Clear language and cultural differences can be seen north and south of the ideological boundary that runs from the tip of Zeeland to Almelo. This can be traced back to the Eighty Years' War, in the 16th and 17th century, a religious war in which a division soon emerged: in the north, people fought for the Protestant faith and the deposition of the Spanish king, while in the south, they remained loyal to the king and their Catholic faith.