Limburg (Netherlands)

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Province of the Netherlands
Flag of Limburg
Coat of arms of Limburg
Coat of arms
Anthem: "Limburg mijn Vaderland"
"Limburg My Fatherland"
Location of Limburg in the Netherlands
Location of Limburg in the Netherlands
Country Netherlands
Inclusion 1839
Capital Maastricht
Largest city Maastricht
 • Governor[1] Theo Bovens (CDA)
 • Land 2,153 km2 (831 sq mi)
 • Water 56 km2 (22 sq mi)
Area rank 9th nationally
Population (2006)
 • Land 1,131,938
 • Rank 6th nationally
 • Density 530/km2 (1,400/sq mi)
 • Density rank 4th nationally
ISO 3166 code NL-LI
Religion (2003) Roman Catholic 78%
Protestant 2%
Others 5%
Irreligion 15%

Limburg (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈlɪmbʏrx]; Dutch and Limburgish: (Nederlands-)Limburg; French: Limbourg) is the southernmost of the 12 provinces of the Netherlands. It is in the southeastern part of the country, stretched out from the north, where it touches the province of Gelderland, to the south, where it borders the Walloon province of Liège. Its long eastern boundary is the international border with the German state of Northrhine-Westphalia, while on the west the southern part borders the Flemish province of Limburg, with much this border running along the River Maas, and its northern part has North Brabant to its west.

Limburg's major cities are the provincial capital Maastricht and Heerlen in the south, Roermond in the middle, and Venlo in the middle-north, all upon the Meuse river. In South Limburg, there are also urban agglomerations at Sittard-Geleen and Parkstad Limburg, which includes the city of Heerlen.




The Duchy of Limburg also came under Brabantine control in 1288 after the Battle of Worringen, and the holdings of Brabant evolved into the Burgundian Netherlands. By 1473, the lands of Overmaas and the Duchy of Limburg formed one unified delegation to the States General of this polity, and are considered from that point on to be one loosely defined province. Hence both the terms "Overmaas" and "Limburg" came to be used loosely to refer to this one political province of the so-called Seventeen Provinces. The connection to Limburg was recalled in the 19th century when the new United Kingdom of the Netherlands desired a new name for the province after the defeat of Napoleon. The French empire had reformed the region, along with Belgian Limburg. (As with many regions, the French chose a name based upon natural features, in this case Meuse-Infériore (the lower Maas river), trying to remove all links to the old medieval based aristocracy, or "ancien regime", from the names of its "départements".)

Square near the Munster church in the Middle Limburgian town of Roermond


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 parts of Limburg. For long periods of history the region was not united under the same rule.


Map showing the medieval "lands of Overmaas" and the Duchy of Limburg, both in the Middle Ages possessed by the Dukes of Brabant. Together these two counties formed one province in the Seventeen Provinces. (The dark lines are the modern borders).



The modern boundaries of Dutch Limburg, along with its neighbour, Belgian Limburg, were basically set during the period after the French revolution, which erased much of the "ancien regime" of Europe, with all its old boundaries and titles. These two provinces were part of a new French département, named (like many départments) after the river running through it, "Meuse-Inférieure", meaning simply "lower Maas".






According to the research of Herman van Rens, the residents of Limburg were especially active in hiding local and refugee Jews during the Holocaust, 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.[2]



Limburg mijn Vaderland (Limburg my Fatherland) is the official anthem of both Belgian and Dutch Limburg.



Limburgish is spoken by an estimated 1.6 million people in Dutch Limburg, Belgian Limburg, and Germany.[citation needed] There are many different dialects of Limburgish; almost every town and village has its own. A lot of isoglosses cross through Limburg. There is not one dialect that fully represents Limburgish. Dialects in the north, nearby Venray and Gennep, are classified as South Guelderish and are closely connected to the dialects in the northeast of Brabant (Land van Cuijk) and the region of Nijmegen. Dialects in the southeast (near Aachen) are closer to Ripuarian and are sometimes classified as Southeast Limburgish. Dialects in the southwestern part of Limburg, surrounding Weert, are influenced by the neighbouring dialects of southeast Brabant, which means that the tone is more Brabantic than in the rest of Limburg.


The provincial council (States-Provincial - Provinciale Staten) has 47 seats, and is headed by a King's Commissioner (Commissaris van de Koning) that is uniquely among Dutch provinces called the Governor. While the provincial council is elected by the inhabitants, the Governor is appointed by the King and the cabinet of the Netherlands. Since 2011 the Governor has been Theo Bovens (CDA).

Since the 2011 elections the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) was the largest party in the council, although the Party for Freedom (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 (SP) (8 seats).

The province's daily affairs are taken care of by the Provincial-Executive (Gedeputeerde Staten), which are also headed by the Governor; its members (gedeputeerden) can be compared with ministers.


Results of the elections for the States-Provincial:

Parties 2007 2011 2015
CDA 18 10 11
PVV - 10 9
SP 9 6 8
VVD 7 8 5
D66 1 2 4
PvdA 8 6 4
GreenLeft 2 3 2
50PLUS - 2 1
Party for the Animals 1 0 1
People's Party Limburg - - 1
Local-Limburg - - 1
Party New Limburg 1 0 -
other parties 0 0 0
Total 47 47 47


The Provincial-Executive 2015-2019 consists of the following parties: CDA, SP, VVD, D66 and PvdA.








The province of Limburg has 33 municipalities.





Blooming fruit trees, a tourist attraction in the Southern part of Limburg








Gronsveld castle
Eijsden town hall
Typical half-timbered houses

Essential elements in Limburgian culture are

  • Music (most places have their own wind band);
  • Religion (predominantly Roman Catholic);
  • Carnival;
  • Art (architecture, among others).












In Limburg there are currently four professional Football clubs; Roda JC Kerkrade, VVV-Venlo, MVV Maastricht and Fortuna Sittard. Roda JC Kerkrade competes in the highest Dutch division, the Eredivisie. The others compete in the second highest division.


The annual bike classic Amstel Gold Race is run in the southern part of Limburg. The area has also staged the UCI Road World Championships six times, once hosted by Heerlen and five times by Valkenburg.



Famous Limburgians

Politics, science, other

Entertainment, arts




In 2012, from April 5 till October 7 the ten yearly world horticulture expo "Floriade" was held in Venlo.


Path in Southern Limburgian Ravensbos
River Gulp near Slenaken
Site at the Mooker heath in Northern Limburg
Brunssummer heath in South Eastern Limburg

See also


  1. Limburg is the only province in the Netherlands that calls the King's Commissioner a Governor.
  2. Cnaan Lipshiz (May 19, 2014). "For Some Dutch Jews, Limburg Province Was Refuge in Storm of Holocaust". The Forward.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  3. Results WMC 2013
  4. "Gefuseerd orkest verder als philharmonie zuidnederland". Trouw. 2013-04-04. Retrieved 2013-04-09.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>

External links