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- The Belgian province of Limburg in Flanders (Dutch speaking Belgium) is a region which has had many names and border changes over its long recorded history. Its modern name is a name shared with the neighbouring province of the Netherlands, with which it was for a while politically united (under French and then Dutch rule from 1794 until 1839). The two provinces received their modern name after 1815, based upon the name of the medieval Duchy of Limburg, which had actually been in what is now neighbouring Wallonia, centred upon the town of Limbourg on the Vesdre. For much of its recorded history, most of what is now called Belgian Limburg was the County of Loon (French: Looz). Loon was a medieval county, and when the line of the Counts died the county became a lordship held by the Prince-bishop of Liège. It was still often referred to as the "land of Loon" (Dutch: land van Loon). The original capital of medieval Loon is today officially called Borgloon, but the capital of the modern province is now Hasselt. A connection between Limburg and Liège is found not only in medieval times, but also old Roman administrative divisions. In Roman times, Belgian Limburg, and probably also the Dutch province of Limburg and the medieval Duchy of Limburg, were in the Civitas Tungrorum, which had its original capital in Tongeren, which is in Belgian Limburg. As in neighbouring regions, the Roman regional capital became the church capital in the middle ages, but this was then moved to a more defensive position on a river, in this case to Liège. (en)
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