Country Profile: Counties & Towns

The Netherlands is often called Holland, which is formally incorrect as North and South Holland are actually two of its twelve provinces! The country is divided into twelve provinces: Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland, Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe,Overijssel, Gelderland, Nord Brabant, Utrecht, Zeeland, Limburg en Flevoland. 

Twelve provinces 

According to recent Demographics The Netherlands is with over 16 million inhabitants the twenty-fourth most densely populated country in the world. The officially spoken languages are Dutch and West Frisian (Frysk), a language mostly spoken in the Northern province of Friesland (Fryslân). Another Dutch dialect granted the status of regional language is Limburgish (Limburgs), which is spoken in the South-Eastern province of Limburg. Find more key figures on the Statistics Netherlands homepage.

Read more information about the province you are visiting on www3.provincies.nl

Important cities

Amsterdam is the capital of The Netherlands, situated in Noord Holland. The Hague (Den Haag or officially adressed as: s'Gravenhage) is the city where the government is located. Other large and important cities are Rotterdam and Utrecht. Rotterdam is one of the biggest harbours of the world, but also at the terrain of architecture and culture, a city of the world. Those four cities are, together with Haarlem, Leiden, Delft and Gouda , called the “Randstad”. The agricultural area between these cities is called "Het Groene Hart" (the green heart). The North, East and South of the country are less densely populated and do have more agricultural and natural character. Favourite cities in these areas are Groningen in the North, Nijmegen and Arnhem in the East and Maastricht in the South.

Water management

For many centuries the Dutch fought back the many floods, conquering water by building dikes for the peatlands as well as for the densely populated clayey areas inland. The introduction of the windmill between 1250 and 1600 came just in time to ensure a continuous use of the subsiding agricultural land and was also used for the drainage of lakes. These windmills remain the national emblem of the Netherlands and can be seen all across the country. Read more about the history of Dutch water management on the Waterland homepage...(click on Dutch Water Management - Water History).

Maritime climate

The Netherlands has a moderate maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters, with a predominant wind direction from South-West. The average temperature is 2° C (36° F) in January and 19° C (66° F) in July, with an annual average of about 10° C (50° F). Clouds generally appear every day, and in the winter months fog often abounds, while rainfall occurs frequently. Keep your rain jacket with you all year round as rainfall might surprise you quite often in this country.