Concept
Low Countries
Overview
The Low Countries is a historical and geographically coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Benelux" countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Also sometimes included are parts of France (such as Nord and Pas-de-Calais) and the German regions of East Frisia, Guelders and Cleves. Since the creation of the Holy Roman Empire, the region has been divided into numerous different entities.
Historically, the regions without access to the sea linked themselves politically and economically to those with access to form various unions of ports and hinterland, stretching inland as far as parts of the German Rhineland. Not only physically-low-altitude areas but also some hilly or elevated regions are now therefore considered part of the Low Countries, including Luxembourg and southern Belgium. Within the European Union, the region's political grouping is still referred to as the Benelux (short for Belgium-Netherlands-Luxembourg).
During the Roman Empire, the region contained a militarised frontier and contact point with the Germanic tribes. The Low Countries were the scene of the early independent trading centres that marked the reawakening of Europe in the 12th century. In that period, they rivalled northern Italy as one of the most densely populated regions of Western Europe. Guilds and councils governed most of the cities along with a figurehead ruler; interaction with their ruler was regulated by a strict set of rules describing what the latter could and could not expect. All of the regions depended mainly on trade, manufacturing and the encouragement of the free flow of goods and craftsmen. Dutch and French dialects were the main languages used in secular city life.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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These are Alsace, the three bishoprics of Mentz, Toul, and Verdun, and the three cities of Dunkirk, Bayonne, and Marseilles. Both in the provinces of the five great farms (called so on account of an ancient division of the duties of customs into five great branches, each of which was originally the subject of a particular farm, though they are now all united into one), and in those which are said to be reckoned…
Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
States what Low Countries is.
The Welsh, though a less formidable enemy than the Danes, had long been accustomed to infest the western borders; and after committing spoil on the low countries, they usually made a hasty retreat into their mountains, where they were sheltered from the pursuit of their enemies, and were ready to seize the first favourable opportunity of renewing their depredations. Griffith, the reigning prince, had greatly…
David Hume, The History of England, Volume I
Opens on Low Countries; names Low Countries.
But this class again sub-divided itself into different fractions. There were, firstly, the more wealthy farmers, what is called in Germany _Gross_ and _Mittel-Bauern_, proprietors of more or less extensive farms, and each of them commanding the services of several agricultural laborers. This class, placed between the large untaxed feudal landowners, and the smaller peasantry and farm laborers, for obvious reasons…
Friedrich Engels, Revolution and Counter-Revolution
States what Low Countries is.
Philosophers who discussed Low Countries
Related ideas
- French language
- Germany
- Ghent
- House of Habsburg
- Spanish Netherlands
- Northern Europe
- East Francia
- Columbia University Press
- Dutch language
- Heresy
- Netherlands
- Roman Empire
- Rhine
- Austria
- Adolf Hitler
- Francia
- Renaissance of the 12th century
- World War II
- Belgium
- World War I
- Christianity
- Dutch Republic
- Charlemagne
- France
Opposing perspectives
Place in the tradition
Part of Dutch philosophy.