Provinces of the Netherlands

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Amsterdam Almelo Almere Amersfoort Arnhem Assen Breda Delft Delfzijl Den Helder Dordrecht Enschede Haarlem Hilversum Maastricht Middelburg Zwolle Lelystad Leiden Katwijk Nijmegen Eindhoven Vlissingen Rotterdam Leeuwarden Heerenveen Groningen Emmen Almelo Apeldoorn Alkmaar Zaanstad Tilburg Venlo Heerlen Drenthe Flevoland Friesland Gelderland Groningen Limburg North Brabant North Holland Overijssel South Holland Utrecht Zeeland
Map of the Netherlands, linking to the province articles; red dots mark provincial capitals and black dots other notable cities or towns.
Netherlands
Azure, billetty Or a lion with a coronet Or armed and langued Gules holding in his dexter paw a sword Argent hilted Or and in the sinister paw seven arrows Argent pointed and bound together Or. [The seven arrows stand for the seven provinces of the Union of Utrecht.] The shield is crowned with the (Dutch) royal crown and supported by two lions Or armed and langued gules. They stand on a scroll Azure with the text (Or) "Je Maintiendrai" (French for "I will maintain".)
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A Dutch province represents the administrative layer in between the national government and the local municipalities, having the responsibility for matters of subnational or regional importance. The government of each province consists of three major parts: the Provinciale Staten which is the provincial parliament elected every four years; the Gedeputeerde Staten, a college elected from among the members of the Provinciale Staten and charged with most executive tasks; and the Commissaris van de Koning, who is appointed by the Crown and presides over the Gedeputeerde Staten.

List of provinces

The modern Netherlands is divided into twelve provinces (provincies in Dutch) and three overseas public bodies (openbare lichamen) that are not part of any province. The twelve provinces are listed below.

Province Flag Arms Capital Largest city King's Commissioner Area[2] Population[3] Population density
Drenthe Flag of Drenthe Coat of arms of Drenthe Assen Assen Jacques Tichelaar 70032680000000000002,680 km2 (1,030 sq mi) 489,077 7002182000000000000182 /km2 (470 /sq mi)
Flevoland Flag of Flevoland Coat of arms of Flevoland Lelystad Almere Leen Verbeek 70032412000000000002,412 km2 (931 sq mi) 399,673 7002166000000000000166 /km2 (430 /sq mi)
Friesland[upper-alpha 1] Flag of Friesland Coat of arms of Friesland Leeuwarden Leeuwarden John Jorritsma 70035749000000000005,749 km2 (2,220 sq mi) 646,354 7002112000000000000112 /km2 (290 /sq mi)
Gelderland Flag of Gelderland Coat of arms of Gelderland Arnhem Nijmegen Clemens Cornielje 70035136000000000005,136 km2 (1,983 sq mi) 2,019,296 7002393000000000000393 /km2 (1,020 /sq mi)
Groningen [upper-alpha 2] Flag of Groningen Coat of arms of Groningen Groningen Groningen Max van den Berg 70032960000000000002,960 km2 (1,140 sq mi) 582,846 7002197000000000000197 /km2 (510 /sq mi)
Limburg Flag of Limburg
Coat of arms of Limburg
 Maastricht Maastricht Theo Bovens[upper-alpha 3] 70032209000000000002,209 km2 (853 sq mi) 1,121,021 7002508000000000000508 /km2 (1,320 /sq mi)
North Brabant Flag of North Brabant Coat of arms of North Brabant 's-Hertogenbosch[upper-alpha 4] Eindhoven Wim van de Donk 70035082000000000005,082 km2 (1,962 sq mi) 2,479,045 7002488000000000000488 /km2 (1,260 /sq mi)
North Holland Flag of North Holland
Coat of arms of North Holland
 Haarlem[upper-alpha 5] Amsterdam[upper-alpha 5] Johan Remkes 70034091000000000004,091 km2 (1,580 sq mi) 2,739,032 7002670000000000000670 /km2 (1,700 /sq mi)
Overijssel Flag of Overijssel Coat of arms of Overijssel Zwolle Enschede Ank Bijleveld 70033421000000000003,421 km2 (1,321 sq mi) 1,139,635 7002333000000000000333 /km2 (860 /sq mi)
South Holland Flag of South Holland Coat of arms of South Holland The Hague[upper-alpha 6] Rotterdam Jan Franssen 70033419000000000003,419 km2 (1,320 sq mi) 3,575,451 70031046000000000001,046 /km2 (2,710 /sq mi)
Utrecht Flag of Utrecht Coat of arms of Utrecht Utrecht Utrecht Willibrord van Beek 70031449000000000001,449 km2 (559 sq mi) 1,252,233 7002864000000000000864 /km2 (2,240 /sq mi)
Zeeland Flag of Zeeland Coat of arms of Zeeland Middelburg Middelburg Han Polman 70032933000000000002,933 km2 (1,132 sq mi) 380,783 7002130000000000000130 /km2 (340 /sq mi)
  1. ↑ Fryslân in West Frisian
  2. ↑ Grönnen in Gronings; Grinslân in West Frisian
  3. ↑ The function is titled governor in Limburg
  4. ↑ Also Den Bosch in Dutch.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Amsterdam is the national capital of the Netherlands.[1] Haarlem is, however, the capital of the province in which both Amsterdam and Haarlem are situated.
  6. ↑ Den Haag or ​'s-Gravenhage in Dutch. The Dutch parliament and the Dutch government are located in The Hague along with the Supreme Court and the Council of State.[1]

