The Hesbaye (French, French pronunciation: [ɛsbɛ]), or Haspengouw (Dutch and Limburgish, Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɦɑspə(ŋ)ˌɣʌu]), is a traditional cultural and geophysical region in eastern Belgium. It is a loamy plateau region which forms a watershed between the Meuse and Scheldt drainage basins. It has been one of the main agricultural regions in what is now Belgium since before Roman times, and specifically named in records since the Middle Ages, when it was an important Frankish pagus or gau, called Hasbania in medieval Latin.