Netherlands

The Netherlands (Nederland in Dutch) is situated in the far north-western region of Europe, and has a total area of about 41,500 square kilometres.  It is bordered to the north and west by the North Sea, to the east by Germany and to the south by Belgium.  For further details, see the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands.

The country is split into two, with very low-lying ground to the west and north.  Most of this area is at most only 1 metre above sea level, with much actually below.  This land includes large areas reclaimed from the sea, protected by an extensive system of dikes.

To the east and south lies relatively higher land, especially in the Limburg enclave in the far south, which abuts the foothills of the plateau of the Ardennes –mainly composed of  sedimentary rocks.

Running through the central part of the country are a series of large terminal morraines, on a north-south axis, formed when the ice sheet retreated at the end of the last Ice Age.  The most extensive area of these low hills is the Veluwe, north of the city of Arnhem.  This is an area of ponds, sand dunes, beech forest and heathland.  The highest point is the Signal Imbosch (110m), which has a prominence of 100 metres.

There are also a series of lower morraine-hills south of Arnhem and the River Waal, reaching their highest point on the Wylerberg (94m).  This has a prominence of about 70 metres. 

The highest point in the Netherlands (in the Province of Limburg) is the Vaalserberg (322.5m), which lies where the borders of the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium meet at 50°45’10" N and 6°01’05" E.  This point is, however, on the north-west ridge of a hill, the summit of which lies in Germany.  This is the Aachener Wald c.365m - prominence c.90m, a foothill of the Ardennes.  The Vaalserberg itself has no prominence at all, as it is on the end of a descending ridge. 

The highest summit on what can be considered to be a distinct and separate hill is Schimperbosch (311m - prominence c.38m) at 50°45’10" N and 5°59’42" E, two kilometres west of Vaalserberg on the Dutch/Belgian frontier. 

The most prominent hill in the Netherlands is St Pietersberg (171m - prominence c.118m), also in the Province of Limburg, in the outskirts of the city of Maastricht. 

There are only two hills in the country which have at least 100m of prominence, neither of which reaches even 200m in height.

A list of the highest points in the Netherlands can be found at:  http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lijst_van_hoogste_punten_in_Nederland. 

A list of the highest points in the Province of Limburg can be found

at:  http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lijst_van_heuvels_in_Zuid-Limburg_(Nederland).

A list of the highest points in the Netherlands in the Province of Overijssel can be found

at:  http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lijst_van_hoogste_punten_in_Overijssel .

The two Dutch hills of 100m of prominence are also included in the downloadable leaflet 'Prominent Hills of Benelux', which can be downloaded from the Belgium page on this website.

 A list of the hills of at least 100 metres of prominence is downloadable below

 Hills listed here:

• Hills of the Netherlands to 100m of drop/prominence - see attachment below.