History of Limburg

The name Limburg originates from the small town Limbourg. It was a duchy south of current Dutch-Limburg, and partly in what is now the Pays d’Herve, in the Belgian province Liège.

In 1814, after the liberation of what is now Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands (Old collective name: the Lowlands, or Low Countries; now the Benelux), the area united as one country, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. When the Catholic, French Belgians split away from the mainly Calvinist, Dutch Netherlands in 1830, the province of Limburg was first under Belgian rule. In 1839 Limburg was split in two, as Dutch-Limburg and Belgian-Limburg. The Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg was also created by the split, as it was no longer contiguous to The Netherlands.

Thus, currently, Limburg’s namegiver Limbourg is no longer located in the Dutch province of Limburg itself, but in the Belgium province of Liège. Most regions of the current provinces of “Limburg” do not have a historical connection to the old Duchy of Limburg.