Low Countries

The Low Countries is a coastal lowland area in Northwestern Europe. It is the lower part of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and today includes three countries called the Benelux: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Sometimes parts of France and some German areas are also included.

Since the time of the Holy Roman Empire, this area has had many different governments. Even areas far from the sea connected with coastal regions for trade and growth, forming groups that reached into parts of the German Rhineland.

During the time of the Roman Empire, the Low Countries was a border area and a place where people met. Later, in the 12th century, the region became an important place for trade. It was crowded with people and was very important, just like northern Italy. Cities were run by groups called guilds and councils. Trade, making things, and letting people and goods move freely were key to their economies. Dutch and French were the languages people used in daily life.

Terminology

Main article: Terminology of the Low Countries

The term Low Countries began a long time ago at the court of the Dukes of Burgundy. They called these lands "the lands over here" to tell them apart from their other lands far away. Over time, the name changed to Low Countries. Today, this term usually means the modern countries of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, which are often called the Benelux countries.

The name Netherlands also means "low lands." In Dutch, the modern name for the Low Countries is De Lage Landen. Belgium became its own country in 1830 and chose the name Belgium based on an old Latin name for the region. The Low Countries were once divided during a long war, which helped shape the countries we know today. Sometimes, sports events between Belgium and the Netherlands are called a Low Countries derby.

History

See also: History of urban centers in the Low Countries

The Low Countries have a long history. They started as part of the Carolingian Empire, in the area called Lower Lotharingia. Later, they were ruled by the Valois Dukes of Burgundy and were known as the Burgundian Netherlands. After that, the House of Habsburg controlled the land, calling it the Habsburg Netherlands or the Seventeen Provinces.

Eventually, the area split into different parts. The north became the Dutch Republic, while the south stayed under Spanish rule as the Spanish Netherlands. In 1815, the Low Countries were briefly united again as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Later, they divided into the modern countries of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg.

Literature

One of the earliest writers from the Low Countries was a blind poet named Bernlef. He lived around the year 800. He sang songs about psalms and older stories from before Christianity. This shows how people mixed these beliefs.

The first written examples of literature from this area are the Wachtendonck Psalms. These are 25 psalms made around the middle of the 9th century in a place called Moselle-Frankish.