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North Holland (, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. As of January 2023, it had a population of about 2,952,000 and a total area of , of which is water.
From the 9th to the 16th century, the area was an integral part of the County of Holland. During this period West Friesland was incorporated. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the area was part of the province of Holland and commonly known as the Noorderkwartier (English: "Northern Quarter"). In 1840, the province of Holland was split into the two provinces of North Holland and South Holland. In 1855, the Haarlemmermeer was drained and turned into land.
The provincial capital is Haarlem (pop. 161,265). The province's largest city and also the largest city in the Netherlands is the Dutch capital Amsterdam, with a population of 862,965 as of November 2019. The King's Commissioner of North Holland is Arthur van Dijk, who has been serving since 2019. There are 45 municipalities and three (including parts of) water boards in the province. The busiest airport in the Netherlands and Europe's third-busiest airport, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, is in North Holland.
In 1807, Holland was reorganised. This time the two departments were called "Amstelland" (corresponding to the modern province of North Holland) and "Maasland" (corresponding to the modern province of South Holland). This also did not last long. In 1810, all the Dutch provinces were integrated into the French Empire. Amstelland and Utrecht were amalgamated as the department of "Zuiderzee" (Zuyderzée in French) and Maasland was renamed "Monden van de Maas" (Bouches-de-la-Meuse in French).
After the defeat of the French in 1813, this organisation remained unchanged for a year or so. When the 1814 Constitution was introduced, the country was reorganised as provinces and regions ( landschappen). Zuiderzee and Monden van de Maas were reunited as the province of "Holland". One of the ministers on the constitutional committee (van Maanen) suggested that the old name "Holland and West Friesland" be reintroduced to respect the feelings of the people of that region. This proposal was rejected.
However, the division was not totally reversed. When the province of Holland was re-established in 1814, it was given two governors, one for the former department of Amstelland (area that is now North Holland) and one for the former department of Maasland (now South Holland). Even though the province had been reunited, the two areas were still being treated differently in some ways and the idea of dividing Holland remained alive. During this reorganisation the islands of Vlieland and Terschelling were returned to Holland and parts of "Hollands Brabant" (including "Land of Altena") went to North Brabant. The borders with Utrecht and Gelderland were definitively set in 1820.
When the constitutional amendments were introduced in 1840, it was decided to split Holland once again, this time into two provinces called "North Holland" and "South Holland". The need for this was not felt in South Holland or in West Friesland (which feared the dominance of Amsterdam). The impetus came largely from Amsterdam, which still resented the 1838 relocation of the court of appeal to The Hague in South Holland.
In February 2011, North Holland, together with the provinces of Utrecht and Flevoland, showed a desire to investigate the feasibility of a merger between the three provinces. " Drie provincies denken over fusie", NOS, 2011. This has been positively received by the First Rutte cabinet, for the desire to create one Randstad province has already been mentioned in the coalition agreement. " Randstadprovincies bekijken fusie", RTL Nieuws, 2011. The province of South Holland, part of the Randstad urban area, visioned to be part of the Randstad province, Marije Willems, " Randstadprovincies onderzoeken fusie", NRC Handelsblad, 2011. and very much supportive of the idea of a merger into one province. "Echte Randstadprovincie is robuuste oplossing" , South Holland, 2011. With or without South Holland, if created, the new province would be the largest in the Netherlands in both area and population.
North Holland is a broad peninsula for the most part, located between the North Sea, the Wadden Sea, the IJsselmeer, and the Markermeer. More than half of the province consists of reclaimed polder land situated below sea level. The West Frisian islands of Noorderhaaks and Texel are also part of the province. North Holland makes up a single region of the International Organization for Standardization world region code system, having the code -NH.
North Holland has five municipalities with 100,000 or more inhabitants. They are, in order of size, Amsterdam (in terms of population this is also the largest municipality in the Netherlands), Haarlem, Zaanstad, Haarlemmermeer and Alkmaar. Another seven municipalities have a population between 50,000 and 100,000 inhabitants (Hilversum, Amstelveen, Purmerend, Hoorn, Velsen, Den Helder and Dijk en Waard).
Municipalities are grouped for statistical purposes.
List of some of these unofficial and official regions in North Holland:
More information about nature reserves in North Holland is available (in Dutch) on the relevant site pages of national nature conservation organisations Natuurmonumenten and Staatsbosbeheer , as well as provincial organisation "Landschap Noord-Holland".
Several national nature friendly organisations like Milieudefensie, the national "Union of vegetarians", the "Vissenbescherming" (Fish protection foundation) and the Party for the Animals as well have their head office in North Holland.
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