North holland

The area of ​​the territory is 4091.76 km² (including water 4th place), including land - 2671.03 km² (6th place).

North Holland is a peninsula as many see it - in the shape of a human head, located between the North Sea and Lake IJsselmeer . More than half of the province is reclaimed drained land polders , located below sea level.

Major cities in North Holland: Amsterdam , Haarlem , Hilversum , Den Helder , Alkmaar , Zaandam and Hoorn . Texel Island is also part of North Holland. In addition, North Holland also invited the islands of Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius ( Netherlands Antilles ) to join it, but so far no decisions have been made.

North Holland makes up one region of the world region code system of the International Organization for Standardization , which is assigned the code ISO 3166-2: NL -NH.

Until 1795

Throughout almost its entire history, the current province of North Holland has been an integral part of Holland. From the 9th to the 16th centuries, Holland was part of the Holy Roman Empire. During this period, West Friesland was conquered and incorporated into the Netherlands (today it is part of Northern Holland). After that, the official name of Holland was "Holland and West Friesland." The population of West Friesland today has an identity that is different from the inhabitants of the rest of Holland, and has its own language. And in the territory of modern Netherlands there is the province of Friesland, with which North Holland borders on the northeast. From the 16th century to 1795, Holland was the most developed and most important province of the Republic of the United Provinces, which is why it dominated the confederation. During this period, sometimes a distinction was made between the “North Side” (Noorderkwartier) and the “South Side” (Zuiderkwartier), these areas correspond to today's provinces of the North and South Holland.

The emergence of a new province (1795 to 1840)

The province of southern Holland appeared during French rule (1795-1813). In 1795, the Batavian Republic was formed. According to the Constitution of 1798, the old borders were significantly revised: 8 departments were formed with approximately the same number of inhabitants. Holland was divided into 5 departments: Texel, Amstel, Delph, Scheldt and Meuse and Rhine. The first three were in Holland, the last two included territories of different provinces. In 1801, the old borders were restored and the department of Holland was created. These transformations, which did not last long, gave rise to the idea of ​​dividing a developed province. In 1807, Holland was reorganized again: 2 departments were established: Maasland (corresponding to modern South Holland) and Amstelland (corresponding to the modern province of Northern Holland). But in 1810 the entire territory of the Netherlands became part of the French Empire. Maasland was renamed Monden van de Maas (Mouth of the Meuse), and Amstelland and Utrecht were merged into the Zuiderzee department (after the name of the then North Sea Bay ). After the loss and deposition of Napoleon in 1814, a new Constitution was introduced, according to which, the country consisted of provinces and regions (landschappen). Monden van de Maas and Zuiderzee were merged into the province of Holland. But at the same time, two managers appeared in the province: one in the former Maasland department (today's South Holland) and one in the former Amstelland department (modern North Holland). At the same time, the idea of ​​the division of Holland continued to exist. The Constitution was amended in 1840. In particular, it was decided to divide Holland into South and North. This was mainly an initiative of Amsterdam, which did not like the transfer of the Court of Appeal to The Hague in 1838.

From 1840

In 1855, the territory of Haarlemmermer was drained and became cultivated, it became part of North Holland. In exchange, South Holland received most of the municipality of Leymeiden in 1864. In 1942, the islands of Vlland and Terschelling were given to Friesland.

As of January 2011, the province is divided into 58 communities. After the dissolution of autonomy, the Netherlands Antilles , it was proposed to administratively include the three islands in North Holland. The proposal has an undefined status - neither approved nor rejected.

• The world's first solar-powered bike path .

•   Wikimedia Commons has media related to North Holland
• The province's website (in Dutch)
• basic information
• province map showing subdivision in municipalities, link for each municipality to basic data page
• Provincial tourist board