Whole-Netherlands
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For information about the confusion about the Whole Netherlands, the Low Countries and the Netherlands, see Netherlands (terminology).
The Whole-Netherlands (Dutch: Heel-Nederland) refers to the reunification of the Low Countries. Several viewpoints are or were in vogue as to what the Low Countries are.
- For most supporters, it is the territory of the states of Belgium, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands, which can be compared it with the Benelux, but the Whole-Netherlands is an idea that also wants to unite the countries politically, in a federation or confederation.
- For others it is the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, which excludes the German-speaking East Cantons.
- For some, it is used in an irredentist sense to encompass the Low Countries at their largest extent, namely approximating the Seventeen Provinces and the Bishopric of Liège before 1581.
Sometimes, no distinction is made between the Whole-Netherlands and the Greater Netherlands or (in a more culturalist/nationalistic context) Dietsland. The two terms are not synonymous however, the Greater Netherlands only covers the area where Dutch is the main language, i.e. the Netherlands and Flanders (the northern, Dutch-speaking half of Belgium). Aside from rearranging modern borders, the next problem with the Whole-Netherlands is language: reuniting the Benelux, "reunites" five official languages, Dutch, Frisian, French, German, and Luxembourgish.
