The land mostly consists of grasslands and some forests (including Sallandse Heuvelrug National Park); it also borders a small part of the IJsselmeer to the west.

The northern parts were once covered by veen (bogs) which separated the dryer and more arable south from Drenthe and which have been exploited as fuel to a large degree.

Only small patches survive today (Engbertsdijksvenen near Geesteren, Witteveen (near Haaksbergen), and the Aamsveen (near Enschede).

The extreme northwest is dominated by a system of lakes formed by former peat-mining and protected under the De Weerribben-Wieden National Park status, which is a valuable wetland.

The highest point in Overijssel is the summit of the Tankenberg, a hill in the municipality of Losser, at 85 metres (278 ft).

Important rivers : IJssel, Zwarte Water, Overijsselse Vecht, Dinkel, Regge and Reest.

Overijssel became governed by the most powerful mayors and lords in the province, including by the lieutenant-governor Nicolaas Schmelzing (1561–1629).

After a brief occupation by the forces of the Bishop of Münster (1672–74), Overijssel received a new form of government which granted the stadtholders more power.

Widespread resistance against the increased power throughout the provinces eventually led to the formation of the Batavian Republic in 1795.

A centralist government arose and the Netherlands was organised into a series of départements, based on those used by revolutionary France.

An amendment to the Provinces Act resulted in the total number of States members in the Netherlands being reduced from 764 to the current 564.

In 2015, 26.1% of the population belonged to the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, while 23.3% were Roman Catholic, 2.9% were Muslim, and 5.6% adhered to other faiths.

The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 43.2 billion € in 2018, accounting for 5.6% of the Netherlands economic output.

The Twente district in the southeast, where cotton spinning, weaving, and bleaching came into prominence in the 19th century, is one of the principal centres of the Dutch textile industry.