Netherrealm

A quarter of this country lies below sea level

For centuries the Dutch have won land from the water: building dikes, draining lakes and pumping polders dry with windmills. This site is a short introduction to the country’s history, landscape and culture.

Cross-section of the land from the North Sea inland Sea level (NAP) North Sea Dunes Polder, −5 m River above the polder
Not to scale. Dunes hold back the sea, the polder lies below sea level, and the river flows between dikes above the polder. The orange line is NAP, the zero point for all Dutch elevations. Windmills once pumped the water out of the polders.

The country at a glance

Capital
Amsterdam
Seat of government
The Hague
Population
about 18 million
Area
41,500 km², about a fifth of it water
Languages
Dutch; West Frisian is also official in the province of Friesland
Currency
euro (the guilder until 2002)
Government
constitutional monarchy, King Willem-Alexander
Provinces
12
Neighbours
Germany, Belgium and the North Sea

Holland or the Netherlands?

Holland is just two of the twelve provinces: North Holland and South Holland. Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague are all there, so the name stuck to the whole country. The state itself is called the Netherlands, the “low countries”. Since 2020 the Dutch government has used only that name abroad.

The kingdom is bigger than the country

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is made up of four countries: the Netherlands itself and three Caribbean islands, Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten. Three more Caribbean islands, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, are special municipalities of the Netherlands.

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