North Brabant

(Local Name: Noord-Brabant) Provincial capital: 's-Hertogenbosch

Area: 508,346 hectares/1,255,615 acres

(land area 494,416 hectares/1,221,208

acres)

Noord-Brabant, the second largest of the Dutch provinces, takes in the whole of the southern part of the sandy heathland region of the Netherlands with the exception of a narrow strip in the east which belongs to Limburg. It is bounded on the north and east by the Maas, on the west by the Schelde fenlands in Zeeland and on the south by Belgium. As in Limburg, the population is mainly Roman Catholic, with a growth of 30 per cent between 1960 and 1977, compared with a national average of 20 per cent. The southern heathland area is a featureless plain lying between 5 and 35m (15 and 115ft) above sea level which continues into the Belgian region of Kempen/Campine. The geological subsoil consists of massive layers of gravel deposited by the Rhine and the Maas in the course of many hundreds of thousands of years which during the last ice age were covered by a layer of sand.

At the beginning of the Christian area Brabant, then mostly covered by moorland and forest, offered little scope for settlement by the Romans. In the eighth century it became part of the duchy of Toxandria. With the break-up of that duchy in the 11th century there came into being the duchy of Brabant, which in 1430 was incorporated in Burgundy and later passed to the Habsburg empire. During the northern provinces' struggle for independence the Roman Catholic duchy of Brabant long remained under Spanish control. Under the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 Brabant was divided into two, the northern part being assigned to the States General. In 1815 Noord- and Zuid-Brabant were finally separated, and when Belgium achieved independence in 1839 it retained Zuid-Brabant.

The heathlands of northern Brabant have now mostly been brought into cultivation. Some 80 per cent of the area of the province is arable land, and around 12 per cent is planted with coniferous forests. The poor soil, however, is suitable only for undemanding crops including rye, oats, potatoes and simple fodder plants for the feeding of dairy cattle. There is also some pig and poultry farming. The characteristic forms of settlement are hamlets and small villages with trim farm steadings.

Around 1900 over 40 per cent of the population were employed in agriculture and only 15 per cent in industry. The proportions have now been reversed, with over 50 per cent working in industry, 10 per cent in agriculture and almost 40 per cent in the services sector.

Industry developed in three phases. Around 1900 much of the Dutch textile industry moved to Noord-Brabant, which offered the attraction of a large labor force at low wage rates. The main centers were Helmond, Tilburg and Eindhoven. At the same time the cigar industry developed in Kempen and boot and shoe manufacture at Waalwijk. The second phase began around 1920, when the electrical industry (Philips) was established in Eindhoven. Finally after the Second World War the metalworking and electrical industries gave a new stimulus to the economy. After some 20 years of prosperity, however, stagnation set in, particularly in the leather working and textile industries. Around 40 per cent of the working population are now employed in metalworking and electrical engineering, 15 per cent in the textile and clothing industries and only 5 per cent in leather working. Some new industries have also been established (foodstuffs, tobacco, chemicals). The heathland towns of Brabant - 's-Hertogenbosch, Rosendaal, Bergen op Zoom, etc. - have three advantages over the fens regions which have promoted their industrial development: an ample supply of labor, cheap land and lower building costs than in the boggy soil of the fens regions.