Geography and History of the Benelux on a Map

How much do you know about the geography, history, and even culture of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg? This quiz will probably teach you something you did not know about this region. Good luck have fun!
Answers are accepted in local languages!
Huge thanks to SilverDog for collaborating and helping me with this quiz!
Try the entire series here
Quiz by
Maxibon
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Last updated: September 2, 2025
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First submittedJune 23, 2023
Times taken1,421
Average score36.0%
Rating4.38
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Hint
Subdivisions
Touristic Belgian province with a coast on the North Sea
West Flanders
The majority of Dutch flower fields are located in this province made up entirely of reclaimed land
Flevoland
Many beaches are found in this province formerly made up of many islands
Zeeland
Relatively elevated Dutch province, known for its fruit and wine production
Limburg
Rural Dutch province with several national parks and forests
Drenthe
Numerous major rivers flow through this large province with many Roman towns
Gelderland
Belgian province located at the heart of the Ardennes Forest, formerly part of a Duchy
Luxembourg
Luxembourgish canton nicknamed 'Little Switzerland' due to its geography and landscape
Echternach
Mountainous constituent country that shares a border with France
Sint-Maarten
Sandy Dutch island off the coast of Venezuela
Aruba
Walloon speaking province which is in the past was important for coal-mining
Hainaut
Beer producing Belgian province split up from its southern neighbour
Flemish Brabant
This densely populated province contains many of the largest Dutch ports
South Holland
Luxembourgish canton with an abundance of vineyards
Remich
Canton with many forested valleys
Redange
 
 
Hint
Largest Cities
1,136,210
Amsterdam
868,135
Rotterdam
851,010
The Hague
544,759
Antwerp
396,315
Utrecht
320,365
Eindhoven
273,270
Leiden
269,597
Ghent
224,440
Dordrecht
218,130
Tilburg
218,105
Groningen
208,270
Haarlem
204,322
Charleroi
196,828
Brussels
195,778
Liège
 
 
Hint
Cultural Cities
Frisian city and former royal residence with a large amount of canals
Leeuwarden
A well known Belgian biscuit is from this city surrounded by cliffs
Dinant
Key port city for the Dutch East India Company, named after its harbour's shape
Hoorn
Caribbean city with colourful architecture and white beaches, built around Fort Zoutman
Oranjestad
Medieval trading city and part of the Hanseatic League, with a moat
Zwolle
Historically steelmaking major Luxembourgish city
Esch-sur-Alzette
Fortified inland city and birthplace of many renowned DJs
Breda
St. Rumbold's Cathedral is located within this Belgian city and capital of the Habsburg Netherlands
Mechelen
Oldest Belgian city, named after the Germanic tribe which inhabited the area prior to the Romans
Tongeren
Dutch city built on a 'fen' wetland, found at the confluence of two major rivers
Zutphen
Belgian provincial capital located on a hill, hence its name
Mons
The largest beer company is based in this university city with plenty of Gothic architecture
Leuven
City with a well-known zoo, found in an inland forested region
Apeldoorn
Fortified city in the shape of a star
Naarden
Peninsular city whose harbour was used for fishing and for Dutch East India Company ships
Vlissingen
Luxembourgish town close to the German border, known for its castle
Vianden
Belgian exclave within the Netherlands that itself has exclaves
Baarle-Hertog
Medieval Belgian city famous for its canals and belfry
Bruges
 
