The Netherlands, informally Holland, is a country primarily located in Western Europe and partly in the Caribbean. It consists of 12 provinces that border Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest. The country’s official language is Dutch, with West Frisian as a secondary official language in the province of Friesland. The Netherlands has been a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a unitary structure since 1848.
About Netherlands in brief
The Netherlands, informally Holland, is a country primarily located in Western Europe and partly in the Caribbean. It consists of 12 provinces that border Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest. In the Caribbean, it consists of three special municipalities: the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba. The country’s official language is Dutch, with West Frisian as a secondary official language in the province of Friesland. Dutch Low Saxon and Limburgish are recognised regional languages, while Sinte Romani and Yiddish are non-territorial languages. The four largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. Amsterdam is the country’s most populous city and nominal capital, while The Hague holds the seat of the States General, Cabinet and Supreme Court. The Netherlands has been a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a unitary structure since 1848. It is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. It hosts several intergovernmental organisations and international courts, many of which are centered in The Hague, which is consequently dubbed ‘the world’s legal capital’ Netherlands literally means ‘lower countries’ in reference to its low elevation and flat topography, with only about 50% of its land exceeding 1 metre above sea level, and nearly 17% falling below sea level. With a population of 17.4 million people, all living within a total area of roughly 41,800 square kilometres, the Netherlands is the 12th most densely populated country in the world and the 2nd most densely populate country in European Union, with a density of 521 per square kilometre.
The region called the Low Countries and the Country of the Netherlands, have the same toponymy. The Romans made a distinction between the Roman provinces of Low Countries and Superior Duchia in the 10th century to refer to the governing power of the military power in the region. The term ‘Low Countries’ returns to the region again to refer the region in the 20th century when the Germanic city of Duchy of Lorraine was established. In English, Holland is also called Holland or the Low countries, whereas the term ‘Holland’ is used as the demonym and adjectival form of Holland. In 2019, it ranked tenth on the human development index and fifth on the 2019 World Happiness Index. It allowed women’s suffrage in 1919, before becoming the world’s first country to legalise same-sex marriage in 2001. Its mixed-market advanced economy had the eleventh-highest per capita income globally. It ranks among the highest in international indexes of press freedom, economic freedom, human development and quality of life, as and happiness. The Dutch are the world’s second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products, owing to its fertile soil, mild climate, intensive agriculture and inventiveness.
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This page is based on the article Netherlands published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 14, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
