This geographical expression originally desig nated the whole Northern German lowland. In the later Middle Ages, the “Netherlands” and “Belgium” were designated as the “laghe lan den bi der see,” the low countries near the sea. During the 16th cen tury, the 17 counties and duchies of the Netherlands were united un der Habsburg rule. During the Revolt, these were split into a northern group, the independent Republic of the Seven United Provinces, and a southern group, known as the Spanish (later Aus trian) Netherlands, which was occupied by the French in 1794. As a consequence of the Congress of Vienna (1814–1815), the southern part was united with the Kingdom of the (former northern) Nether lands. This union was disrupted in the 1830s as a consequence of the Belgian Revolt, after which the independent state of Belgium was in ternationally recognized.
See also BENELUX.
Historical Dictionary of the Netherlands. EdwART. 2012.