North Holland

Encyclopedia : N : NO : NOR : North Holland

"North-Holland" redirects here. North-Holland is also an imprint of the publisher Elsevier.

**Province of North Holland**
**Provincie Noord-Holland**

Flag	Coat of Arms

|- align=center | colspan="2" style="background:#ffffff;" |

|- | Capital | Haarlem |- | Queen's Commissioner | Mr. H.C.J.L. (Harry) Borghouts |- | Religion (1999) | Protestant 10%
Catholic 20%
Jewish 0,75% |- | Area
• Land
• Water |
2.670 km² (6th)
1.421 km² |- | Population (2005)
• Total
• Density |
2.595.294 (2nd)
972/km² (2nd) |- class="hiddenStructure" | Inclusion | |- | Anthem | Ik houd van het groen in je wei |- | ISO | NL-NH |- | Official website | [www.noord-holland.nl] |}

Map of the Netherlands, with red dots marking the capitals of the provinces and black dots marking other notable cities

North Holland (Dutch: Noord-Holland, [pronunciation] ([Media helphelp]·[info])) is a province of the Netherlands, located in the northwest part of the country. Its capital is Haarlem. Other cities include the country's capital Amsterdam, Hilversum, Alkmaar, Zaandam and Hoorn.

Contents

1 Geography
2 History
3 Municipalities
4 External links

Geography

North Holland forms a peninsula between the North Sea and the IJsselmeer. More than half of the province consists of reclaimed land in the form of polders and is below sea level. The island of Texel is also part of North Holland.

North Holland makes up one region of the International Organization for Standardization world region code system, having the code [[ISO 3166-2:NL]]-NH.

History

The province North Holland was formed in 1840, when the province Holland was split in to a northern and southern part (South Holland). In 1940, the islands Vlieland and Terschelling were ceded to the province Friesland. In 1950, the former island Urk was ceded to the province Overijssel. In the time of the United Provinces the province of Holland was know as the province of Holland and West-Friesland. This represented the conquest of West-Friesland in the early medieval age. The coat of arms of North-Holland still shows this and is a combination of the coats of Holland and Friesland.

Municipalities

North Holland is divided into 64 municipalities (local government areas):

Aalsmeer
Alkmaar*
Amstelveen
Amsterdam
Andijk*
Anna Paulowna
Beemster
Bennebroek
Bergen
Beverwijk
Blaricum
Bloemendaal
Bussum
Castricum
Den Helder
Diemen
Drechterland*
Edam-Volendam
Enkhuizen*
Graft-De Rijp
Haarlem
Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude
Haarlemmermeer
Harenkarspel*
Heemskerk
Heemstede
Heerhugowaard
Heiloo
Hilversum
Hoorn*
Huizen
Landsmeer

Langedijk*
Laren
Medemblik*
Muiden
Naarden
Niedorp
Noorder-Koggenland*
Obdam*
Oostzaan
Opmeer*
Ouder-Amstel
Purmerend
Schagen*
Schermer
Stede Broec*
Texel
Uitgeest
Uithoorn
Velsen
Waterland
Weesp
Wervershoof*
Wester-Koggenland*
Wieringen
Wieringermeer
Wijdemeren
Wognum*
Wormerland
Zaanstad
Zandvoort
Zeevang
Zijpe

* Municipalities of West Friesland

West Friesland is a region that is part of North Holland (not of the province of Friesland). It consists of the municipalities Alkmaar, Andijk, Drechterland, Enkhuizen, Harenkarspel, Heerhugowaard, Hoorn, Langedijk, Medemblik, Niedorp, Noorder-Koggenland, Obdam, Opmeer, Schagen, Stede Broec, Wervershoof, Wester-Koggenland and Wognum.

For Spaarnwoude, see Velsen, Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude, and Railway stations in the Netherlands#H.

External links

[The province's website] (in Dutch)
basic information - http://www.sdu.nl/staatscourant/scdata/prov/noord-holland.htm
[province map showing subdivision in municipalities, link for each municipality to basic data page]
[Provincial tourist board]
[Pictures from North Holland]

[[nds-nl:Noord-Hollaand]]

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