Public bodies - Caribbean Netherlands

The three islands Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba became as public bodies parts of the Netherlands proper on October 10, 2010, but are not part of any province. Collectively they are officially known as Caribbean Netherlands (Caribisch Nederland).[4] Although part of the Netherlands, these special municipalities will remain overseas territories[5] of the European Union until 2015.[6]

In the absence of a King's Commissioner the Islands have a joint "Kingdom Representative," so the official Dutch translation for the Rijksvertegenwoordiger voor de openbare lichamen Bonaire, Sint Eustatius en Saba, who has an office on each of the Islands. In 2011 Wilbert Stolte, a member of the conservative CDA party and former municipal politician in The Hague, has been appointed to hold this office for six years.

Flag Arms Special municipality Capital Lieutenant Governor Area(km²)[7] Population[8] Density (per km²)
Flag of Bonaire
Coat of arms of Bonaire
 Bonaire (Papiamento: Boneiru) Kralendijk Lydia Emerencia 294 15,414 52
Flag of Sint Eustatius
Coat of arms of Sint Eustatius
 Sint Eustatius Oranjestad Gerald Berkel 21 3,300 157
Flag of Saba
Coat of arms of Saba
 Saba The Bottom Jonathan Johnson 13 2,000 154

History

Flags of the provinces at the Binnenhof Hofvijver, The Hague

Nearly all Dutch provinces can trace their origin to a medieval county or duchy, as can the provinces of regions in Belgium. Their status changed when they came under a single ruler who centralised their administration, reducing their powers. There were 17 in total: from these unified Netherlands, seven northern provinces formed the Republic of the Seven United Provinces in the 17th century, namely Holland, Zeeland, Gelderland, Utrecht, Friesland, Overijssel and Groningen. The Republic's lands also included Drenthe (one of the 17, but without the autonomous status of the others), and parts of Brabant, Limburg and Flanders, which were considered to be "conquered lands" and were governed directly by the Staten-Generaal, the parliament, hence their name Generality Lands. They were called Staats-Brabant, Staats-Limburg and Staats-Vlaanderen, meaning "state-owned". Each of these "Netherlands" had a high degree of autonomy, cooperating with each other mainly on defense and foreign relations, but otherwise keeping to their own affairs.

On January 1, 1796, under the Batavian Republic, Drenthe and Staats-Brabant became the eighth and ninth provinces of the Netherlands. The latter, which had been known as Bataafs Brabant, Batavian Brabant, changed its name to Noord Brabant, North Brabant, in 1815 when it became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, which also contained (then) South Brabant, a province now in Belgium. This new unified state featured the provinces in their modern form, as non-autonomous subdivisions of the national state, and again numbering 17, though they were not all the same as the 16th century ones. In 1839, following the separation of Belgium, the original single province of Limburg was divided between the two countries, each now having a province called Limburg. A year later, Holland, the largest and most populous of the Dutch provinces, was also split into two provinces, for a total of 11. The 12th member was to be Flevoland, a province consisting almost entirely of reclaimed land, established on January 1, 1986.

French Period

During the Batavian Republic, the Netherlands was from 1798 to 1801 completely reorganised into eight new departments, most named after rivers, inspired by the French revolutionary example, in an attempt to do away with the old semi-autonomous status of the provinces. They are listed below, with their capitals and the territory of the former provinces that they mostly incorporated:

Batavian Departments
English name Dutch name Capital Contained the territory of
Department of the Ems Departement van de Eems Leeuwarden Northern Friesland, Groningen
Department of the Old IJssel Departement van de Oude IJssel Zwolle Southern Friesland, Drenthe, Overijssel, Northern Gelderland
Department of the Rhine Departement van de Rijn Arnhem Central Gelderland, eastern Utrecht
Department of the Amstel Departement van de Amstel Amsterdam The area around Amsterdam
Department of Texel Departement van Texel Alkmaar Northern Holland minus Amsterdam, northwestern Utrecht
Department of the Delft Departement van de Delft Delft Southern Holland up to the Meuse, southwestern Utrecht
Department of the Dommel Departement van de Dommel 's-Hertogenbosch The eastern part of Batavian Brabant, southern Gelderland
Department of the Scheldt and Meuse Departement van de Schelde en Maas Middelburg Zeeland, Holland south of the Meuse and the western part of Batavian Brabant

