The short answer
Both. The Netherlands is the country, and Amsterdam is its capital. Holland is a region on the country’s west coast, today the two provinces of North Holland and South Holland out of twelve, and Amsterdam lies in North Holland. Holland was the official name of the whole country only from 1806 to 1810.
The country and the region
The Netherlands is the country. Holland is a region and former province on its western coast. Today it is two of the country’s twelve provinces, North Holland and South Holland. Together they cover about 13% of the land and hold about 38% of the people.
The three largest Dutch cities are all in Holland: Amsterdam, the capital; Rotterdam, with the largest port in Europe; and The Hague, where the government sits.
How the part gave its name to the whole
Between the 10th and 16th centuries Holland was a county, ruled by the counts of Holland. By the 17th century it had become a power at sea and in trade, and it dominated the other provinces of the new Dutch Republic. Merchants from all over Europe came to trade in the warehouses of Amsterdam and the other ports of Holland. So Holland was the part that foreigners met, and its name came to stand for the whole country, much as people say “England” when they mean the United Kingdom.
Many Dutch people use the name that way themselves. Others, above all those from outside Holland, would rather they did not. In 2019 the Netherlands officially stopped using “Holland” for the whole country, and its logo changed from “Holland” to “NL”.
The four years when “Holland” was correct
Only once was Holland the official name of the country: between 1806 and 1810. In 1806 Napoleon created the Kingdom of Holland and put his brother Louis Bonaparte on its throne. Louis first held court in The Hague and in Utrecht. In 1808 he moved to Amsterdam, and the city hall was turned into his palace. The kingdom was dissolved in 1810.
Which Holland Amsterdam is in
In 1840 the province of Holland was split in two, into North Holland and South Holland. Amsterdam is in North Holland and is its largest city. It is not the capital of the province, though: that is Haarlem.
The name itself is older than any of this. It comes from the Old Dutch holtlant, “wood-land”. The story that it means “hollow land”, after the low ground, is popular and wrong.
Stand where the King of Holland lived
Go to Dam Square and face the Royal Palace. It was built in the middle of the 17th century as the city hall of Amsterdam, and it has been a palace only since Louis moved in. Now look for a grand front door, of the kind a palace usually has. There is none, because this was never meant to be one.
Where to see it
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Walking through Amsterdam? Point your phone at whatever you’re standing in front of, and I’ll tell you its story.
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