Holland, Amsterdam, and the Netherlands--Are they all the same country or different countries? I'm confused?

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aanstalokaniskiodov_nikolai

The Netherlands is a country, and Holland is an alternative name for it. Amsterdam is the capital of this country.

Dutch is the standard language there, but many Dutch people know multiple languages too as do most people in Europe. Some Dutch people probably do speak German as German is quite popular there.

German is similar to Dutch. I know German, and although it is similar to Dutch, it is still a different language. I have heard Dutch and I can understand some of it but not all of it because of some of its similarities to German.

Clearly, you have no idea what is behind the borders of you country. Quite sad, as a simple Google search would have prevented you from posing stupid questions.

The Netherlands is the official name of the country, Amsterdam is its capital. The Netherlands is also called Holland, like the US is called America.

Holland reffers to the country's tweo provinces: North and South Holland. In the past Holland was an independent country. It had a "Count", its own coinage, measuring units and time - but it gave up that independence in the 16th century, when it allied with the Northern and Southern Netherlands against the armies of the King of Spain whom at the time was officially the "Count of Holland" and ruled over this whole area.

All the seperate counties (called provinces today, together with some new ones) are now called "The Kingdom of the Netherlands".

joyful_1982

I wouldn`t call this a stupid question. It shows that she wants to know...
I agree with the above answers, but there`s been a misunderstanding:
Benelux is not another or an old name for Netherlands. Benelux is the group of three adjacent countries: BElgium, NEtherlands and LUXembourg.
Although it is true that the German and the Dutch language have the same origin, they are still very distinct. But a lot of Dutch people also speak German (not as an official language, though). Especially those who are close to the border.

So:
Netherlands is the official name of the country, Holland is a part of the Netherlands that is , in itself, seperated into North and South Holland, and Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands.
And the official language spoken is dutch, although every part of the country has it`s own sub-language.

BTW. thank you! I could never quite figure out why dutch is called dutch and not "netherlandish" or something like that :-)

rethinker

Amsterdam is the capital city of the country known as the Netherlands. Holland is a region within the Netherlands but outside of the country some people refer to the whole of the Netherlands as Holland. The principal language is Dutch. Some residents speak a language called Friesian.

There is some confusion regarding the language because the German name for Germany is Deutschland and the people and language of Deutschland are known to themselves as Deutsch (which sounds something like doitch).

When Germans settled in Pennsylvania, others heard them refer to themselves as Deutsch and thought they were saying Dutch so to this day their descendants are known as the Pennsylvania Dutch.

travel-boy

Holland is just another name for The Netherlands and Amsterdam is the Capitol City of Holland/the Netherlands.

schaianne

Most of the area does NOT speak German but it is understandable to a German if they speak slowly ... weird, but when my aunt had an exchange student from over there and he spoke slowly, I very little trouble getting the general idea if not each little word and I speak German, not Dutch. So, the language is very similar at least in certain areas.

Vic

Yes and No. The Netherlands (or "Holland") is the country. The Netherlands is the correct name for the country. Holland is correctly used to describe a part of the country (Provinces - North Holland and South Holland). It can even be seen as rude in some areas of the Netherlands to call the country "Holland." It would be something like people from other countries assuming all Americans come from Texas.

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The official language is Dutch, and Frisian which is similar to Dutch. But the country borders Germany so sometimes there are people speaking English or German depending on the area.

In "Dutch," the Dutch language is actually called "Nederlands."

(I understand your confusion with it.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands

wendy

Holland/Netherlands (both are the names of the country).Amsterdam is a capital city.Holland has its own language, but english is also spoken especially by youth.

doctor asho

do yahoo search

Chantal D.

Yes there all the same country.Holland is the older name for Nederland and Amsterdam is a big city in Nederland.
People speak Dutch and mostly they can speak English and some German.

l04i16

Holland is a country and The Netherlands is another name for it. Amsterdam is the capital of Holland and in Holland people speak Dutch... which is similar to German so I guess they can kinda understand each other.

The Alchemist

The Netherlands is the country. Holland is a province (like a state), Amsterdam is a city. Their language taught in school is dutch ( not German). They have different dialects of the same language in all the different towns and provinces. Hope that helped.
PS The word Dutch is an american word wrongly describing Netherlanders as Deutch, which is the German word for German.

dane

They also speak Flemish.
Another name for The Netherlands- The Benelux Countries, The Low Countries... However, what separate countries they have been in the past does not come up in the world of today.

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