HAGUE, THE (in Dutch, 's Gravenhage, or, abbreviated, den Haag; in Fr. La Haye; and in Late Lat. Haga Coinitis), the chief town of the province of South Holland, about 21 m. from the sea. It lies on the main railway line from Rotterdam to Leiden and has tramways connecting it with Scheveningen and the Hook of Holland. It is situated on a branch of the main canal from Rotterdam to Amsterdam. Pop. (1926), 408,634.
The history of The Hague is in some respects singular. In the 13th century it was no more than a hunting-lodge of the counts of Holland, but Count Floris V. made it his residence and it thus became the seat of the supreme court of justice of Holland and the centre of the administration, and from the time of William of Orange onward the meeting-place of the states-general. It did not receive the status of a town, however, until early in the 19th century.
The Hague is the chief town of the province, the usual residence of the court and diplomatic bodies and the seat of the Govern ment, the states-general, the high council of the Netherlands, the council of State and the chamber of accounts. It has grown very largely in modern times, especially on the west, where it stands higher, on more sandy soil, the south-eastern half of the town comprising the poorer and the business quarters.
The mediaeval-looking group of Government buildings situated in the Binnenhof (or "inner court") represent both historically and topographically the centre of The Hague. Close by lies the entrance to the Haagsche Bosch, or the wood, on one side of which is situated the deer-park, and a little beyond on the other the zoological gardens (1862). In the Noordeinde is situated the royal palace, which was purchased by the States in 1595, rebuilt by the stadtholder William III., and extended by King William I. in the beginning of the 19th century. In front of the building is a statue of William I. of Orange. The Binnenhof was once surrounded by a moat, and is still entered through ancient gate ways. The oldest portion was founded in 1249 by William II., count of Holland, whose son, Floris V., enlarged it and made it his residence. The old hall of the knights, now containing the archives of the home office, is the historic chamber in which the States of the Netherlands abjured their allegiance to Philip II. of Spain, and in front of which Johan van Oldenbarneveldt was executed in 1619. Close by on the one side are the courts of justice, and on the other the first and second chambers of the states-general. In the adjoining Buitenhof, or "outer court," is the old Gevangen Poort, or prison gate (restored 1875), consist ing of a tower and gateway. Here Cornelis and Jan de Witt were killed by the mob in 1672.
The Mauritshuis was built in by Count John Maurice of Nassau, governor, of Brazil, and contains the famous picture gallery of The Hague. Other artistic collections in The Hague are the municipal museum (Gerneente museum), the museum Meer manno-Westreenianum, containing some interesting mss. and specimens of early typography, and the Mesdag museum. The royal library (1798) contains some early illuminated mss., a valuable collection of coins, medals and antique gems. The Groote Kerk of St. James (15th and 16th centuries) has some old stained glass, a carved wooden pulpit (155o) and some escutcheons of the Knights of the Golden Fleece, placed here after the chapter of 1456. The Nieuwe Kerk, or new church (first half 17th cen tury), contains the tombs of the brothers De Witt and of the philosopher Spinoza. Spinoza is further commemorated by a monument in front of the house in which he died in 1677. The town hall (built in 1565 and restored and enlarged in 1882) con tains an historical picture gallery. The other principal buildings are the provincial Government offices and the ethnographical in stitute of the Netherlands Indies with a fine library. The chief industries of the town are iron casting, copper and lead smelting, cannon founding, the manufacture of furniture and carriages, liqueur distilling, lithographing and printing.
The Hague wood is composed chiefly of oaks and alders and beech-trees. Together with the Haarlem wood it is thought to be a remnant of the forest which once extended along the coast. In the wood is the royal villa called the Huis ten Bosch, or "house in the wood." This villa was built in the middle of the 17th century, and wings were added to it by Prince William IV. in 1748. The chief room is the richly decorated Orange Saloon, in which the International Peace Conference had its sittings in the summer of 1899. The collections in the Chinese and Japanese rooms, and the grisailles in the dining-room painted by Jacobus de Wit (1695-1754), are also noteworthy.
In the latter part of the 17th and the first half of the 18th century The Hague was the centre of European diplomacy. Among the many treaties and conventions signed here may be mentioned the treaty of the Triple Alliance (Jan. 23, 1688) be tween England, Sweden and the Netherlands; the concert of The Hague (March 31, 171o) between the emperor, England and Holland, for the maintenance of the neutrality of the Swedish provinces in Germany during the war of the northern Powers against Sweden; the Triple Alliance (Jan. 4, 1717) between France, England and Holland for the guarantee of the Treaty of Utrecht ; the treaty of peace (Feb. 17, 1717) between Spain, Savoy and Austria, by which the first-named acceded to the prin ciples of the Triple Alliance ; the treaty of peace between Holland and France (May 16, 1795) ; the first "Hague Convention," the outcome of the "peace conference" assembled on the initiative of the emperor Nicholas II. of Russia (July 27, 1899), and the series of conventions, the results of the second peace conference (June 15—Oct. 18, 1907).
In 1899 the International Court of Arbitration or Hague Tribunal was established and in 1913 its seat, the Palace of Peace, was dedicated. In 1910 the arbitration tribunal of the North Atlantic fisheries sat here. A committee of the Council of the League of Nations met at The Hague in 1920 to frame a scheme for a permanent court of international justice. This court was created by an international agreement concluded at Geneva late in the same year and it has its seat at The Hague.