 
Hint
Battles
Attempted Nazi encirclement in the final months of WWII resulting in the deadliest battle on the Western Front
Battle of the Bulge
Deadly First World War campaign fought on muddy landscape
Third Battle of Ypres
Major Dutch defeat in an Eighty Years' War battle, fought over riverside forts
Battle of Kallo
Allied and German attempt at outflanking the other in WWI
Race to the Sea
Napoleonic defeat after returning from exile, with the coalition forces led by the Duke of Wellington
Battle of Waterloo
French victory over Anglo-Dutch forces for a fortified city, in the War of the Austrian Succession
Siege of Bergen op Zoom
Naval battle and attempted Anglo-French destruction of the Dutch fleet, ending up in Dutch victory
Battle of Texel
Hint
People
Cyclist who won the 'Tour de France' and the 'Giro d'Italia' five times along with the 'Vuelta a España' once
Eddy Merckx
Belgian engineer and co-inventor of the World Wide Web
Robert Cailliau
Walloon merchant, founder of New Sweden and Director of New Netherland
Peter Minuit
Former Dutch prime minister and Secretary General of NATO
Mark Rutte
Current King of the Netherlands
Willem-Alexander
Saxon and First 'King of the Belgians'
Leopold I of Belgium
Former Luxembourgish prime minister and President of the European Commission in the past
Jean-Claude Juncker
Artist known for his numerous self-portraits
Rembrandt
Current football player for Inter-Milan and the Dutch national team
Denzel Dumfries
Black belt in karate who acted in several movies including 'Street Fighter' and 'Lionheart'
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Dutch singer and contestant in the 2024 Eurovision
Joost Klein
Statesman and founder of the Dutch East India Company
Johan van Oldenbarnevelt
Luxembourgish Olympic gold medallist in the 1952 1,500 metres
Josy Barthel
Belgian architect who was also a founder of the 'Art Nouveau' style
Victor Horta
Former footballer, manager and three time Ballon d'Or winner
Johan Cruyff
Flemish artist whose works include 'The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man' and 'The Feast of Venus'
Peter Paul Rubens
Artist and creator of the 'The Adventures of Tintin' comic strip
Hergé
Prince who led the Dutch revolt against the Spanish
William of Orange
Belgian racer and 6 time winner of the 24hrs of Le Mans who also won 8 Formula 1 grand prix
Jacky Ickx
Belgian mathematician and priest who came up with the 'Big Bang' theory
Georges Lemaître
Dutch explorer who mainly voyaged around Oceania, in fact he has a major island there named after him
Abel Tasman
Belgian cartographer who is known for his self-named map projection
Gerardus Mercator
Philosopher and theologian who translated the New Testament into Latin
Erasmus
Belgian artist who painted 'The Son of Man','Ceci n'est pas une pipe' and 'Golconda'
René Magritte
Luxembourgish cyclist known as the 'Angel of the Mountains', who won the 'Tour de France'
Charly Gaul
Dutch mathematician and astronomer who invented the pendulum clock and discovered Titan
Christiaan Huygens
 
 
Hint
Landmarks
Major Dutch gardens with a large variety of colourful flowers
Keukenhof
Belgian forest whose floor is densely covered by purple flowers
Hallerbos
Palace and official residence of the Belgian Royal Family, with a major park surrounding it
Palace of Laeken
Lengthy race track and host of the Belgian Grand Prix, located amidst the Ardennes Forest
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Flemish castle where the count of the region resided
Gravensteen
Landmark made out of steel, built for the 1958 World Fair
Atomium
Dutch amusement park themed around mythology and legends
Efteling
Largest Dutch Castle with large gardens and parks
De Haar Castle
 
 
Hint
Bodies of Water
Twisty river and site of one of the final WWI battles
Meuse River
Shallow 'sea' that in reality is an intertidal zone
Wadden Sea
Dutch river with both a province and a major bay are named after this
IJssel River
Distributary river of the Rhine and indirect link between major Dutch ports and Germany
Waal River
About half of Belgium lives along this river whose is in the Netherlands and Belgium
Scheldt River
 
 
Hint
Culture
Thin type of waffle usually in the shape of a circle
Stroopwafel
Belgian comic strip and movie franchise whose protagonists include 'Papa _____'
The Smurfs
Chocolate sprinkles usually put on bread
Hagelslag
Dutch smooth and slightly salty cheese
Edam
Mythical ghost ship that was said to always be sailing
Flying Dutchman
Hard cheese made from cow's milk
Gouda
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20 Comments
+1
Level 73
Jul 26, 2024
Thanks for taking this quiz!

Credits:

• This quiz is a collaboration with SilverDog so feel free to try some of his lovely quizzes!

