Seventeen Provinces

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Seventeen Provinces Zeventien Provinciën (Dutch)
1549–1581
Cross of Burgundy Coat of arms
Map of the Seventeen Provinces, 1581 secession outlined in red
Status	Personal union of Imperial fiefs
Capital	Brussels
Common languages	Dutch Low Saxon Frisian Walloon Luxembourgish French
Religion	Catholic (official) Protestant
Government	Monarchy
Historical era	Early modern period
• Pragmatic Sanction of 1549	1549
• Dutch Act of Abjuration	1581
ISO 3166 code	NL
Preceded by Succeeded by Habsburg Netherlands Dutch Republic Spanish Netherlands

The Seventeen Provinces were the Imperial states of the Habsburg Netherlands in the 16th century. They roughly covered the Low Countries, i.e., what is now the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and most of the French departments of Nord (French Flanders and French Hainaut) and Pas-de-Calais (Artois). Also within this area were semi-independent fiefdoms, mainly ecclesiastical ones, such as Liège, Cambrai and Stavelot-Malmedy.

The Seventeen Provinces arose from the Burgundian Netherlands, a number of fiefs held by the House of Valois-Burgundy and inherited by the House of Habsburg in 1482, and held by Habsburg Spain from 1556. Starting in 1512, the Provinces formed the major part of the Burgundian Circle. In 1581, the Seven United Provinces seceded to form the Dutch Republic.