Venlo

Venlo lies on the Meuse near the German border. Its position on routes linking the Meuse and Rhine helped it develop as a trading place. It received town rights in 1343 and joined the Hanseatic League in 1375, connecting the town with a wider network of merchants.

The town's strategic location also brought repeated sieges. In 1702 Menno van Coehoorn directed a siege of Venlo during the War of the Spanish Succession. Under the settlement of 1713 the town became part of the territory administered by the United Provinces. After the Napoleonic Wars it joined the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, before the Belgian Revolution brought another change of control in 1830.