Holland is a region and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands.The name Holland is also frequently used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands .This usage is commonly accepted in other countries and is also commonly employed by the Dutch themselves However, some in the Netherlands, particularly those from regions outside Holland, may find it undesirable, even offensive or misrepresentative to use the term for the whole country.
From the 10th to the 16th century, Holland proper was a unified political region within the Holy Roman Empire as a county ruled by the counts of Holland. By the 17th century, the province of Holland had risen to become a maritime and economic power, dominating the other provinces of the newly independent Dutch Republic.
The area of the former County of Holland roughly coincides with the two current Dutch provinces of North Holland and South Holland into which it was divided, and which together include the Netherlands’ three largest cities: the capital city of Amsterdam; Rotterdam, home of Europe’s largest port; and the seat of government of The Hague. Holland has a population of 6,583,534 as of November 2019, and a density of 1,203/km2 (3,120/sq mi).
The stereotypical image of Holland is an artificial amalgam of tulips, windmills, clogs, Edam cheese and the traditional dress (klederdracht) of the village of Volendam, far from the reality of everyday Holland. These stereotypes were deliberately created in the late 19th century by official “Holland Promotion” to attract tourists.
The predominance of Holland in the Netherlands has resulted in regionalism on the part of the other provinces, a reaction to the perceived threat that Holland poses to their local culture and identity. The other provinces have a strong, and often negative, image of Holland and the Hollanders, to whom certain qualities are ascribed within a mental geography, a conceptual mapping of spaces and their inhabitants. On the other hand, some Hollanders take Holland’s cultural dominance for granted and treat the concepts of “Holland” and “the Netherlands” as coinciding. Consequently, they see themselves not primarily as Hollanders, but simply as Dutch (Nederlanders).This phenomenon has been called “hollandocentrism”.
Netherlands–Turkey relations
Dutch–Turkish relations refer to interstate relations between the Netherlands and Turkey. The diplomatic relations widely encompass and span four centuries, beginning in 1612. The first Turkish representative in the Netherlands started activities in 1859.
Before the Dutch had their own consuls in the Levant, they traded under the French Capitulations of 1569 until they sent Cornelius Haga as a Consul to Istanbul in 1611. The States-General was responsible for appointing the consul, but the Levant merchants in these cases were closely consulted. The poor payment system for the consuls disrupted the potential successes of the relationship between consul and merchant community. The merchants requested changing to the Venetian fixed salary payment, but the States-General went against their wishes and tried to find other means of income. This posed problems for the Dutch consuls, and there are many reports of cases where consuls exerted their authority over the nations members who did not want to pay consulate and embassy dues. Despite internal struggle within the Dutch nation, it had a good relationship with the Ottoman’s and in 1804 Sultan Selim III (1789–1807) appointed the first resident representative to Amsterdam.
