Cleves in the context of Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences

The Low Countries (Dutch: de Lage Landen; French: les Pays-Bas), historically also known as the Netherlands (Dutch: de Nederlanden), is a historical and geographically coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Benelux" countries: Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland, which is singular). Also sometimes included are parts of France (such as Nord and Pas-de-Calais) and the German regions of East Frisia, Guelders and Cleves. Since the creation of the Holy Roman Empire, the region has been divided into numerous different entities.

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, stretching inland as far as parts of the German Rhineland. Not only physically-low-altitude areas but also some hilly or elevated regions are now therefore considered part of the Low Countries, including Luxembourg and southern Belgium. Within the European Union, the region's political grouping is still referred to as the Benelux (short for Belgium-Netherlands-Luxembourg).

51°47′N 6°8′E / 51.783°N 6.133°E / 51.783; 6.133

The Duchy of Cleves (German: Herzogtum Kleve; Dutch: Hertogdom Kleef) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire which emerged from the medieval Hettergau (de). It was situated in the northern Rhineland on both sides of the Lower Rhine, around its capital Cleves and the towns of Wesel, Kalkar, Xanten, Emmerich, Rees and Duisburg bordering the lands of the Prince-Bishopric of Münster in the east and the Duchy of Brabant in the west. Its history is closely related to that of its southern neighbours: the Duchies of Jülich and Berg, as well as Guelders and the Westphalian county of Mark. The Duchy was archaically known as Cleveland in English.