Provinces of Netherlands

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Updates: 

Dennis Hofs pointed out an error in the origin of the name Overijssel.

Hans Wittebol writes that there is discussion in the Netherlands of changing the name of Noord-Brabant province to Brabant.

Erratum: In "Administrative Subdivisions of Countries", the capital of Flevoland is given as Dronten. It is actually Lelystad. Apparently Dronten was the capital at an earlier period.

International standard ISO 3166-2 was published on December 15, 1998. It superseded ISO/DIS 3166-2 (draft international standard). For Netherlands, the draft standard showed twelve provinces with their codes. In brackets, it also listed an administrative area (Zuidelijke IJsselmeerpolders) and two municipalities (Dronten and Lelystad). These three were redundant, because in 1986 they had been merged into the new province of Flevoland, which was one of the twelve provinces shown. The final standard has dropped the administrative area and the municipalities. It now lists only the twelve provinces, as they were in the draft standard.

Country overview: 

The Netherlands have been independent for the whole of the 20th century. They have extended their territory by reclaiming land from the sea. Technically, Amsterdam is the capital of the country, and The Hague (Den Haag in Dutch) is its seat of government. Almost all of the governmental functions are headquartered in The Hague.

Other names of country: 

Holland and its cognates technically refer only to the provinces of North and South Holland, but they are popularly used for the whole country.

1. Danish: Holland, Kongeriget Nederlandene (formal)
2. Dutch: Nederland, Koninkrijk der Nederlanden (formal)
3. English: Kingdom of the Netherlands (formal)
4. Finnish: Alankomaat, Hollanti
5. French: Hollande f, Pays-Bas mp
6. German: Holland n, Niederlande fp
7. Icelandic: Holland
8. Italian: Olanda f, Paesi mp Bassi
9. Norwegian: Nederland, Kongeriket Nederland (formal)
10. Portuguese: Países Baixos, Holanda f, Reino m dos Países mp Baixos (formal)
11. Spanish: Holanda f, Países Bajos, Reino m de los Países mp Bajos (formal)
12. Swedish: Nederländerna

Origin of name: 

Descriptive: Land at low elevation

Spelling note: the diphthong 'ij' is treated as a single letter in Dutch. At the beginning of a proper name, both the I and J are capitalized. The letter y is sometimes substituted for ij.

Primary subdivisions: 

The Netherlands is divided into twelve provincies (provinces).

Postal codes: 

Netherlands uses a system of postal codes consisting of four digits, one space, and two letters. The system made its debut in 1976. Unlike other European countries, Netherlands discourages the use of a country prefix. The borders of postal code areas do not match well with province borders.

Further subdivisions:

See the Municipalities of the Netherlands page.

The provinces are subdivided into gemeenten (municipalities or parishes; sing. gemeente). The number of municipalities has decreased from 1,014 in 1948 to 840 in 1976 and 572 in 1997.

Territorial extent: 

1. Flevoland consists of three polders. Noord-Oost Polder is connected to the mainland; East and South Flevoland form an island in the IJsselmeer, except for some dikes which link them to shore.
2. Friesland includes part of the Dutch mainland and the West Frisian Islands (Waddeneilanden) from Vlieland in the west to Schiermonnikoog in the east.
3. Groningen includes a few small islands in the Frisian chain: Rottumerplaat, Rottumeroog, Zuiderstrand, and Simonszand.
4. Noord-Holland includes the islands of Texel and Noorderhaaks, at the southwest end of the Frisian chain.
5. Zeeland includes a mainland part, the islands of Schouwen Duiveland, Tholen, Noord-Beveland and Sint Philipsland, and the peninsula of Walcheren and Zuid-Beveland. Note that the many dikes and canals make it hard to define what is and is not an island.
6. Zuid-Holland includes the islands of Goeree-Overflakkee, Voorne-Putten, Beijerland-Hoekse Waard, IJsselmonde, and Dordrecht (same comment as for Zeeland).
7. Aruba and Netherlands Antilles are overseas dependencies of the Netherlands. The Netherlands Antilles have a status which is nominally the same as that of the provinces. Since ISO 3166 assigns them separate country codes, they are listed here as individual countries.

Origins of names: 

1. Drenthe: Germanic þrija: three, hantja: countries
2. Friesland: Land of the Frisii, from ethnic name
3. Groningen: Germanic Groningja, from groni: green
4. Gelderland: Germanic gelwa: yellow, haru: mountain
5. Limburg: Germanic lindo: linden, burg: fort.
6. Noord-Brabant: Dutch Noord: north, Old High German bracha: new country, bant: region
7. Noord-Holland: Dutch Noord: north + Old Dutch, either holt: woods or hol: hollow, land: land
8. Overijssel: Dutch over: beyond, since the province was beyond the IJssel River from Utrecht
9. Utrecht: corruption of Latin Trajectum: ford (ad Rhenum: on the Rhine)
10. Zeeland: Dutch zee: sea (land in the sea)
11. Zuid-Holland: Dutch Zuid: south + Holland

Change history: 

The Netherlands have repeatedly reclaimed land from the sea by building polders. There have been four major polders (and some smaller ones) in the 20th century. In 1932, the Wieringen-Friesland Barrage (dike) enclosed the Zuider Zee (South Sea), whereupon its name was changed to IJsselmeer (Yssel Lake).

1. 1930: Wieringermeer Polder completed, adding 195 sq. km. to Noord-Holland.
2. 1942: Noord-Oost Polder completed (504 sq. km.) as a municipality not belonging to any province.
3. ~1954: Noord-Oost Polder annexed to Overijssel.
4. 1957-06: East Flevoland completed.
5. 1969: South Flevoland completed.
6. 1986-01-01: Flevoland province formed from the municipalities of Dronten and Lelystad (East Flevoland), the administrative area of Zuidelijke IJsselmeerpolders (South Flevoland), and Noord-Oost Polder (taken from Overijssel). The ISO draft standard doesn't show this change. ISO and FIPS codes for the entities as they stood before the change were Dronten (DT, NL12), Lelystad (LE, NL14), Overijssel (OV, NL08), and Zuidelijke IJsselmeerpolders (ZI, NL13).
7. 2002-01-01: Vianen municipality moved from Zuid-Holland province to Utrecht province. Also, Loosdrecht municipality moved from Utrecht province to Noord-Holland province, at the same time merging with two other municipalities to form Wijdemeren.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Friesland: Frise (French); Frisia (Italian, Spanish); Frísia (Portuguese); Fryslân (Frisian)
2. Gelderland: Geldern (German); Gheldria (Portuguese); Guelders (obsolete); Gueldre (French)
3. Groningen: Groninga (Italian, Portuguese); Groningue (French)
4. Limburg: Limbourg (French); Limburgo (Italian, Portuguese, Spanish)
5. Noord-Brabant: Brabante del Norte (Spanish); Brabante do Norte (Portuguese); Brabante settentrionale (Italian); Brabant-septentrional (French); Nord-Brabant (German); North Brabant (variant)
6. Noord-Holland: Holanda do Norte (Portuguese); Hollande-septentrionale (French); North Holland (variant)
7. Zeeland: Zelanda (Italian); Zélande (French); Zelândia (Portuguese)
8. Zuid-Holland: Hollande-méridionale (French); South Holland (variant)

Population history:

Census data in 1910, 1930, 1947, and 1960; the others are official estimates. Figures for Flevoland refer to the IJsselmeer polders before Flevoland was established.