Kaatsheuvel (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈkaːtsˌɦøːvəl]) is a town in the province of North Brabant, Netherlands situated along highways N261 and N628. With a population of roughly 16,600, it is the largest town in and the capital of the municipality of Loon op Zand, which also consists of the villages of De Moer and Loon op Zand.

As Kaatsheuvel is a municipality capital, it has a town hall, located in the town centre. The town hall was torn down in 2010 as part of an ambitious plan to build a lively new town centre. A new town centre has been built, with the title Bruisend Dorpshart (Sparkling Village's Heart). Kaatsheuvel is internationally known for the Efteling theme park and as a gateway to National Park Loonse en Drunense Duinen.

The Netherlands traditionally consisted of seven provinces. The current province of North Brabant, in which Kaatsheuvel is located, used to be a stand-alone Duchy. The Duchy consisted of a large area with the most important cities: Brussels, 's-Hertogenbosch, Antwerp, Breda, Leuven and Maastricht. Under the leadership of the Duke and his counts, these large cities were supplied by the countryside. Although the oldest source speaks of 'Kaatsheuvel' dating from the 14th century, Venloon, the country now known as Loon op Zand, Kaatsheuvel and De Moer was already mentioned in the year 1233. In 1269 "the village of Venloon with its moors, nuts and wild lands" was loaned by Jan I van Brabant to Willem van Horne. This gave Venloon its first landlord and "fiefdom Venloon" was born.

In the 14th century there was an economic growth in Heerlijkheid Venloon. The peat soil turned out to be very suitable for peat extraction. Peat was a type of soil that could serve as a fuel to heat houses. The habitable area of Venloon grew further and further, creating different communities. That is also how the Kaatsheuvel community came into being. The main task of the inhabitants was peat stabbing. This meant that the peat soil had to be pulled out of the soil, dried, processed and transported.

In the 15th century, most of the peat land was silted up. This ensured that the income from peat extraction was considerably reduced. Many Kaatsheuvel citizens therefore took the initiative to secure their first life needs. They already owned a nice piece of land, so with a small amount of cattle they could provide for their own necessities. Agriculture was fairly primitive, which meant that the agricultural land was used only once. The woody area was also very suitable as a hunting ground, which made hunting a source of income.

The 80-year war came to an end on 15 May 1648 with the Peace of Munster. The peace between Spain and the Republic of the United Provinces led to a division of Brabant. The south of the duchy belonged to the Spanish Netherlands, while the north, Staats-Brabant, became part of the Republic of the United Netherlands.

State Brabant was a so-called "Generality Country", unlike other areas, State Brabant was not recognized as an equivalent province of the Republic and therefore did not get its own government.

During this period, the whole of Brabant was systematically stripped of money by the Republic, so that there was hardly any economic development. The Republic wanted to turn Brabant into a Protestant province before it was recognized for the time being. The people from Brabant, however, saw all the merits go to Holland, so that they had little sympathy for the States General. The population secretly continued to practice the Catholic faith by converting barns into hiding churches. The Kaatsheuvel community had no church of its own at the time and had to go to the shelter church in the White Castle in Loon op Zand.