The country
05 Sep 2008
The Netherlands is a kingdom. Its official name is the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
It consists of the Netherlands itself and the six islands of Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. The country’s formal name is ‘Nederland’, meaning ‘low country’, which refers to the fact that much of the land is at or below sea level.
Holland, or the Netherlands?
Today, the Netherlands is also sometimes called ’Holland‘, a name that is derived from the names of the two western coastal provinces, North and South Holland, which were the most developed and wealthiest part of the country in the 17th century and played a dominant role in the country's history.
If you are going to study outside of the provinces of North and South Holland, try and use ‘the Netherlands’. You’ll notice you’ll make more friends this way.
