Southern Netherlands

Austrian Netherlands in 1789

Southern Netherlands ( Netherlands. Zuidelijke Nederlanden , French: Pays-Bas méridionaux or Pays-Bas du Sud ) - the southern part of the historical Netherlands , which from the 16th century to 1700 was under the rule of the Spanish Habsburgs ( Spanish Netherlands ), from 1713 to 1794 - ruled by the Austrian Habsburgs ( Austrian Netherlands ).

The term appeared in 1581, when the commander Alessandro Farnese managed to save the southern (mainly Catholic ) provinces of the Netherlands for the Spanish crown, who rebelled against King Philip II during the Netherlands Revolution , while the Protestant northern provinces stood out in the Republic of the United Provinces.

The capital of the Southern Netherlands was Brussels . The following lands were included in the Austrian Netherlands:

• the county of Artois with the city of Cambrai (under the Nimwegen Peace Treaty of 1678, torn away from the Netherlands in favor of France , now the North - Pas de Calais region );
• County of Flanders with the city of Tournai ;
• Duchy of Luxembourg ;
• Duchy of Limburg ;
• county of Gennegau (Hainaut) ;
• county of Namur ;
• County Mechelen ;
• Duchy of Brabant ;
• a quarter of the duchy of Gelderland .

After the suppression of the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs and the War of the Spanish Succession, the southern provinces of the Utrecht Peace of 1713 passed under the control of the Holy Roman Emperor . The local population was dissatisfied with this turn and in 1789-1790 rebelled against Austrian officials , as a result of which in January 1790 the Belgian United States were created, which existed until December of that year. During the revolutionary wars in 1794, the South Netherlands was annexed to France, divided into nine departments and remained in this position until 1815.

The Vienna Congress of 1815 finally united the South Netherlands with the North (as well as the bishopric of Liege ) into a single kingdom of the Netherlands , however, after 15 years, the Catholic majority of the former Spanish and Austrian provinces regained political independence, having separated into the Kingdom of Belgium . In addition to Belgium, in the territory of the South Netherlands there is now another political entity - the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg .