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The term '''Low Countries''', also known as the '''Low Lands''' ({{lang-nl|de Lage Landen}}, {{lang-fr|les Pays-Bas}}, {{lang-lb|déi Niddereg Lännereien}}) and historically called the '''Netherlands''' ({{lang-nl|de Nederlanden}}), '''Flanders''', or '''Belgica''', is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern [[Europe]] forming the lower basin of the [[Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta]] and consisting of three countries: [[Belgium]], the [[Netherlands]] and [[Luxembourg]]. Geographically and historically, the area also includes parts of [[France]] and [[Germany]] such as the [[French Flanders]] and the German regions of [[East Frisia]] and [[Cleves]]. During the [[Middle Ages]], the Low Countries were divided into numerous semi-independent principalities.<ref name="britannica">{{cite encyclopedia | title=Low Countries | encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica | publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. | url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/349663/Low-Countries | access-date=26 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Low+Countries | title=Low Countries - definition of Low Countries by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia. | publisher=Farlex, Inc. | access-date=26 January 2014}}</ref>
Historically, the regions without access to the sea linked themselves politically and economically to those with access to form various unions of ports and [[hinterland]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Matei-Chesnoiu |first1=Monica |title=Re-imagining Western European Geography in English Renaissance Drama |date=2012 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=9780230366305 |page=105 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B3M_zRR-AmcC&pg=PA105 |language=en}}</ref> stretching inland as far as parts of the German [[Rhineland]]. Because of this, nowadays some parts of the Low Countries are hilly or elevated, including Luxembourg and the south of Belgium. Within the [[European Union]], the region's political grouping is still referred to as the [[Benelux]] (short for Belgium-Netherlands-Luxembourg).{{citation needed}}
During the [[Roman Empire]], the region contained a militarised frontier and contact point between [[Rome]] and [[Germanic peoples|Germanic tribes]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Turner |first1=Barry |title=The Statesman's Yearbook 2011: The Politics, Cultures and Economies of the World |date=2010 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9781349586356 |page=908 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h5LlDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA908 |language=en}}</ref> With the [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]], the Low Countries were the scene of the early independent trading centres that marked [[Renaissance of the 12th century|the reawakening]] of Europe in the 12th century. In that period, they rivalled [[northern Italy]] as one of the most densely populated regions of Western Europe. [[Guild]]s and councils governed most of the cities along with a figurehead ruler; interaction with their ruler was regulated by a strict set of rules describing what the latter could and could not expect. All of the regions mainly depended on trade, manufacturing and the encouragement of the free flow of goods and craftsmen.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Braudel |first1=Fernand |title=Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century, Vol. III: The Perspective of the World |date=1992 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520081161 |page=98 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xMZI2QEer9QC&pg=PA98 |language=en}}</ref> [[Dutch language|Dutch]] and [[French language|French]] dialects were the main languages used in secular city life.
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