Betuwe

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Satellite image of the upper part of the Rhine-Meuse delta showing the Betuwe region (5).

Betuwe is an area in the Netherlands in the province of Gelderland. Tacitus knew it as Insula Batavorum ("Island of the Batavians," the Germanic tribe from which the modern name is derived) and indeed it could be considered a large river island, but nowadays it hardly ever is viewed as such. When the Pannerdens Kanaal was dug between 1701 and 1709, the easternmost tip of the Betuwe (including the towns of Pannerden and Lobith) was cut off from the rest of the region.

The Betuwe is situated between the Waal and Rhine/Lek rivers, surrounding the beautiful Linge stream, and is famous for its fruit production. The largest and most important city in the area is Tiel.

Edited satellite image of the Rhine-Waal fork, showing the cut-off eastern tip of the Betuwe (between the red, blue and green streams).

In 1995, a large part of this area had to be evacuated because the rivers threatened to overflow. Fortunately this did not happen, but it raised the debate again about whether to reinforce the dikes or not. At present (2005) the construction of a big freight railroad, called Betuweroute is in progress. Probably services at the line will start in 2007. The railroad has caused a big political debate in the Netherlands. [1]

Towns in the Betuwe are:

• Buren
• Culemborg
• Driel
• Elst
• Geldermalsen
• Gendt
• Huissen
• Randwijk
• Tiel
• Tuyll or Tuil, seat of the court of the Middle Ages region of Teisterbant, which included today's Betuwe

The Betuwe region is divided into 11 municipalities: Overbetuwe, Neder-Betuwe, Lingewaard, Arnhem (southern part), Nijmegen (northern part), Tiel, Culemborg, Neerijnen, Geldermalsen, Lingewaal & Buren.

"De Betuwe" is also the name of a jam factory in the town of Tiel. The factory became famous because of its merchandise in which a figure called Flipje was starring. Every object related to Flipje has become a collector's item in the Netherlands.