North Brabant in the context of "Central Dutch dialects"

South Holland (Dutch: Zuid-Holland [ˌzœyt ˈɦɔlɑnt] ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.8 million as of January 2023 and a population density of about 1,410/km (3,700/sq mi), making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely populated areas. Situated on the North Sea in the west of the Netherlands, South Holland covers an area of 3,308 km (1,277 sq mi), of which 609 km (235 sq mi) is water. It borders North Holland to the north, Utrecht and Gelderland to the east, and North Brabant and Zeeland to the south. The provincial capital is the Dutch seat of government The Hague, while its largest city is Rotterdam. The Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta drains through South Holland into the North Sea. Europe's busiest seaport, the Port of Rotterdam, is located in South Holland.

Zeeland (Dutch: [ˈzeːlɑnt] ; Zeelandic: Zeêland [ˈzɪəlɑnt]), historically known in English by the exonym Zealand, is the westernmost and least populous province of the Netherlands. Located in the south-western corner of the country, it borders North Brabant to the east, South Holland to the north, and an international border with Belgium to the south and west (Flemish provinces of East and West Flanders).

Zeeland consists of a number of islands and peninsulas (hence its name, meaning "Sealand"), with only the southern part (Zeelandic Flanders) not being an island or peninsula. Its capital is Middelburg with a population of 48,544 as of November 2019, although the largest municipality in Zeeland is Terneuzen (population 54,589). Zeeland has two seaports: Vlissingen and Terneuzen. Its area is 2,933 square kilometres (1,132 sq mi), of which 1,154 square kilometres (446 sq mi) is water; it had a population of about 391,000 as of January 2023.

Gelderland (/ˈɡɛldərlənd/ GHEL-dər-lənd, Dutch: [ˈɣɛldərlɑnt] ), also known as Guelders (/ˈɡɛldərz/ GHEL-dərz) in English, is a province of the Netherlands, located in the centre-east of the country. With a total area of 5,136 km (1,983 sq mi) of which 176 km (68 sq mi) is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by total area. Gelderland shares borders with six other provinces (Flevoland, Limburg, North Brabant, Overijssel, South Holland and Utrecht) and the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The capital is Arnhem (pop. 159,265); however, Nijmegen (pop. 176,731) and Apeldoorn (pop. 162,445) are both larger municipalities. Other major regional centres in Gelderland are Ede, Doetinchem, Zutphen, Harderwijk, Tiel, Wageningen, Zevenaar, and Winterswijk. Gelderland had a population of about 2,134,000 as of January 2023. It contains the Netherlands's largest forest region (the Veluwe), the Rhine and other major rivers, and a significant amount of orchards in the south (Betuwe).

The Duchy of Brabant, a state of the Holy Roman Empire, was established in 1183. It developed from the Landgraviate of Brabant of 1085–1183, and formed the heart of the historic Low Countries. The Duchy comprised part of the Burgundian Netherlands from 1430 and of the Habsburg Netherlands from 1482, until it was partitioned after the Dutch revolt of 1566–1648.

The 1648 Peace of Westphalia ceded present-day North Brabant (Dutch: Noord-Brabant) to the Generality Lands of the Dutch Republic, while the reduced duchy remained part of the Habsburg Netherlands until French Revolutionary forces conquered it in 1794 — a change recognized by the Treaty of Campo Formio in 1797.

Limburg (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈlɪmbʏr(ə)x] ; Limburgish: [ˈlɪm˦ˌbʏʀ˦əx]), also known as Dutch Limburg, is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is bordered by Gelderland to the north and by North Brabant to the west. Its long eastern boundary forms the border with the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. To the west is the border with the Belgian province of Limburg, part of which is delineated by the river Meuse. To the south, Limburg is bordered by the Belgian province of Liège. The Vaalserberg is the extreme southeastern point, the tripoint of the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium.

Limburg had a population of about 1,128,000 in January 2023. Its main municipalities are the provincial capital Maastricht (population 120,837 as of January 2022), Venlo (population 102,176) in the northeast, as well as Sittard-Geleen (population 91,760, bordering both Belgium and Germany) and Heerlen (population 86,874) in the south. More than half of the population, approximately 650,000 people, live in the south of Limburg, which corresponds to roughly one-third of the province's area proper. In South Limburg, most people live in the urban agglomerations of Maastricht, Parkstad and Sittard-Geleen.

's-Hertogenbosch (Dutch: [ˌsɛrtoːɣə(m)ˈbɔs] ), colloquially known as Den Bosch (pronounced [dɛm ˈbɔs] ), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest city by population. The city is directly south of the Maas river and near the Waal.

Walcheren (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈʋɑlxərə(n)] ) is a region and former island in the Dutch province of Zeeland at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Eastern Scheldt in the north and the Western Scheldt in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus. The two sides facing the North Sea consist of dunes and the rest of its coastline is made up of dykes. Middelburg, the provincial capital, lies at Walcheren's centre. Vlissingen, 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) to the south, is the main harbour and the third municipality is Veere.

Originally, Walcheren was an island, but the Sloedam, constructed in 1871 for a railway, and poldering after World War II have connected it to the (former) island of Zuid-Beveland, which in turn was connected to the North Brabant mainland by the Kreekrakdam (Completed in 1867). The Veerse Gatdam, completed in 1961, has connected Walcheren to Noord-Beveland.

Limburg (Dutch: Limburg, pronounced [ˈlɪmbʏr(ə)x] ; Limburgish: Limburg [ˈlɪm˦ˌbʏʀ˦əx] or Wes-Limburg [wæsˈlɪm˦ˌbʏʀ˦əx]; French: Limbourg, pronounced [lɛ̃buʁ] ), also known as Belgian Limburg, is a province in Belgium. It is the easternmost of the five Dutch-speaking provinces that together form the Region of Flanders, which is one of the three main political and cultural sub-divisions of modern-day Belgium. As of January 2024, Limburg had a population of 0.9 million.

Limburg is located west of the Meuse (Dutch: Maas), which separates it from the similarly named Dutch province of Limburg. To the south it shares a border with the French-speaking province of Liège, with which it also has historical ties. To the north and west are the old territories of the Duchy of Brabant. Today these are the Flemish provinces of Flemish Brabant and Antwerp to the west, and the Dutch province of North Brabant to the north. Historically Belgian Limburg is roughly equivalent to the Dutch-speaking part of the secular lordship of the medieval Prince-Bishopric of Liège, which was dominated by the County of Loon.

Eindhoven (/ˈaɪnthoʊvən/ EYENT-hoh-vən; Dutch: [ˈɛintˌɦoːvə(n)] , lit. 'Last hooves') is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also located in the Dutch part of the Campine natural region. With a population of 249,054 (1 January 2025) on a territory of 88.92 km, it is the fifth-largest city of the Netherlands and the largest outside the Randstad conurbation.

Eindhoven was originally located at the confluence of the Dommel and the Gender. A municipality since the 13th century, Eindhoven witnessed rapid growth starting in the 1900s by textile and tobacco industries. Two well-known companies, DAF Trucks and Philips, were founded in the city; Philips would go on to become a major multinational conglomerate while based in Eindhoven. Apart from Philips, Eindhoven also contains the globally famous Design Academy Eindhoven.