BRABANT, NORTH, largest province in Holland, bounded south by Belgium, west and north-west by the Scheldt, the Een dracht, the Volkerak and the Hollandsch Diep, which separate it from Zealand and South Holland, north and north-east by the Merwede and Maas, which separate it from South Holland and Gelderland, and east by the province of Limburg. Area 1,920 sq. miles. Pop. (193o) 898,386. The surface slopes gently from the south-east to the north and north-west, and the soil is com posed of diluvial sand mixed with gravel, but giving place to sea-clay along the western boundary and river-clay along the banks of the Maas and smaller rivers. The watershed is formed by the north-eastern edge of the Belgian plateau of Campine, and follows a curved line through Bergen-op-Zoom, Turnhout and Maastricht. Large waste stretches of heath are occasionally overlaid with high fen, such as that between the valleys of the Aa and the Maas called the Peel ("marshy land"). Deurne, a few miles east of Helmond, was an early fen colony, with a pre historic burial-ground. Early settlements, often based on Roman camps, along the Maas and its tributaries afterwards developed in the hands of feudal lords; e.g., the chief town 'sHertogenbosch. Geertruidenberg, Heusden, Ravestein and Grave are all similarly situated. Breda (q.v.) and Bergen-op-Zoom (q.v.) are important. Rozendaal, Eindhoven and Bokstel (or Boxtel) are railway junc tions. Bokstel was formerly the seat of an independent barony. The castle was restored in modern times. Reclamation from the waste was extended eastwards to Helenaveen late in the 19th century. Agriculture (potatoes, buckwheat, rye) is the main industry, generally combined with cattle-raising. On clay lands wheat and barley are the principal products, and in the western corner beetroot is largely cultivated for the beet sugar industry, factories being found at Bergen-op-Zoom, Steenbergen and Ouden bosch. There is a special cultivation of hops in the district north west of 's Hertogenbosch. The majority of the population is Roman Catholic. The precarious border position of the province militated against earlier industrial development, but since the separation from Belgium and the construction of roads, railways and canals there has been much improvement ; Tilburg, Eindhoven and Helmond are important modern industrial centres. Their rise has been rapid, much impetus being given to the textile, tobacco and margarine trades during the period 1914-18 through the neutrality and unique situation of the Netherlands. Leather tanning and shoe-making are especially associated with the Lang straat district, a series of industrial villages along the course of the Old Maas, situated between Geertruidenberg and 'sHertogen bosch.