🇳🇱 Netherlands

National Flag

Geography & Borders

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Introduction & Background

The Netherlands (Template:Lang-nl Template:IPA-nl), informally Holland,121314 is a country located in Northwestern Europe with overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.151617 The Netherlands consists of twelve provinces; it borders Germany to the east, and Belgium to the south, with a North Sea coastline to the north and west. It shares maritime borders with the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium in the North Sea.18 The country's official language is Dutch, with West Frisian as a secondary official language in the province of Friesland.1 Dutch Low Saxon and Limburgish are recognised regional languages, while Dutch Sign Language, Sinte Romani and Yiddish are recognised non-territorial languages.12 Dutch, English and Papiamento are official in the Caribbean territories.1

The four largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht.19 Amsterdam is the country's most populous city and the nominal capital.20 The Hague holds the seat of the States General, Cabinet and Supreme Court.21 The Port of Rotterdam is the busiest seaport in Europe.22 Schiphol is the busiest airport in the Netherlands, and the third busiest in Europe. The Netherlands is a founding member of the European Union, Eurozone, G10, NATO, OECD, and WTO, as well as a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. It hosts several intergovernmental organisations and international courts, many of which are centred in The Hague.23