South Holland

South Holland (Dutch Zuid-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands, located in the west of the country on the North Sea coast. It is the most densely populated and industrialised of the Dutch provinces. Neighbouring provinces are Zeeland to the southwest, North Brabant to the southeast, Gelderland to the east, Utrecht to the northeast and North Holland to the north.

It contains the major cities of The Hague (Den Haag or 's-Gravenhage) (the seat of government of the country and the seat of the International Court of Justice) and Rotterdam. Leiden, Delft and Gouda have town centers with many 17th-century buildings. Rotterdam has one of the world's largest harbours. Zoetermeer is a very new city, most of it is created in the year 1970. Other New Towns are Capelle aan den IJssel, Hellevoetsluis and Spijkenisse, all three situated in the vicinity of Rotterdam.

South Holland makes up one region of the International Organization for Standardization world region code system, having the code NL-ZH.

Rivers and other bodies of water include Nieuwe Maas, Nieuwe Waterweg, Oude Maas, Haringvliet, Hollands Diep.

History

The province South Holland was formed in 1840, when the province Holland was split into a northern (North Holland) and southern part. Since then, South Holland has ceded three municipalities to the province of Utrecht: Oudewater in 1970, Woerden in 1989, and Vianen in 2002.

Municipalities

South Holland is divided into 82 municipalities) (before 2006: 86) (here with shopping evenings in parentheses, and links to maps in brackets):

Alblasserdam ^*
Albrandswaard ^*
Alkemade (Roelofarendsveen: fr) ^*
Alphen aan den Rijn (fr) ^*
Barendrecht ^*
Bergambacht ^*
Bergschenhoek ^*
Berkel en Rodenrijs ^*
Bernisse ^*
Binnenmaas
Bleiswijk ^*
Bodegraven ^*
Boskoop ^*
Brielle ^*
Capelle aan den IJssel ^*
Cromstrijen ^*
Delft (fr) ^*
Den Haag - including Scheveningen (th)
Dirksland ^*
Dordrecht ^*
Giessenlanden ^*
Goedereede ^*
Gorinchem ^*
Gouda ^*
Graafstroom
's-Gravendeel
Hardinxveld-Giessendam ^*
Hellevoetsluis ^*
Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht ^*
Hillegom (th) ^*
Jacobswoude ^*
Katwijk (th, except Hoornes and Rijnsoever: fr) ^*
Korendijk ^*
Krimpen aan den IJssel ^*
Leerdam ^*
Leiden (th, except Merenwijk: fr) ^*
Leiderdorp (fr) ^*
Leidschendam-Voorburg ^*
Liemeer ^*
Liesveld
Lisse (th) ^*
Maassluis ^*
Middelharnis ^*
Midden-Delfland (until 2004 Maasland and Schipluiden}
Moordrecht ^*
Nederlek ^*
Nieuw-Lekkerland ^*
Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel ^*
Nieuwkoop ^*
Noordwijk (th) ^*
Noordwijkerhout (fr) ^*
Oegstgeest (fr) ^*
Oostflakkee ^*
Oud-Beijerland ^*
Ouderkerk ^*
Papendrecht ^*
Pijnacker-Nootdorp (Nootdorp: fr)
Reeuwijk ^*
Ridderkerk ^*
- Rijnsburg (fr) ^* - belongs to Katwijk
Rijnwoude ^*
Rijswijk ^*
Rotterdam - including Hoek van Holland (fr)
Rozenburg ^*
- Sassenheim (th) - belongs to Teylingen
Schiedam ^*
Schoonhoven ^*
Sliedrecht ^*
Spijkenisse ^*
Strijen ^*
Ter Aar ^*
- Valkenburg (fr) - belongs to Katwijk
Vlaardingen ^*
Vlist ^*
- Voorhout (fr) - belongs to Teylingen
Voorschoten (fr) ^*
Waddinxveen ^*
- Warmond - belongs to Teylingen
Wassenaar ^*
Westland (until 2004 De Lier, 's-Gravenzande, Monster, Naaldwijk and Wateringen)
Westvoorne ^*
Zederik ^*
Zevenhuizen-Moerkapelle ^*
Zoetermeer (th) ^*
Zoeterwoude ^*
Zwijndrecht - including Heerjansdam [http://www.plattegronden.nl/heerjansdam/

- Teylingen

On 1 January 2004 the municipalities De Lier, 's-Gravenzande, Monster, Naaldwijk and Wateringen have been merged to a new municipality Westland, and Maasland and Schipluiden to another one, Midden-Delfland.

On 1 January 2006 Sassenheim, Voorhout and Warmond have been merged to Teylingen, and Rijnsburg and Warmond have been merged into Katwijk.