After only three years, following a coup d'etat, the borders of the former provinces were restored, though not their autonomous status. They were now also called "departments" and Drenthe was added to Overijssel. In 1806 the Kingdom of Holland replaced the republic to further French interests. It was during this administration that Holland was first split in two, with the department of Amstelland to the north and that of Maasland to the south. East Frisia, then as now in Germany, was added to the kingdom as a department in 1807 and Drenthe split off again making a total of 11 departments.

Map of the subdivisions of the Netherlands during French administration. Note that East Frisia is not included in this (later) map.

When the Netherlands finally did become fully part of France in 1810, the departments of the kingdom and their borders were largely maintained, with some joined together. They were however nearly all renamed, again mainly after rivers, though the names differed from their Batavian counterparts. Following are their names and the modern day province they corresponded for the most part to:

French Departments in the Netherlands
English name French name Dutch name Modern province(s)
Department of the Zuiderzee Département du Zuyderzée Departement van de Zuiderzee North Holland & Utrecht
Department of the Mouths of the Meuse Département des Bouches-de-la-Meuse Departement van de Monden van de Maas South Holland
Department of the Mouths of the Scheldt Département des Bouches-de-l'Escaut Departement van de Monden van de Schelde Zeeland
Department of the Two Nethes Département des Deux-Nèthes Departement van de Twee Nethen Western North Brabant & Antwerp
Department of the Mouths of the Rhine Département des Bouches-du-Rhin Departement van de Monden van de Rijn Eastern North Brabant & southern Gelderland
Department of the Upper IJssel Département de l'Yssel-Supérieur Departement van de Boven IJssel Northern Gelderland
Department of the Mouths of the IJssel Département des Bouches-de-l'Yssel Departement van de Monden van de IJssel Overijssel
Department of Frisia Département de la Frise Departement Friesland Friesland
Department of the Western Ems Département de l'Ems-Occidental Departement van de Wester Eems Groningen & Drenthe
Department of the Eastern Ems Département de l'Ems-Oriental Departement van de Ooster Eems (East-Frisia)

With the defeat and withdrawal of the French in 1813, the old provinces and their names were re-established, Holland was reunited and East-Frisia went its separate way. The 17 provinces of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands were for a significant part based on the former French departments and their borders, in particular in what would later become Belgium.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Daum, Andreas (2005). Berlin - Washington, 1800–2000 Capital Cities, Cultural Representation, and National Identities. Cambridge University Press. pp. 13, 38. ISBN 0521841178. "Amsterdam is the statuary capital of the Netherlands, while the Dutch government resides in De Hague. (sic) (p. 13) The Netherlands' seat of government is The Hague but its capital is bustling Amsterdam, the national cultural center. (p. 38)" 
  2. ↑ "Regionale kerncijfers Nederland" [Regional key figures for the Netherlands]. CBS Statline (in Dutch). CBS. 16 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013. 
  3. ↑ "Bevolkingsontwikkeling; regio per maand" [Population growth regions per month]. CBS Statline (in Dutch). CBS. 29 November 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013. 
  4. ↑ "31.954, Wet openbare lichamen Bonaire, Sint Eustatius en Saba" (in Dutch). Eerste kamer der Staten-Generaal. Retrieved 2010-10-15. "De openbare lichamen vallen rechtstreeks onder het Rijk omdat zij geen deel uitmaken van een provincie. (The public bodies (...), because they are not part of a Province)." 
  5. ↑ "Official Journal of the European Union – C 83". EUR-Lex. 30 March 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2011. 
  6. ↑ "Regels met betrekking tot de openbare lichamen Bonaire, Sint Eustatius en Saba (Wet openbare lichamen Bonaire, Sint Eustatius en Saba); Verslag" (in Dutch). Ikregeer.nl. 12 October 2009. Retrieved 27 June 2011. 
  7. ↑ "Regionale Kerncijfers Nederland" (in Dutch). Statistics Netherlands. 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-13. 
  8. ↑ "Bevolking per regio naar leeftijd, geslacht en burgerlijke staat" (in Dutch). Statistics Netherlands. 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-13. 

External links

Map: Provinces of the Netherlands South Holland North Holland Friesland Groningen Drenthe Flevoland Overijssel Gelderland Utrecht Limburg North Brabant Zeeland
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