NETHERLANDS, THE, or HOLLAND (Dutch Nederland, or Koninkrijk der Nederlanden), a kingdom of Europe on the North Sea, N. of Belgium and W. of part of northern Germany; area 12, 648 square miles; pop. (1917) 6,724,663. The country is divided into 11 prov inces: North Brabant, 'Gelderland, South Holland, North Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Friesland, Overijssel, Gron ingen, Drenthe, and Limburg. The king is also sovereign (grand-duke) of the grand-duchy of Luxemburg. In addi tion to her European territories Hol land possesses extensive colonies and de pendencies in the Asiatic archipelago and America; including Java, Sumatra, great part of Borneo, Celebes, part of New Guinea, Surinam or Dutch Guiana, the West Indian islands of Curacao, Saba, St. Eustatius, etc.; estimated area, about 783,000 square miles; pop. approximately 35,000,000.
General Features.—The Netherlands (or Low Countries, as the name im plies) form the most characteristic por tion of the great plain of N. and W. Europe. It is the lowest part of this immense level, some portions of it be ing 16 to 20 feet below the surface of the sea, and nearly all parts too low for natural drainage. The coast line is very irregular, being marked by the great inlet of the Zuider Zee, as well as by various others, and fringed by numerous islands. In great part the coast is so low that were it not for massive sea-dykes large areas would be inundated and lost to the inhabitants. In the interior also dykes are a com mon feature, being built to protect por tions of land from the lakes or rivers, or to enable swampy pieces of land to be reclaimed by draining, the water be ing commonly pumped up by windmills. These inclosed lands are called "pol ders," and by the formation of the pol ders the available area of the country is being constantly increased, lakes and marshes being converted into fertile fields, and considerable areas being even rescued from the sea. One of these reclamations was the Lake of Haarlem, the drainage of which, yielding more than 40,000 acres of good land now in habited by about 12,000 persons, begun in 1839, was finished in 1852. Almost
the only heights are the sand hills, about 100 to 180 feet high, forming a broad sterile band along the coast of South and North Holland; and a chain of low hills, of similar origin perhaps, S. E. of the Zuider Zee. In the same line with the sand hills, extending past the mouth of the Zuider Zee, runs a chain of islands, namely, Texel, Vlie land, Schelling, Ameland, etc., which seem to indicate the original line of the coast before the ocean broke in on the low lands. The coast of Friesland, op posite to these islands, depends for its security altogether on artificial embank ments. The highest elevation, 656 feet, is in the extreme S. E. The general aspect of the country is flat, tame, and uninteresting, and about a fifth of the whole surface consists of marsh, sand, heath, or other unproductive land.
Rivers and Canals.—The chief rivers of the Netherlands are the Rhine, Maas (or Meuse), Scheldt, and Ijssel. The Rhine is above half a mile wide where it enters the Netherlands; it soon divides, the S. and principal arm tak ing the name of Waal and uniting with the Maas, while the N. arm, com municating with the Ijssel, takes the name of Leck; a branch from it, named the Kromme (crooked) Rhine, winds by Utrecht to the Zuider Zee, while an other very diminished stream called the Old Rhine flows from Utrecht by Leyden to the sea at Katwijk. The Maas, en tering the Dutch Netherlands from Bel gium, receives the Roer; of the Scheldt only the mouths, the E. and the W., or Old Scheldt, lie within the Dutch boundary. The Ijssel, flowing from Germany, enters the Zuider Zee. The navigable canals are collectively more important than the rivers, on which in deed they depend, but they are so numerous as to defy detailed descrip tion. The chief are the North Holland canal, between Amsterdam and the Helder, length 46 miles; and the more important ship canal, 15 miles long, 26 feet deep and 197 wide, from the North Sea to Amsterdam, and connected by locks with the Zuider Zee. Lakes are also very numerous.