Limburg was one of the provinces of the

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 ...

and later

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 ...

. The province existed for the duration of the United Kingdom, from 1815 to 1830, and for the first years after Belgian independence, from 1830 to 1839. When 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 10 ...

signed the Treaty of London in 1839, the province was split into a

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 languag ...

part and a Dutch part, the latter being a new

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 exclave of the neighbourin ...

Geography

The territory of Limburg was the same as the combined territories of the present Dutch and Belgian provinces, with the exception of

Voeren Voeren (; ) is a Flemish Dutch-speaking municipality with facilities for the French-speaking minority, located in the Belgian province of Limburg. Bordering the Netherlands to the north and the Wallonia region's Liège Province () to the sou ...

, which was a part of

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 ...

at the time. Its capital was

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 ...

. For legal matters, the province was subdivided into the

arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements ...

s of

, Hasselt and

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. Ro ...

Demographics

In 1830, some 338,000 people lived in this province and in 1846, about 186,000 people were counted in the new, smaller province of Belgian Limburg. Their main religion was, and still is, Roman Catholicism.

History

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 Legislativ ...

, the great powers,

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

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 ...

, 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 regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, created a new United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815. A new province was formed from the former French Empire département of

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- ...

, excluding

Niederkrüchten Niederkrüchten is a municipality in the district of Viersen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated approximately 15 km east of Roermond and 15 km west of Mönchengladbach. Elmpt The formerly separate settlement of Elmp ...

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 alon ...

which were assigned to Prussia, and was to receive the name "

", after its capital. The first king,

, who did not want the name of the former

to be lost, insisted that the name be changed to "Limburg". As such, the name of the new province derived from the old duchy that had existed until 1795 within the triangle of Maastricht, Liège, and Aachen.

Dissolution

At the start of the Belgian Revolution of 1830, General Daine, the commander of the provincial armed forces of Limburg, situated in Maastricht, chose the side of the Belgian rebels. He left the city on 7 November 1830. He arrived at

on 9 November and at Venlo on 11 November. Both cities welcomed him with open arms and sided with the rebellion. However, Maastricht was back under control by loyalist forces under the command of Colonel Dibbets. Although most of the province, including the fortress city of Venlo, at the time Belgium's northernmost fortress, was under Belgian control following Belgium's ''de facto'' independence after French intervention, the city of Maastricht remained in Dutch hands. In 1839, King William I recognised the independence of Belgium by signing the Treaty of London. Under the terms of the treaty, the Belgians had to relinquish the eastern part of Limburg to the

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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Limburg, Province of, (1815–1839) Province 1815-1839 United Kingdom of the Netherlands Former polities in the Netherlands Province of Limburg (1815-1839) Belgian Revolution States and territories established in 1815 States and territories disestablished in 1839 1815 establishments in the Netherlands 1839 disestablishments in Europe 1810s in the Southern Netherlands 1820s in the Southern Netherlands 1830s in the Southern Netherlands