The Netherlands Listeni/?n???rl?ndz/ (Dutch: Nederland [?ne?d?rl?nt] ( listen); West Frisian: Nederlān; Papiamento: Hulanda) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders with Belgium, Germany, and the United Kingdom. It is a parliamentary democracy organised as a unitary state. The country capital is Amsterdam and the seat of government is The Hague.[9] The Netherlands in its entirety is often referred to as Holland, although North and South Holland are actually only two of its twelve provinces (a case of pars pro toto; see terminology of "the Netherlands").
The Netherlands is a geographically low-lying country, with about 25% of its area and 21% of its population located below sea level,[10] and 50% of its land lying less than one metre above sea level.[11] This distinct feature contributes to the country's name in many other European languages (e.g. German: Niederlande, French: Les Pays-Bas and Spanish: Pa?ses Bajos, literally mean "(The) Low Countries"). Significant land area has been gained through land reclamation and preserved through an elaborate system of polders and dikes. Much of the Netherlands is formed by the estuary of three important European rivers, which together with their distributaries form the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta. Most of the country is very flat, with the exception of foothills in the far southeast and several low-hill ranges in the central parts.
03-25-2012, 11:44 PM
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