TT #51: Dutch provinces

Thirteen provinces of The Netherlands This week I decided to teach you a geography (and a bit of history) lesson about my country. I have to cheat right away, because my country only has 12 provinces. :-) I'll use the opportunity to tell you that "Holland" is not interchangeable with "The Netherlands". Holland is only a small part of the Netherlands. We have North-Holland and South-Holland. Holland used to be an independent country. It had a Count, its own coinage (until the 19th century), its own measuring units and time - but it gave up that independence in the 16th century, when it allied with the Northern and Southern Netherlands against the armies of the King of Spain whom at the time was officially the Count of Holland and ruled over this whole area. The main reasons for war were religious differences, disputes over taxes and the fact that when some cities wanted to break free, the King's army was quite brutal to civilians. Eventually the Southern Netherlands gave up the fight and stayed occupied by foreign forces until 1830. That area is now called Belgium. The Northern Netherlands fought on and won. The counties of Holland, Drente, Groningen, Friesland, Gelderland, Zeeland and Utrecht formed a free Republic, including the occupied regions of Brabant and Limburg. All these counties (called provinces today, together with some new ones) are now called "The Kingdom of The Netherlands." Today the province of Limburg still has a Governor and to say to someone from Limburg or Friesland that he or she is from Holland, is considered an insult. They are not! They consider themselves to be from the Netherlands. They even have their own language. People from other provinces (except North and South Holland) will perhaps not consider it a real insult, but still they're not from Holland. In summary, Holland gave up its individual independence a very long time ago, so calling the Netherlands "Holland", is much like calling Great Britain "England." Wrong in both cases. (source: WorldAtlas) Zuid Holland - capital Den Haag or 's Gravenhage (The Hague) , seat of national government and the Queen’s official place of residence. Rotterdam with its mainport is the largest city. Noord Holland - capital Haarlem. Amsterdam is also in this province, but that's the capital of the whole country. Noord Brabant - capital Den Bosch or 's Hertogenbosch. Eindhoven is the largest city. South Brabant is now part of Belgium. Gelderland - capital Arnhem (remember "A Bridge Too Far"?). The old city of Nijmegen is also internationally known because of the yearly Vierdaagse. Utrecht - capital Utrecht. The smallest province and geographically the heart of The Netherlands. Limburg - capital Maastricht. Situated between (Brabant, )Belgium and Germany. Perhaps you've heard of the American Military Cemetery in Margraten. Overijssel - capital Zwolle. It has three areas: Twente, Salland and North-Overijssel. Deventer, Kampen and Zwolle were powerful Hanseatic towns. Friesland - capital Leeuwarden. Has its own language (not dialect!) Frisian, also known because of the Elfstedentocht. Groningen - capital Groningen. Consisting of Groningen City and surrounding areas, often called the "Ommelanden'' (lands around). Drenthe - capital Assen. Well-known in our country and abroad for the Hunebedden (megaliths). Zeeland - capital Middelburg. The Delta Works are world famous, built after the colossal flood disaster in 1953. Flevoland - capital Lelystad. The newest province of The Netherlands. First all of it was water, the Zuiderzee. After closing the sea and the impoldering it became land in the 20th century. See a more detailed map here. If you follow the blue line from Amsterdam to the coast (the North Sea Channel) my place of residence IJmuiden is on the end. Of course there's sooooooo much more to tell about each of the provinces with their own unique qualities, but right know I just wanted you to know about the mere existence. :-) If you want to explore, go to Wikipedia for a list of figures and more info! ~*~*~*~ Links to other Thursday Thirteens! ~*~ Robin ~*~ SusieJ ~*~ JennieBoo ~*~ Damozel ~*~ Candy Minx ~*~ Nancy ~*~ Sanni ~*~ pussreboots ~*~ Suprina ~*~ Sue ~*~ Lori ~*~ Ed ~*~ Susan Helene ~*~ Crimson Wife ~*~ L^2 ~*~ Janie ~*~ Gattina ~*~ Tilly Greene ~*~ Mark ~*~ Busy91 ~*~ Tempest Knight ~*~ Sparky Duck ~*~ Nancy Liedel ~*~ Gabriella Hewitt ~*~ Laura Williams ~*~ Alasandra ~*~ Nancy Bond ~*~ Ann ~*~ julia ~*~ Qtpies7 ~*~ Lisa Andel ~*~ This Eclectic Life ~*~ Daisy ~*~ Dorothy ~*~ Shannon ~*~ Heather ~*~ Practical Chick ~*~ Joely Sue ~*~ Christine d'Abo ~*~ Lara Angelina ~*~ The Cat Realm ~*~ colleen ~*~ Luka ~*~ Dragonheart ~*~ Titania Starlight ~*~ GuusjeM ~*~ Linda ~*~ Joy Renee ~*~ Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! 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