Links to municipalities arranged according to location

Hillegom Lisse Noordwijk Katwijk Leiden Alphen aan den Rijn Wassenaar Voorschoten Bodegraven Leidschendam-Voorburg The Hague Zoetermeer Gouda Rijswijk Pijnacker-Nootdorp Delft Capelle aan den IJssel Westland Vlaardingen Schiedam Rotterdam Hellevoetsluis Spijkenisse Barendrecht Zwijndrecht Dordrecht Sliedrecht Gorinchem

Islands

(from north to south and from west to east, with municipalities)

Rozenburg
- Rozenburg ^*
- part of Rotterdam (Botlek Europoort ^*)
IJsselmonde
Voorne-Putten
Hoeksche Waard (the six municipalities are possibly merged in 2005 or 2006)
- Oud-Beijerland ^*
- Binnenmaas
- 's-Gravendeel
- part of Korendijk ^*
- Cromstrijen ^*
- Strijen ^*
Eiland van Dordrecht ^*
- Dordrecht
Goeree-Overflakkee ^*
Tiengemeten
- part of Korendijk ^*

Subdivisions

There are four official regions ^*:

Zuid-Holland Zuid ^*
- Drechtsteden ^*
  - Alblasserdam, Dordrecht, Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, Papendrecht, Sliedrecht, Zwijndrecht, 's-Gravendeel
- the rest of the Hoeksche Waard (see above) and Tiengemeten
- Goeree Overflakkee (see above)
Zuid-Holland West
- Haaglanden ^*, nl:Stadsgewest Haaglanden;
  - Delft, Den Haag, Leidschendam-Voorburg, Midden-Delfland, Pijnacker-Nootdorp, Rijswijk, Wassenaar, Westland, Zoetermeer.
- Leidse regio for a little map showing the municipalities see [http://www.leidseregio.nl/downloads/Brochure_RVVP.pdf, p.4);
  - Alkemade, Leiden, Leiderdorp, Oegstgeest, Voorschoten, Zoeterwoude
- Duin- en Bollenstreek ^*; for a little map showing the municipalities see the link above;
  - Hillegom, Katwijk, Lisse, Noordwijk, Noordwijkerhout, Rijnsburg, Sassenheim, Valkenburg, Voorhout, Warmond
Zuid-Holland Oost (Rijn&Gouwestreek + De Waarden) ^*
- Krimpenerwaard
  - Bergambacht, Nederlek, Schoonhoven, Vlist, Ouderkerk
- Alblasserwaard-Vijfheerenlanden
  - Giessenlanden, Gorinchem, Graafstroom, Hardinxveld-Giessendam, Leerdam, Liesveld, Nieuw-Lekkerland, Zederik.
- Rijnstreek
  - Ter Aar, Alphen aan den Rijn, Jacobswoude, Liemeer, Nieuwkoop, Rijnwoude
- Gouwestreek
  - Bodegraven, Boskoop, Gouda, Moordrecht, Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel, Reeuwijk, Waddinxveen, Zevenhuizen-Moerkapelle
Rijnmond also called Stadsregio Rotterdam [http://www.stadsregio.rotterdam.nl/default.asp?ID=12030; see also nl:Stadsregio Rotterdam
- Albrandswaard, Barendrecht, Bergschenhoek, Berkel en Rodenrijs, Bernisse, Bleiswijk, Brielle, Capelle aan den IJssel, Hellevoetsluis, Krimpen aan den IJssel, Maassluis, Ridderkerk, Rotterdam, Rozenburg, Schiedam, Spijkenisse, Vlaardingen, Westvoorne

The term Zuidvleugel refers to a large part of the province ([http://www.zuidvleugel.nl/files/Staat%20van%20de%20Zuidvleugel.pdf, p. 13):

Drechtsteden and some more of the Hoeksche Waard: Binnenmaas, Oud-Beijerland
Zuid-Holland West
Rijnmond
a small part of Zuid-Holland Oost: Gorinchem, Hardinxveld-Giessendam

External links

Official site
- List of municipalities with population and area figures (hard to find on the site, because not under Gemeenten but under Over de provincie!)
Basic information
Lists of towns and villages, with municipality
Province maps showing subdivision in municipalities:
- small version linking for each municipality to basic data page in Dutch (2006)
- gif (not up-to-date)
- pdf (map on page 6, higher resolution than the gif-map) (not up-to-date)
Map of 1853
Tourist information - The province is subdivided in eight regions, not corresponding to those above. The maps show villages, not municipalities.
Tourist information for a region called Zuid-Holland Zuid (South Holland South), but different from the one in the previous section: less on the west, more on the east; it is the region called "Dutch river area" in the website of the previous link.
http://www.atlasgeo.ch/fotw/flags/nl-zh-.html - various info on the province and its municipalities, in particular flags
Deltaworks Online - Flood protection of South Holland and Deltaregion

Entries for South Holland in worldwide gazetteers:
Alexandria Digital Library Getty Thesaurus ESRI Falling Rain Tageo World Gazetteer

South Holland | Provinces of the Netherlands | NUTS 2 Statistical Regions of Europe

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