bartholomeus (1825–1892) - Organist and conductor
* Jan van Cleve (III), Jan van Cleve (1646–1716) - Painter
* Jean-Baptiste Coclers (1696–1772) - Painter
* Louis Bernard Coclers (1740–1817) - Painter
* Jo Coenen (1949) - Architect and urban planner
* Gerrit Gerritsz Cuyp (c. 1565–1644) - Glazier and painter
* Mike van Diem (1959) - Film director
* Rineke Dijkstra (1959) - Photographer
* Carach Angren - Band
* Jan Frans van Douven (1656–1727) - Painter
* Epica (band), Epica - Band
* Hendrick Fromantiou (1633–1693) - Painter
* Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617) - Painter and printmaker
* Marleen Gorris (1948) - Film director
* Koen Heldens (1986) - Mixing engineer
* Wilhelm of Herle (fl. 1370) - Painter
* Toon Hermans (1916–2000) - Comedian, singer and writer
* Jan Baptist Herregouts (c. 1640–1721) - Painter
* Francine Houben (1955) - Architect
* Chantal Janzen (1979) - Actress
* Pierre Kemp (1886–1967) - Poet and painter
* Mathieu Kessels (1784–1836) - Sculptor
* Limbourg brothers (fl. 1385 – 1416) - Miniature painters
* Henk van der Linden (filmmaker), Henk van der Linden (1925–2021) - Film director
* Marjon Lambriks (1949) - Soprano singer
* Henri Linssen (1805–1869) - Painter
* Pierre Lyonnet (1706–1789) - Artist, engraver and illustrator
* David de Meyne (c. 1569–1620) - Painter
* Hadewych Minis (1959) - Actress, Golden Calf for Best Actress winner
* Connie Palmen (1955) - Writer
* Frits Peutz (1896–1974) - Architect
* Guido Pieters (1948) - Film director
* Pussycat (Dutch band), Pussycat - Band
* Christoffel Puytlinck (1640–c. 1679) - Painter
* Louis Raemaekers (1869–1956) - Painter and editorial cartoonist
* André Rieu (1949) - Musician, bandleader
* Frank Scheffer (1956) - Documentary film producer
* Heintje Simons (1955) - Singer and actor
* Simone Simons (1985) - Singer
* Huub Stapel (1954) - Actor
* Jan van Steffeswert (c. 1460–c. 1531) - Sculptor
* Johann Friedrich August Tischbein (1750–1812) - Painter
* Lotte Verbeek (1982) - Actress
* Jacques Verheyen (1911–1989) - Glazier and painter
* Carel de Vogelaer (1653–1695) - Painter
* Hubert Vos (1855–1935) - Painter
* Jeroen Willems (1962–2012) - Actor, Golden Calf (award), Golden Calf and Louis d'Or (award), Louis d'Or winner
Sports
* Gerard Bergholtz (1939) - Football player
* Eddy Beugels (1944–2018) - Cyclist
* Rens Blom (1977) - Athlete
* Mark van Bommel (1977) - Football player
* Jo Bonfrère (1946) - Football player and coach
* Antonius Bouwens (1876–1963) - Sport shooter
* Bart Brentjens (1968) - Cyclist
* Willy Brokamp (1946) - Football player
* Roel Brouwers (1981) - Football player
* Jeu van Bun (1918–2002) - Football player
* Bart Carlier (1929–2017) - Football player
* Wiel Coerver (1924–2011) - Football manager
* Annemarie Cox (Anna Wood) (1966) - Canoer
* Annemiek Derckx (1954) - Sprint canoer
* Willy Dullens (1945) - Football player
* Tom Dumoulin (1990) - Cyclist
* Mark Flekken (1993) - Football player
* Mia Gommers (1939) - Athlete
* Jorrit Hendrix (1995) - Football player
* Max van Heeswijk (1973) - Cyclist
* Wim Hof (1959) - Extreme athlete and motivational speaker
* Kevin Hofland (1979) - Football player
* Pieter van den Hoogenband (1978) - Swimmer
* Leo Horn (1916–1995) - Football referee
* Dominique Janssen (1995) - Football player
* Sjefke Janssen (1919–2014) - Cyclist
* Pierre Kerkhoffs (1936–2021) - Football player
* Jan Klaassens (1931–1983) - Football player
* Coy Koopal (1932–2003) - Football player
* Jan Krekels (1947) - Cyclist
* Jan Lambrichs (1915–1990) - Cyclist
* Vanity Lewerissa (1991) - Football player
* Marie-Louise Linssen-Vaessen - Freestyle swimmer
* René Lotz (1938) - Cyclist
* Eric van der Luer (1965) - Football player
* Jo Maas (1954) - Cyclist
* Dirk Marcellis (1988) - Football player
