‘Canalise the Meuse! Do it. Now or never!’ Aspects of the struggle for the improvement of the Meuse in the Dutch province of Limburg (1839-1925)

This paper demonstrates that the historical dynamism of the Dutch river Meuse in the period 1839-1925 cannot possibly be understood exclusively from a political, economical or hydraulic angle. Although all these categories are essential in the analysis, the fact that the large-scale improvement of this river was accompanied by such emotions, incomprehension and mistrust about the way in which the Dutch government handled this hydraulic problem in a peripheral province - that nationally and culturally differed very considerably from the centre of the nation state in the Northern Netherlands - calls for a broader-based approach. The first indictor for this explanation can be sought in theoretical understanding of nationalism and its historiography in general, and the course of Dutch state and nation forming and the construction of national and regional identities in particular. Taking this as the analysis framework, we have demonstrated that the struggle to improve the Meuse in Limburg not only involved the political, hydraulical and economic dimensions already referred to, but also encompassed a cultural dimension. A dimension that can best be described as an integration problem in the framework of state and nation forming and as part of a more extensive field of tension between the provincial stakeholders and the government, which contributed to the forming a of a regional Limburg identity.