Meuse-Inférieure
Meuse-Inférieure (Lower Meuse) is the name of a département of the First French Empire in present Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. It is named after the river Meuse. Its capital was Maastricht.
The département was formed in 1795, when the Southern Netherlands and the left bank of the Rhine were annexed by France. Before the French occupation, the area was divided in several bigger and smaller states, among which:
- the County of Loon (Bishopric of Liège)
- Austrian Upper Guelders (Austria)
- Staats-Oppergelre (State Upper Guelders, United Provinces)
- the county of Horne (Bishopric of Liège)
- the abbacy of Thorn
- Maastricht and the Landen van Overmaas (part Austria, part United Provinces)
- part of the Duchy of Limburg
The département was subdivided into the following arrondissements and cantons:
- Maastricht, cantons: Bilzen, Gulpen, Heerlen, Maasmechelen, Maastricht, Meerssen, Oirsbeek, Rolduc and Tongeren.
- Hasselt, cantons: Beringen, Borgloon, Hasselt, Herk-de-Stad, Peer and Sint-Truiden.
- Roermond, cantons: Achel, Bree, Maaseik, Niederkrüchten, Roermond, Venlo and Weert.
After Napoleon was defeated in 1814, the département(excluding the canton of Niederkrüchten which was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia)became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, as the province of Limburg (with a part of the Roer département ). Its territory corresponds largely with the present provinces Limburg (Belgium) and Limburg (Netherlands).