Besides there is Holland, which is a nick name for the whole of the country now, it used to be the name of one part of the Netherlands before the country became one country as such.
Holland was already known the 'world over' and was not translated, (as was not the usual thing back when it became known) while 'the Netherlands' was translated to each different language as was usual in that time. I guess that is what is the reason for the confusion and for the use of the nickname (which is hardly ever translated and when translated mostly not as much.)
In fact, these days Holland is an informal region in the Netherlands and two provinces are making up that region, Noord Holland and Zuid Holland.
Official name:
Koninkrijk der Nederlanden / Kingdom of the Netherlands
(Netherlands, Aruba, Curacao, St.Maarten, St. Eustatius, Bonaire, Saba)
Nederland(en)
Neder = Low
Land = Land
(en) = s
So Nederlanden literally means the Lowlands. Because a lot of reclaimed land are under sea-level and the country doesn't have mountains.
Holland are provinces in the Netherlands
Noord Holland / North Holland (Amsterdam, Haarlem)
Zuid Holland / South Holland (Rotterdam, The Hague)
In the Golden Age the Netherlands didn't really exist. But called the Seven Provinces. And in that time the province Holland was the most powerfully in terms of economy, trade and defence.
So when the ships sailed over the world, they say they came from Holland, because Holland was one of the superpower regions in the world. For example the sailors from the province Zeeland. They named a island New Zealand.
And its also easier to shout 'HOLLAND' at footballmatches instead of 'NEDERLAND'.
Basicly the official name of the country in English is; Kingdom of the Netherlands. And Holland is an easy way to say it, but is more refering to only a part of the Netherlands. Thats why a lot of Dutch don';t like it if people call the country Holland.
Its a bit like saying England instead of United Kingdom. The people from Londen probably wouldn' mind, but the Scottish part would probalby not like you to call them English.
I think this question has been asked already a milion times on yahoo answers. So if you search yahoo answers you probably get a lot of explanations.
watch the next video for an explanation;
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=772...
Holland is a region and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. The name Holland is also frequently used to informally refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. This usage is commonly accepted.
Holland is a province of the Netherlands.
Your premise is false. The country only has one name.
Thank u for informing me.
