Meierij van 's-Hertogenbosch

Those areas, which in old times[vague] were not densely populated, consisted of enormous heaths and marshlands, interrupted by woods and fenlands.

In the first part of the 19th century the rivers Aa and Dommel were cultivated but nowadays they have gone back to their old run for the purpose of nature development.

Legal re-division of land forms a major threat for the cultural and historical aspects of landscape at the moment.

Like the southern Dutch states of Flanders and Hainaut, the Duchy Brabant-Limburg had chosen the side of the Catholic Habsburg monarchs of Spain.

Due to high taxes and oppression the bailiwick could not restore its old glory and became an intensely poor area without any importance.

After the French war of 1795 and the proclamation of the Batavian Republic, the Meierij disappeared as a political unity and went up into Brabant.

The population is considered to have a “Burgundian character” by the other Dutch, meaning that they are supposed to be companiable people who like to party exuberantly.

Around 1900 the area got an enormous growth of population when a combination of reviving Catholicism and economic recovery caused high birthrates.