Netherlands - Shape of Gelderland

A shape of Gelderland, one of provinces in the Netherlands.

Sent by Elsbeth, a postcrosser from the Netherlands.

This is from Wikipedia : Gelderland, also Guelders German: Geldern) is a province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country. The capital city is Arnhem. The two other major cities, Nijmegen and Apeldoorn have more inhabitants. Other major regional centers in Gelderland are Ede, Doetinchem, Zutphen, Tiel, Wijchen, Wageningen, Zevenaar and Epe. The city Geldern, after which the province is called, is today part of Germany.

The current province of Gelderland covers about the area of three of the quarters of the historical Duchy of Guelders. Guelders was a county in the late 11th century and then a duchy in the Holy Roman Empire, including also parts of the province of present-day Limburg and the German District of Kleve (Cleves) with the city of Geldern, the city that was the original seat of the dukes. It became part of the Habsburg Netherlands in 1543, one of the Seventeen Provinces, though not one of the richer or more densely-populated. During World War II it was the scene of some of the heaviest fighting in the war between Allied Paratroopers, British XXX Corps and the German II SS Panzer Corps, also known as the Battle of Arnhem.