The Low Countries is the coastal region of north western Europe, consisting of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers where much of the land is at or below sea level. Historically, due to the lack of clear geographical boundaries except for the North Sea in the west, 'low countries' implied all land downstream the big rivers including parts of modern day northern France and western Germany, but after the economical and political emergence of the Flemish and Dutch fiefdoms in the 15th and 16th century, the term became synonymous with the seceding Northern Netherlands into the Dutch Republic, and the remaining Southern Netherlands, nowadays Belgium and Luxembourg. The term is particularly appropriate to the era of the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Europe when strong centrally governed nations were slowly forming and territorial governance was in the hands of a noble or of a noble house. But today the term is still frequently used to signify Belgium and the Netherlands as a whole, especially in a cultural and non-political context. Historically, after the Roman denomination of it as Gallia Belgica, the region politically had its origins in Middle Francia, more precisely its northern part which became the Duchy of Lower Lotharingia. After the disintegration of Lower Lotharingia, the Low Countries were brought under the rule of various stronger neighbors. Their possessions can be renamed into the Burgundian Netherlands and the succeeding Habsburg Netherlands, also called the United Seventeen Provinces, and later for the Southern parts as the Spanish Netherlands and Austrian Netherlands, whereas the northern parts formed the autonomous Dutch Republic. At times they reached a form of unity as the United Seventeen Provinces in the 16th Century, and later the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in the 19th Century. The name of the Netherlands itself, along with French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish names for the Netherlands, les Pays-Bas, i Paesi Bassi, Países Baixos and los Países Bajos, is based on this historical context. Wikipedia [ - ]

The Low Countries is the coastal region of north western Europe, consisting of Belgium, the... [ + ]