For a long time the region of the Emsland was extremely sparsely populated, due to the fens on both sides of the river.

It came under rule of Prussia and Arenberg, but after the Napoleonic Wars the Congress of Vienna decided to hand the territory over to the Kingdom of Hanover.

A memorial of these camps, the Dokumentations- und Informationszentrum (DIZ) Emslandlager, is located at Papenburg.

This was accomplished by draining the fens and establishing projects like the test track of the maglev "Transrapid" and several large shipyards such as the Meyer-Werft in Papenburg.

The Emsland remains a very Roman Catholic region compared to other parts of Lower Saxony.