* Lieke Martens (1992) - Football player
* Pierre Massy (1900–1958) - Football player
* Erik Meijer (footballer), Erik Meijer (1969) - Football player
* Manoe Meulen (1978) - Football player
* Danny Nelissen (1970) - Cyclist
* Jean Nelissen (1936–2010) - Sports journalist
* Jan Nolten (1930–2014) - Cyclist
* Jan Notermans (1933) - Football player
* Joep Packbiers (1875–1957) - Archer
* Maartje Paumen (1985) - Hockey player
* Wout Poels (1987) - Cyclist
* Fernando Ricksen (1976–2019) - Football player
* Gonnelien Rothenberger (1969) - Equestrian
* Sjeng Schalken (1976) - Tennis player
* Lisa Scheenaard (1988) - Rower
* Perr Schuurs (1999) - Football player
* Kay Smits (1997) - Handball player
* Jeu Sprengers (1938–2008) - KNVB football chairman
* Huub Stevens (1953) - Football player and coach
* Karin Stevens (1989) - Football player
* Wilbert Suvrijn (1962) - Football player
* Arjen Teeuwissen (1971) - Equestrian
* Stan Valckx (1963) - Football player
* Arnold Vanderlyde (1963) - Boxer
* Mark Veens (1978) - Freestyle swimmer
* Lambert Verdonk (1944) - Football player
* Sef Vergoossen (1947) - Football manager
* Joeri Verlinden (1988) - Swimmer
* Pierre Vermeulen (1956) - Football player
* Jos Verstappen (1972) - Racing driver
* Ronald Waterreus (1970) - Football player
* Steve Wijler (1996) - Archer
* Ad Wijnands (1959) - Cyclist
* Lynn Wilms (2000) - Football player
* Peter Winnen (1957) - Cyclist
* Fons van Wissen (1933–2015) - Football player
* Boudewijn Zenden (1976) - Football player
(''List of famous Belgian Limburgians: Limburg (Belgium)#Notable Limburgians, Famous Limburgians (Belgium)'')
Nature
In 2012, from April 5 to October 7, the ten-yearly world horticulture expo "Floriade (Netherlands), Floriade" was held in Venlo.
Nationally and internationally known are nature films and nature television series produced by filmdirector Maurice Nijsten and nature protector Jo Erkens.
Eijsden-Grenspaal 47 (NL).JPG, At Eijsden
Eijsden (; li, Èèsjde ) is a village situated in the very south of the European country the Netherlands. It is located in the southwestern part of the province of Limburg.
Until 1 January 2011, Eijsden was the main village in a municipality ...
the river Meuse
The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) 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 t ...
enters this province as well as the country
Ravensbosjsjtraobaekwkped07.JPG, Path in Southern Limburgian Ravensbos
Gulp-Slenaken.jpg, River Gulp (river), Gulp near Slenaken
Mookerheide near Molenhoek.jpg, Site at the Mook en Middelaar, Mooker heath in Northern Limburg
View from the Schneeberg in Germany to Oud-Lemiers in the Netherlands.jpg, Oud-Lemiers near Vaals
Vaals (; Ripuarian: ) is a town in the extreme southeastern part of the Dutch province of Limburg, which is in the southeastern part of the Netherlands.
The municipality covers an area of in the foothills of the Ardennes–Eifelrange a ...
, as seen from the Schneeberg in Germany
Brunssummerheideoverview2.jpg, Brunssum
Brunssum (; li, Broensem) is a municipality and a town in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands. The municipality of Brunssum has residents as of .
Brunssum was a center of coal mining until 1973.
Population centres
Topography
Histor ...
mer heath in South Eastern Limburg
See also
* Buckriders
* Campine (De Kempen)
* Peel, Netherlands, Peel (De Peel)
* Salient (geography), Salient
References
External links
Province of Limburg
(in Dutch and English)
Limburg Tourist Information
(in English)
{{Authority control
Limburg (Netherlands),
Limburg (region), *
Coal mining regions in the Netherlands
NUTS 2 statistical regions of the European Union
Provinces of the Netherlands
Regions of Europe with multiple official languages