The Netherlands smoked Spain today in World Cup action 5-1. Spain hadn't conceded 5 goals in a match since June 1963.
That got a lot of people talking about Netherlands, and many referred to the country as Holland. Some think the two terms are interchangeable. They're not. Calling Netherlands the name "Holland" is akin to calling Canada the name "Ontario".
For the unaware, two of Netherlands' 12 provinces are North Holland and South Holland, and together this region is called Holland.
The following Netherlands provinces are not in Holland, however. The fine people who live in these provinces feel awfully slighted and excluded when you refer to Netherlands as Holland.
- Zeeland
- Friesland
- Gelderland
- North Brabant
- Limburg
- Overijssel
- Drenthe
- Groningen
- Utrecht
- Flevoland
Now you know why you should refer to the country as Netherlands and not Holland.
Sincerely,
Guy who has spent quite a bit of time in Netherlands recently
