ARE Holland and the Netherlands the same country, and why are the people called Dutch? - B Dobson, Woodland, County Durham.

The Netherlands is often called Holland but they are quite different. The Netherlands is made up of eleven provinces and only two, Noordholland and Zuidholland (North and South Holland) can be properly called Holland. Powerful cities like Amsterdam and political domination in the past helped to make Holland the most famous of the Netherland provinces.

In the past, Netherlands referred to a much wider area than it does today and the plural name is a clue that it referred to several countries and once included the regions of Belgium.

The Counts of Holland trace their origins to the ninth Century, gaining great power in the tenth Century after enduring the ravages of the Vikings. At this time Holland only encompassed the present Noordholland, but in the south, Zuidholland was established in 1018 after land was captured from the Bishops of Utrecht. In the North, the Dutch also expanded into the territory of a people called the Frisians.

In 1423, the countries of the Netherlands, including Holland, came under the rule of the Burgundians and, through them, the region passed to the Habsburgs in 1482 and subsequently to the Kings of Spain in 1555. Later, Holland and the six northern provinces of the Netherlands gained independence.

It was after this period that Holland, and particularly Amsterdam, came to dominate the Netherlands. In the 1680s, an alliance with Britain was formed after William of Orange and his wife Mary became King and Queen of England. But, in the early 19th Century, Holland was again under the threat of French dominance. In 1806, the whole of the Netherlands region came under the rule of Napoleon, under the title Holland. But, by 1814 the northern and southern Netherlands had emerged as a united kingdom of the Netherlands, with Belgium gaining independence in 1830.

Today, most Netherlanders speak Dutch, a Germanic language with a name that may be related to the German word Deutsch. On the whole, language is a major unifying feature of the Netherlands.

Published: Monday, March 4, 2002

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