Editing Holland (section)

== History ==
Initially, Holland was a remote corner of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. Gradually, its regional importance increased until it began to have a decisive, and ultimately dominant, influence on the [[History of the Netherlands]].

=== County of Holland ===
{{Further|County of Holland}}
[[File:Wapen graafschap Holland.svg|150px|thumb|right|Historical [[coat of arms]] of the County of Holland]]
Until the start of the 12th century, the inhabitants of the area that became Holland were known as [[Frisians]]. The area was initially part of [[Frisia]]. At the end of the 9th century, West-Frisia became a separate [[county]] in the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. The first [[Count of Holland|count]] known about with certainty was [[Dirk I, Count of Holland|Dirk I]], who ruled from 896 to 931. He was succeeded by a [[Counts of Holland family tree|long line of counts]] in the House of Holland (who were in fact known as counts of Frisia until 1101). When [[John I, Count of Holland|John I]] died childless in 1299, the county was inherited by Count [[John II of Hainaut]]. By the time of [[William V, Count of Holland|William V]] ([[House of Wittelsbach]]; 1354–1388) the count of Holland was also the count of [[County of Hainaut|Hainaut]] and [[Zeeland|Zealand]].

After the [[St. