Low Countries
historical coastal landscape in north western Europe / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the region in Western Europe. For the economic union, see Benelux.
The Low Countries is a term used to refer to a geographical region, especially during the Middle Ages. This region is around the deltas of the Rhine, the Scheldt and the Meuse (Maas). Today, the Low Countries consists of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the parts of Lower-Saxony (in Germany) that are in the region. Sometimes, the French Netherlands (Nord-Pas-de-Calais) are included as well.
The Dutch name of the Netherlands is Nederland, which literally means low country. The region was usually referred to as de Nederlanden.