What is the Difference Between Holland, the Netherlands and Deutschland?
Have you ever wondered whether Holland and The Netherlands are the same place? What about Deutschland? Is Dutch the same language as Deutsch? Here's the answer.
My People,
It has been a few weeks since I’ve sent a newsletter as I took a break to refresh and recharge. Some people reached out in the community and I am thankful that overall, we are doing well. If you live in Nigeria, you know that the Twitter ban is still in effect and our tweets continue to be our resistance towards frivolous and unlawful policies. I’ve also got some great news (I’m telling only this community for now): we have a new fun discovery game for you in a few months. It is exciting because it is for kids (and kids at heart), it is fun, it gives the kids an opportunity to explore the world at home or at school, and adults would love it too! Can you guess what it is?
The curious newsletter is back as usual, every week, as our community grows stronger and stronger. Thanks for being a part of Show Me One Thing. Now, let’s get to the topic for today:
What is the difference between Holland and The Netherlands? What is the difference between Dutch, Deutsch and Deutschland?
First, take a look at this map:
There is a country in Europe called The Netherlands. In this country, there are 12 provinces. One of the 12 provinces is called North Holland and another province is called South Holland. Collectively, these two provinces are called Holland.
This happens in other countries too. If you are familiar with the US, you’ll know that it is common to call North Dakota and South Dakota by the collective name ‘The Dakotas’. Similarly, North Carolina and South Carolina are collectively called ‘The Carolinas’. And so on. Now, back to the Netherlands.
However, ‘Holland’ is such a popular, cool and even more memorable name than the Netherlands so over the years, people have used the term ‘Holland’ to refer to the whole country of The Netherlands. In fact, The Netherlands often brands its tourism platforms using the term ‘Holland’. Also, the capital city - Amsterdam - is located in the province of North Holland so when most people fly into Amsterdam, they fly into Holland first and so as they travel around the country, they carry that name with them. If you say ‘Holland’, everyone will know which country you’re referring to but technically, it is only correct to say ‘Holland’ when referring to the North Holland and South Holland provinces. The correct term for the whole country is The Netherlands.
The main language spoken there is Dutch.
So, what’s the difference between Dutch and Deutsch? Well, Dutch is the language of The Netherlands and Deutsch is the language of Germany. Essentially, Deutsch is the German word for ‘German. Did you get that?
Deutsch = German
Consequently, Deutschland is the land of Deutsch or ‘Germany’, another country in Europe.
Deutschland = Germany
Let’s recap:
The Netherlands = European Country
Holland = Collective name for only 2 out of 12 provinces in The Netherlands (North Holland and South Holland)
Deutsch = German
Deutschland = Germany
So, tell me. Did you know the difference? What did you learn? Also, remember what I asked at the beginning of this newsletter…can you guess what our new game for kids is? Tell me what you think and what you’ve learned.
Before you go, please share this newsletter with other curious minds. There’s something pretty cool to discover every week!
Love,
Funmi!
Found the breakdown to be easily understood. When it gets too overwhelming I bail. Thank you for enlightening me :)
Thank you for this article Funmi. I guess my next question relates to land - I can't help but observe the several places on the map of Netherlands with the word "land" afterwards. And then the Germans call their country Deustch(land); and there are many iterations of this across the world (maybe Europe to be more exact) - Eng(land), Fin(land), etc. At this stage I wonder whether land is even an English word?