Holland
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
Holland is the name of a region in the western part of the Netherlands. Holland was a county of the Holy Roman Empire and later the leading province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (1581–1795).
Today, there are two provinces called Holland in the Netherlands: North Holland (Noord-Holland) and South Holland (Zuid-Holland). Those provinces were created in 1840. The earlier country and province of Holland used to be greater, but some Hollandic parts were given to other provinces during the French occupation (1795-1813). Willemstad became part of North Brabant, the islands of Vlieland and Terschelling were given to Friesland, and the island of Urk to Overijssel.
Many people (inside and outside the Netherlands) use the name 'Holland' to refer to the entire Netherlands, but that is not correct. It is like calling the United Kingdom England, the United States America or like calling the EU a country. Some Dutch people who do not live in Holland do not like it when people call the entire country Holland.
For a short time (1806–1810), there was a Kingdom of Holland, which was in central and northern Netherlands and East Friesland in Germany.
Holland is also the name of a region in England.