The province of Limburg is georgraphically diverse, with the moors, pine forests and unproductive soil of the Kempen region in the north, the urban industrial zone of Midden Limburg in the center, and the fertile fields of the Haspengouw famland in the south. A narrow strip of lush beauty called the Maasland runs along the Meuse River.
Immediately to the east of Belgium's Limburg province, on the other side of the Meuse, lies a Dutch province, also named Limburg, whose principle city is Maastricht. The two Limburgs were once unified, but the Belgian portion was split off from the Netherlands in 1839.
