Wim Peeters / Partnerschap / Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands (Dutch : Nederland (help ·info ), IPA : [ˈne:dərlɑnt]) is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands , which consists of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba in the Caribbean. The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy , located in Western Europe . It is bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east.

The Netherlands is often called Holland . This is formally incorrect as North and South Holland in the western Netherlands are only two of the country's twelve provinces (for more on this and other naming issues see Netherlands (terminology) ).