netherlands and holland?

The answerer red4tribe is technically completely correct, Holland is comprised of two (not one) provinces within the Netherlands, and they are easily the most internationally known provinces, containing the cities of Amsterdam, the Hague, etc.

However, it should be mentioned that while it is technically incorrect to refer to the Netherlands as Holland, it is widely done anyway, NOT just among foreigners, but also among Dutch people. For example, currently the Netherlands football team is playing in the european cup, but the traditional chant of the supporters is 'Hup Holland Hup!'

As far as I can tell, nobody really has a definitive answer on why so many dutch people are so acceptive of passively renaming their entire country after the two coastal provinces, but my personal theory is that since the Netherlands greatest historical strength was seapower, and that made North and South Holland two of the most powerful provinces in the country, other seafaring powers, chiefly the English, began to refer to the netherlands almost exclusively as Holland.

And given the somewhat odd love affair many dutch people have with all things english, they've adopted the practice themselves.

This is, mind you, only my theory.

(It probably also is influenced by the fact that Holland is just easier to say than Nederland)

Holland is actually the name for two provinces in the Netherlands.

The 13 Provinces in the Netherlands are:

Drenthe

Flevoland

Friesland

Gelderland

Groningen

Limburg

North-Brabant

North-Holland

Overijssel

South Holland

Utrecht

Zeeland

Holland is the name for North and South Holland together, the Netherlands is the name for the country as a whole.

Okay, ignore the answerer above me. Let me try to break this down for you.

The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg are known as the Low Countries or Benelux.

The Netherlands is a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands which includes The Netherlands, Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles, which are islands in the Caribbean.

North Holland and South Holland are two provinces within the Netherlands, and probably the two with the best known cities(Amsterdam, The Hague, Haarlem, Rotterdam etc.)

However, for some reason, people in English(Maybe other languages too, I don't know) sometimes refer to the Netherlands as Holland, which is incorrect but is often used.

The name Holland is in two of the provinces of the Netherlands, Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland.

People refer to the country as a whole as Holland, but the official name is the Netherlands. It's a monarchy.

Holland is a region of the country of the Netherlands.

I agree with red4trib..

However, on looking up the "Official destination guide of the Netherlands Board of Tourism" in search engines, I found it at:

http://www.holland.com/ !!!

The site starts off by saying "Welcome to Holland" and "The Netherlands has many cities, each with its own unique identity."

So Holland, Netherlands ?

Ahh, I then found this quote:

"The Netherlands is often called Holland, because of the role the two western provinces

North and South Holland played in its history. This region encompasses Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and other well-known Dutch cities such as Delft, Leiden and Haarlem. However, officially, it is the Kingdom of the Netherlands, consisting of three parts: the Netherlands itself in Western Europe and the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba in the Caribbean."

Holland is a part of the Netherlands.

Holland is a province, the official name for the country itself is the NETHERLANDS.

We often refer to our country as Nederland but sometimes we use Holland as well, for the love of whatever the ****, please stop posting these ridiculous questions. People are getting sick of seeing this question over and over again, just go and look at other people's questions.

The Netherlands is the country.

Holland is a province (composed of North Holland & South Holland) in the Netherlands.

It is like the USA (The Netherlands) and a USA state (a Dutch province)

example :

Washington State is a state in the USA.

Holland is a province in The Netherlands.

All Hollanders (natives of Holland) are DUtch but all Dutch are not Hollanders.

Hope this helps.

I believe that holland is a region within the Netherlands