Provinces of the Netherlands

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 40. Chapters: Coats of arms of provinces of the Netherlands, Drenthe, Flags of provinces of the Netherlands, Flevoland, Friesland, Gelderland, Groningen (province), ISO 3166-2:NL, Limburg (Netherlands), Lordship of Frisia, Lordship of Groningen, Lordship of Overijssel, Lordship of Utrecht, North Brabant, North Holland, Provincial politics in the Netherlands, Ranked list of Dutch provinces, South Holland, Utrecht (province), Zeeland. Excerpt: Limburg (Dutch pronunciation: ( listen), Dutch and Limburgish: (Nederlands-)Limburg) is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is located in the southeastern part of the country and is bordered by the Dutch provinces of Gelderland to the north and North Brabant to the north and northwest, Germany (state of Northrhine-Westphalia) to the east and Belgium (the Dutch-speaking province of Limburg) and French-speaking province of Liège to the south and part of the west. Its capital is Maastricht. Limburg has a highly distinct character. The social and economic trends which affected the province in recent decades generated a process of change and renewal which has enabled Limburg to transform its national peripheral location into a highly globalized regional nexus, linking the Netherlands to the Ruhr metro area and the southern part of the Benelux region. A less appreciated consequence of this international gateway location is rising international crime, often drugs-related, especially in the southernmost part of the province. Limburg's name derives from the fortified castle town known as Limbourg, situated on the river Vesdre near the High Fens, currently in the Belgian province of Liège. It was the seat of the medieval Duchy of Limburg which extended into the Meuse region north of the city of Liège. However, most the area of the current Dutch Limburg was not part of this polity but was divided among several states including the Duchy of Brabant, the Duchy of Jülich, the Duchy of Guelders, and the Bishopric of Liège, as well as the Duchy of Limburg. A result of this division is still evident in the plethora of distinct varieties of the Limburgish language spoken in Limburg municipalities. For centuries, the strategic location of the current province made it a much-coveted region among Europe's major powers. Romans, Habsburg Spaniards, Prussians, Habsburg Austrians and French have all ruled Limburg. The first inhabitants for whom traces have been f