Holland or The Netherlands

Thanks to : Chris Schram for using some texts and pictures.

Holland means "Woodland" in old Dutch (Diets), but there are some theories that it is a Viking name. There is a region in Sweden that is called "Halland" and it's weapon shield looks very much like the weapon shield of Holland (with the lion on a shield). The Vikings often visited this part of Europe until the 10th century. Before that time Holland was called Frisia and it's inhabitants were Frisians. After the name changed many wars were fought by the Counts of Holland against a part that was still called West-Frisia.

Another theory about the name Holland you can find when reading the History of Holland part 2.

Holland is only a small part of present The Netherlands consisting of North-Holland, South-Holland (now called "De Randstad") and Zeeland and was called "The Northern Lowlands. In the south Brabant, Limburg, Flanders and Luxemburg, called The Southern Lowlands (even parts of modern Germany belonged to this area at that time).

The other provinces of modern Netherlands were added later in the 19th century after the France occupation (1795-1813) when Belgium became independent from The Northern-Lowlands, (1830). From than on the "whole" Country is named The Netherlands.

In fact the 's' in Netherland, shows that this is a union. Holland gave up it's independence a long time ago (1572). So calling the Netherlands 'Holland', is like calling Great Britain 'Scotland' or 'Wales', or the USA 'District Colombia'.

Modern Holland or The Netherlands is more then only wooden shoes and Windmills, Tulips, Cheese and boys with their finger in a Dike. Holland in the 21st century is not only famous because of their Flowers but also for the high-tech industries like Philips, Unilever, Akzo, Shell and other multinational companies. The Dutch are also an important investor in cities like New York (Manhattan) and other cities and Countries all over the world.

But even that I will tell the story of the things Holland is most famous for in modern times and also in the past. The ancient history has already been told on my Holland history page, worth a visit.

Holland and the Sea (North sea)

As you can see on the map below almost 50 % of our Country lies beneath sea level so we live whole our live with water all around us and millions of people live beneath sea-level, I myself live in a city surrounded with rivers on an island called The island of Dordrecht (near Rotterdam) so I know what water is and also how dangerous it can be. On my Dordrecht pages you can read more of my hometown Dordrecht with nice pictures of the oldest city of Holland.

Map of The Netherlands

So we live between water en in lowlands, as you will see below we needed a lot of Windmills to manage the inland and dikes , dunes and mechanical structures to conquer the North-sea, rivers and canals in our Country.

On the next pages you can read more about the origin of The Netherlands from ancient times, in the following order :

1. Ancient Holland The history of The Lowlands from the beginning of the Era until the last Counts of the house of Frisia in 993 AD.

2. Holland from 993 - 1299 The history of the Lowlands during the reign of the Counts of the house of Holland

3. Holland from 1299 - 1581 The history of the Lowlands during the reign of the Counts of the house of Hainault, Bavaria and the Dukes of Habsburg.

4. Holland from 1581 - 1697 The history of the Lowlands during the 80 years war with Spain, The Republic of the Seven united Provinces, The Golden Age, The Year of Disaster (Rampjaar 1672) and the Republicans against The House of Orange.

5. Holland 1697 - 1890 The history of the Lowlands during the 18th and 19th century, The Franch revolution, The Batavian Republic until The Kingdom of The Netherlands.

6. Modern The Netherlands A short description of the Dutch fight against the North-Sea and modern Industrial and Touristy The Netherlands

Next : Holland 0 BC - 993 AD