Netherlands

Capital: Amsterdam Population: 17,034,544 Official Languages: Dutch Frisian Time Zone: +1 / −4 Summer +2 / −4 Dialing Code: +31

Government: Unitary parliamentary representative Area: 42,508 km2 largest city: Amsterdam Currency : Euro ISO 3166 code: NL

Basic Info

The Kingdom of the Netherlands, commonly known as the Netherlands, is a sovereign state and constitutional monarchy with territory in Western Europe and in the Caribbean. The four parts of the Kingdom – Aruba, Curaçao, the Netherlands, and Sint Maarten – are referred to as countries and participate on a basis of equality as partners in the Kingdom. In practice, however, most of the Kingdom affairs are administered by the Netherlands (which comprises roughly 98% of the Kingdom's land area and population) on behalf of the entire Kingdom, with Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten being dependent on the Netherlands.

Geography

The European area of the Netherlands lies between latitudes 50° and 54° N, and longitudes 3° and 8° E.

The country is divided into two main parts by three large rivers, the Rhine (Rijn) and its main distributaries, the Waal and the Meuse (Maas). These rivers functioned as a natural barrier between earlier fiefdoms and hence created traditionally a cultural divide, as is evident in some phonetic traits that are recognizable north and south of these "Large Rivers" (de Grote Rivieren).

Climate

The predominant wind direction in the Netherlands is southwest, which causes a moderate maritime climate, with cool summers and mild winters. This is especially the case with places within direct proximity of the Dutch coastline, which sometimes are over 10 °C (18 °F) warmer (in winter) or cooler (in summer) than places in the (south)east of the country.

Religion

Roman Catholicism is the single largest religion of the Netherlands with around four million registered adherents which is 24% of the Dutch population in 2011. The Protestant Church of the Netherlands follows with 16% of the population. It was formed in 2004 as a merger of the two major strands of Calvinism: the Dutch Reformed Church (which represented roughly 8.5% of the population), the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (3.7% of the population), and a smaller Lutheran Church. Other Protestant churches, mostly orthodox Calvinist splits, represent 6% of the population. In 1947, 44.3% belonged to Protestant denominations, 38.7% belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, and 17.1% were unaffiliated.

Administrative divisions

The Netherlands is divided into twelve administrative regions, called provinces, each under a Governor, who is called Commissaris van de Koningin (Commissioner of the Queen), except for the province Limburg where the commissioner is called Gouverneur (Governor). All provinces are divided into municipalities (gemeenten), 430 in total (13 March 2010).

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