YungBabass made a similar quiz which I encourage you to try

• Partial features of the map were made by amCharts and I am able to use these under this license

• Populations are from City Population

+3
Level 57
Jun 26, 2023
I wonder who made what in this quiz. That's interesting to try to guess.

To make the quiz more "serious", I would merge the part of the instructions and the first caveat into one single caveat, reserving the instructions part... for the instructions.

Also, since you have some empty space on the map, adding a key on the SVG itself could be a good idea, but that's just a detail.

More important: you should add the "border" class to your path, to don't have any scale issues when zooming on the map, with strokes, like it's currently the case.

Otherwise, good map.

+2
Level 73
Jun 26, 2023
Thank you very much for the comment and for trying my quiz! I am currently not home for reasons so I can't fix it currently but I will fix the SVG when I get back.

Merci et bonne journée!

+4
Level 74
Aug 4, 2023
Good quiz. Can you change the type-in to just require "Meuse" instead of "Meuse River"?
+2
Level 73
Aug 4, 2023
Sorry for that!

I have fixed some type-ins.

Thank you for trying my quiz :)

+3
Level 74
Aug 4, 2023
Nice quizz. I was wondering how you made your choice for the "cultural cities". I would have guess Liege, Mons, Bruges, Utrecht or The Hague be there.
+1
Level 73
Aug 4, 2023
A lot of quizzes have the Hague, Liege and Utrecht and I wanted my quiz to be a bit different. For most of them I used a random city generator.

Thank you for trying my quiz :)

+3
Level 61
Aug 4, 2023
I always enjoy these, and this is one of my favourite parts of the world - thank you. I must confess to being a bit baffled as to what is particularly cultural about Ettelbruck!
+3
Level 73
Aug 5, 2023
Nothing is particularly interesting but then the quiz would be Netherlands and Belgium centric. I guess they were liberated by Patton on Chrietmas.

Thank you for trying our quiz :)

+2
Level 69
Nov 3, 2023
Dutch guy here. Didn't notice the answer was sought for some bits of the map, but got 18 of the total in the end. The least guessed one I had was Alkmaar. Mildly dissapointed at my own knowledge....at least of the Dutch bit. Of the Belgin and Luxembourgish part I know little bits, but less than average. Once I saw the answers I had a lot of 'ah, of course!' facepalming moments.
+1
Level 73
Nov 3, 2023
The entire quiz is a work in progress for now, I need to add more answers and hints.

Thanks for trying the quiz!

+1
Level 75
Jul 16, 2024
I tried Spa, Spa-Francorchamps, but not Francorchamps on it's own...
+1
Level 73
Jul 16, 2024
Don't worry I'm in the process of reworking this entire quiz... this quiz is definitely not my finest.

Thanks for trying it!

+2
Level 69
Jul 26, 2024
Maybe accept Baarle and Ypres as type-ins? The mean the right thing, sometimes I felt the required answers were very specific in this one.

Also maybe accept more lenient spellings, as Dutch has many double vowels which feel very random to a non-native speaker :D

Overall nice work, a new quiz of this series is always warmly welcomed :)

+2
Level 73
Jul 27, 2024
Baarle will be accepted, however I don't think Ypres should be since there are two other 'Battle of Ypres' in that case. I will look into the Dutch spellings.

Thanks for constantly giving feedback and trying my quizzes :D

+2
Level 69
Jul 30, 2024
Always a pleasure when one drops :)
+2
Level 72
Jul 29, 2024
Great quiz, thanks for making it! The clue about the Luxembourgish cyclist who won the Tour de France also applies to Andy Schleck, François Faber, and Nicolas Frantz. I would suggest adding 'Joost' as a type-in for 'Joost Klein', since that's his stage name. Finally, a word in a clue reads 'Giros' where it should say 'Giro'. Keep up the good work!
+1
Level 73
Jul 29, 2024
Thanks a lot :)

Everything requested was fixed!

+2
Level 61
Jul 14, 2025
Nominated - only just noticed I didn't do it last time.

I was wondering whether "Ardennes" should be a type-in for the Ardennes Offensive, but perhaps that would make it too easy......

+2
Level 73
Jul 14, 2025
Thank you for the support!

Ardennes should now work as a type-in.