Nijmegen sits on the south bank of the river Waal, near the Dutch border with Germany. At a hundred feet (31.6 m) in elevation, it stands well over the delta flatland, which is why Nijmegen has such a long history. The Romans liked it, when they moved in amongst the Batavians. Nijmegen became a city, a major trading center and military outpost. Well, it wasn't an outpost—it was part of the empire. The "great rivers" passing below to the North ensured that this was the extent of that empire. Today, Nijmegen is one of the few places in Holland where visitors could go too fast downhill on a bicycle.