Batavia (; , ) is a historical and geographical region in the Netherlands, forming large fertile islands in the river delta formed by the waters of the Rhine (Dutch: Rijn) and Meuse (Dutch: Maas) rivers. During the Roman empire, it was an important frontier region and source of imperial soldiers. Its name is possibly pre-Roman. Administratively, the modern version, Betuwe, is a part of the modern province of Gelderland and although the rivers and provinces have changed over history it is roughly the same. Today it has the Waal river on the south and the Lek and Nederrijn in the north (all rivers which start in the delta itself and are branches of the Rhine or Maas). Historically, the former municipality of Rijnwaarden belonged to Betuwe, now in Zevenaar, which was cut off by the building of the Pannerdens Kanaal. A major freight railroad, the Betuweroute, passes through the Betuwe. It was opened in 2007 after many years of controversy. The Betuwe region is divided into 9 municipalities: Lingewaard, Arnhem (southern part), Nijmegen (northern part), Overbetuwe, Neder-Betuwe, Buren, Tiel, Culemborg and West Betuwe. Pre-Roman The "Batavian island" in the Rhine river was mentioned by Julius Caesar in his commentary Commentarii de Bello Gallico. The island's easternmost point is at a split in the Rhine, one arm being the Waal and the other the Lower Rhine/Old Rhine (hence the Latin name Insula Batavorum, "Island of the Batavi"). Much later Tacitus wrote that the people living there had originally been a tribe of the Chatti, a tribe in Germany never mentioned by Caesar, who were forced by internal dissension to move to their new home. Tacitus also reports that before their arrival the area had been "an uninhabited district on the extremity of the coast of Gaul, and also of a neighbouring island, surrounded by the ocean in front, and by the river Rhine in the rear and on either side". In a more detailed description he writes: The island of the Batavi was the appointed rendezvous because of its easy landing-places, and its convenience for receiving the army and carrying the war across the river. For the Rhine after flowing continuously in a single channel or encircling merely insignificant islands, divides itself, so to say, where the Batavian territory begins, into two rivers, retaining its name and the rapidity of its course in the stream which washes Germany, till it mingles