Betuwe is an area in the Netherlands in the province of Gelderland. Tacitus knew it as Insula Batavorum ("Island of the Batavians," the Germanic tribe from which the modern name is derived) and indeed it could be considered a large river island, but nowadays it hardly ever is viewed as such (with the exception of the last months of World War II (October 1944 - June 1945) when it became known as "Men's Island" or "Manneneiland" due to the evacuation of all civilian population during Operation Market Garden, leaving only soldiers behind). When the Pannerdens Kanaal was dug between 1701 and 1709, the easternmost tip of the Betuwe (including the towns of Pannerden and Lobith) was cut off from the rest of the region.
The Betuwe is situated between the Waal and Rhine/Lek rivers, surrounding the beautiful Linge stream, and is famous for its fruit production. The largest and most important city in the area is Tiel.
In 1995, a large part of this area had to be evacuated because the rivers threatened to overflow. Fortunately this did not happen, but it raised the debate again about whether to reinforce the dikes or not.
A major freight railroad, the Betuweroute, passes through the Betuwe. It was opened in 2007 after many years of controversy.
Towns in the Betuwe are:
- Buren
- Culemborg
- Driel
- Elst
- Geldermalsen
- Gendt
- Huissen
- Randwijk
- Tiel
- Tuyll or Tuil, seat of the court of the Middle Ages region of Teisterbant, which included today's Betuwe
The Betuwe region is divided into 11 municipalities: Overbetuwe, Neder-Betuwe, Lingewaard, Arnhem (southern part), Nijmegen (northern part), Tiel, Culemborg, Neerijnen, Geldermalsen, Lingewaal & Buren.
"De Betuwe" is also the name of a jam factory in the town of Tiel. The factory became famous because of its merchandise in which a figure called Flipje was starring. Every object related to Flipje has become a collector's item in the Netherlands.
