Nieuwlande is on peat land in the south of Drenthe. It arose where five municipalities meet: Oosterhesselen (by far the largest part), Dalen, Coevorden, Hardenberg, and Hoogeveen. For this reason a book about Nieuwlande's history of the village had the catching title "Nieuwlande, village with five burgomasters". This situation obstructed to a great extent the extension possibilities and an efficient governing board: for many municipalities it was but an unimportant peripheral area. Therefore, at the municipal division of Drenthe on 1 January 1998 it was decided for the village to be in one municipality, by moving over to the municipality border of Hoogeveen about 1.5 kilometre to the east. The small part in the municipality of Hardenberg (province Overijssel) was, however, not affected by this; and also beyond the new municipality border some inhabitants of Nieuwlande still lived in the new fusion municipality Coevorden. The border now, however, no longer goes straight through the village.