Qualla: Liemers

Liemers: Introduction

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. The Romans drew their northern frontier across what is now the Liemers, and almost two thousand years later a Dutch household-goods chain drew its catchment area across roughly the same line. The name Liemers, scholars argue, comes from Limes - the Latin word for the border of the Roman Empire, which ran along the Rhine here, with the legions south of the river and Germanic tribes to the north. The frontier moved on. The region kept the name, kept the river, and now keeps something of its old border-zone character: too small to be a province, too distinct to be just another corner of Gelderland, sandwiched between Arnhem and the German line, with a flat-pack furniture warehouse where a fort used to be.

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Image: Public domain

Liemers: The Island and the Furniture Hub

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Arch, Public domain. The Liemers consists, depending on how strictly you count, of four or five municipalities: Duiven, Westervoort, Zevenaar, Rijnwaarden (which has since merged into Zevenaar), and Montferland - the last of which is not officially Liemers but is generally treated as such by people w...

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Image: Arch | Public domain

Liemers: Montferland's Hill

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Arch, Public domain. Compared to the rest of the Netherlands, Montferland is hilly - which in Dutch terms means that it has slopes you actually notice while pedaling. The municipality was created on January 1, 2005, by merging Bergh and Didam. Bergh, probably named for its castle, was the seat of the...

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Image: Arch | Public domain

Liemers: The Cyclone of 1925

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pimvantend, CC BY-SA 3.0. On August 10, 1925, a cyclone - in Dutch the Stormramp van Borculo - tore through the eastern Netherlands and destroyed most of the historic center of Didam. The same storm leveled large parts of Borculo, gives the disaster its Dutch name, and remains one of the most damaging tor...

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Image: Pimvantend | CC BY-SA 3.0

Liemers: Westervoort's Bridge

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kennyannydenny, CC BY-SA 3.0. Westervoort, on the west edge of the Liemers, is mentioned in a 726 document, which makes it the oldest known settlement in the region. It belonged to the Bergh lands until 1735, when the city of Arnhem bought it. For most of its history, getting to or from Westervoort meant taki...

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Image: Kennyannydenny | CC BY-SA 3.0

Liemers: The Achterhoek's Front Porch

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gouwenaar, Public domain. Geographically and culturally, the Liemers sits in a hinge. The west of the region connects easily to Arnhem and Nijmegen, the two big Gelderland cities. The north opens onto the Achterhoek, the deeply rural eastern Netherlands - Doesburg with its medieval walls, Doetinchem with ...

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Image: Gouwenaar | Public domain