Netherlands (disambiguation) - Definition and Overview

The Netherlands have been the name of different political and geographical entities in northwestern Europe.

• The Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland), the current Kingdom of the Netherlands.
• The Seven United Netherlands, also known as the United Provinces. A predecessor of the current country. It existed from 1581 to 1795.
• The Seventeen Netherlands, fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire and France. United by Charles V of Spain. The Seventeen Netherlands roughly correspond with present day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and parts of Northern France.
• The Southern Netherlands. The name of the territory roughly corresponding present day Belgium from the independence of the Seven Netherlands to the French Revolution. Also called Spanish Netherlands (1579-1713) or Austrian Netherlands (1713-1794).

See also

Low Countries