Meuse-Inférieure ("Lower Meuse"; Dutch: Nedermaas or Beneden-Maas; German: Niedermaas) was a department of the First French Empire in present-day Belgium, Netherlands and Germany. It was named after the river Meuse. Its capital was Maastricht. Its territory corresponded largely with the present-day provinces of Belgian and Dutch Limburg.
The department was formed in 1795, when the Southern Netherlands and the left bank of the Rhine were annexed by France.
The department was subdivided into the following arrondissements and cantons (situation in 1812):
- Maastricht
- Hasselt
- Roermond.
After Napoleon was defeated in 1814, the department (excluding Niederkrüchten and Herzogenrath which were assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia and are presently located in North Rhine-Westphalia) became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, as the Province of Limburg.
Following the Belgian Revolution of 1830, part of Limburg (the Hasselt arrondissement, plus significant parts Maastricht and Roermond) became part of Belgium, while the rest remained in the Netherlands.
See Wikipedia.