Netherlands: Map & History
The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with overseas territories in the Caribbean.
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands consists of twelve provinces and three overseas special municipalities. European Netherlands has land borders with Germany to the east and with Belgium to the south, and a coastline to the north and west. It shares maritime borders with the United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium in the North Sea. The official language is Dutch, with West Frisian as a secondary official language in the province of Friesland. Dutch, English, and Papiamento are official languages in the Caribbean territories. People from the Netherlands are referred to as Dutch.
Modern Countries Once Part of Netherlands
At its mapped extent, Netherlands covered territory in 5 present-day countries. The period shown is when the mapped borders include that country, and the note says how much of it.
- Netherlands1815–2024 CE · nearly all
- Belgium1815–1829 CE · nearly all
- Luxembourg1815–1916 CE · nearly all
- Iran1895–1897 CE · most
- Indonesia1811–1949 CE · most
States and Provinces
Largest Present-Day Cities in Its Territory
Each opens on the live map inside Netherlands's borders of that time.
Derived by testing mapped cities against this polity's dated territorial polygons, so the list is indicative and follows the borders in the source dataset.
Netherlands in Depth
History
The oldest human (Neanderthal) traces in the Netherlands, believed to be about 250,000 years old, were found near Maastricht. At the end of the Ice Age, the nomadic late Upper Palaeolithic Hamburg culture (13,000–10,000 BC) hunted reindeer in the area, using spears. The later Ahrensburg culture (11,200–9,500 BC) used bow and arrow. From Mesolithic Maglemosian-like tribes (c. 8000 BC), the world's oldest canoe was found in Drenthe.
Indigenous late Mesolithic hunter-gatherers from the Swifterbant culture (c. 5600 BC), related to the southern Scandinavian Ertebølle culture, were strongly linked to rivers and open water.
Government and politics
The Netherlands has been a constitutional monarchy since 1815 and a parliamentary democracy since 1848. The Netherlands is described as a consociational state. Dutch politics and governance are characterised by an effort to achieve broad consensus on important issues. According to International IDEA's Global State of Democracy Indices and Democracy Tracker, the Netherlands performs in the high range on overall democratic measures, with particular strengths in political representation, including elected government and inclusive suffrage. Furthermore, the Netherlands was ranked as the 17th best electoral democracy in the world by V-Dem Democracy indices in 2023 and 9th most democratic country in the world by the Democracy Index (The Economist) in 2022.
Economy
Since the 16th century, shipping, fishing, agriculture, trade, and banking have been leading sectors. The Netherlands has a high level of economic freedom; it is one of the top countries in the Global Enabling Trade Report (2nd in 2016) and was ranked the fifth most competitive economy in the world by the Swiss International Institute for Management Development in 2017.
Key trading partners include Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Italy, China and Russia. The Netherlands is one of the world's 10 leading exporting countries. Foodstuffs form the largest industrial sector. Other major industries include chemicals, metallurgy, machinery, electrical goods, trade, services and tourism.
Culture
The Dutch are proud of their cultural heritage, rich history in art, and involvement in international affairs. A predominant attitude is to think of the nation as being "both tolerant and cosmopolitan." A Dutch saying indicating their sense of national pride in their reclamation of land from the sea and marshes is "God created the world, but the Dutch created the Netherlands."
Dutch manners are open and direct with a no-nonsense attitude—informality combined with adherence to basic behaviour.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Netherlands (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Netherlands: Key Facts
| Capital | Amsterdam |
|---|---|
| Official language | Dutch |
| Form of government | parliamentary monarchy, constitutional monarchy |
| Founded | 19 January 1795 |
Preceded by
- United Kingdom of the Netherlands
Facts from Wikidata Q55 (CC0).
Interactive map
Netherlands on the World War II map →
See Netherlands’s territory change day by day from 10 May 1940, with every battle it fought.
Netherlands Map Over Time
Dated world maps on which Netherlands appears, with the other states of the time.
Netherlands Timeline
Key historical inflections from foundation to peak territorial expansion
Expansion to peak recorded area of 2,061,503 km² in 1926 CE.
Netherlands: Frequently Asked Questions
When did Netherlands exist?
Netherlands is dated to 1811 CE – 2024 CE, in the Industrial era.
What was the capital of Netherlands?
The capital of Netherlands was Amsterdam.
How large was Netherlands at its peak?
At its peak in 1926 Netherlands covered about 2,061,503 km².
How did the map of Netherlands change over time?
Netherlands appears on 4 dated world maps in the atlas, from 1850 CE to 1945 CE. Each shows its borders in that year next to the other states of the time.
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