BRABANT was the name formerly given to an Important province of the Low Countries. extending from the left bank of the Waal the sources of the Dyle. and flout the and tire plain of Limburg lower Seheldt. Iu the time of Clear B. was inhabited by a mixed race of Germans and Cells; it afterwards came into posses sion of the Franks; and in the middle ages it formed a duchy by itself, dependent upon Lower Lorraine, with which, in 1107, the county of Antwerp was incorporated, and in 1347, for a time, the lordship of Mechlin or Malines, formerly connected with Liege. After many changes. B. (divided into the provinces of North B.) was made a part of the kingdom of Holland, at the Congress of Vienna; but at the revolution of 1830, South B. separated from Holland, and became part of Belgium (q.v.). Old B. is now divided into three provinces: 1. North or Dutch B., containing 1960 sq. m., and (1875) 447,632 inhabitants; 2. The Belgian province of Antwerp, which contains 1094 sq. m., and (1873) 513,543 inhabitants; and 3. South B., also Belgian, sq. m., and an extremely dense pop. of (1873) 922,468. The country consists of a plain gently sloping to the n.w., and rising in the s. into gentle hills, which arc offsets of those of the Ardennes. In the level northern part are many heathy and fenny tracts; one of them, a
morass called the Peel, is 20 m, iu length, anti from2 to 0 broad. In the hilly district of the s. is the forest of Soignies. The Maas and the Scheldt are the principal rivers; but some of their tributaries are also very useful for internal commerce, which is further promoted by canals and railways. The soil of North Brabant is fertile, and wheat, rye, oats, barley, beans, potatoes, beet, colza, madder, flax, and hay are extensively grown: also hops, tobacco, and chicory. Farm stock is large. Principal towns are: sHertogen boseli, Tilburg. Breda, and Bergen-op-zoom. Soap-boiling, distilling gin, book-printing, refining salt, making beet-sugar, beer, cigars, thread, woolen cloths, leather, earthen ware, weaving and printing cottons, Turkey-red dyeing, are chief industries. B. lace long ion been celebrated. 'The inhabitants in the n. are Dutch; in the middle district, Flemish; and in the s., of Walloon race. The boundary between the languages is a few leagues to the s. of Brussels, the Walloon French being spoken to the s., and Flemish and Dutch to the n: of this line.