Low Countries (terminology)
![The Low Countries indicated in Latin as Belgico (1631)](/Images/godic/202501/29/1632_Bello_Belgico_Stradæ3242.jpg")
![The Low Countries from 1556 to 1648.](/Images/godic/202501/29/The_Low_Countries3242.png")
![A Dutch-German dictionary. The languages are in Dutch indicated as Nederduitsch (](/Images/godic/202501/29/Matthias_Kramer_Het_Nieuw_Woordenboek_1759_p23242.png")
![Under Philip the Good (1396–1467), Duke of Burgundy, the provinces of the Netherlands began to grow together: Flanders, Artois, Namur, Holland, Zeeland, Hainaut, Brabant, Limburg and Luxembourg were ruled in personal union. He has been honored by later humanists as the founding father of the Netherlands. By Early Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden, circa 1450).](/Images/godic/202501/29/Philip_the_good3242.jpg")
The Low Countries (Dutch: de Lage Landen, French: les Pays-Bas) is a coastal river delta region in western Europe, and consists mainly of the Netherlands and Belgium. Both countries derived their names from it, due to nether meaning "low" and Belgica being the Latin name for the Low Countries, a nomenclature that went obsolete after Belgium's secession in 1830.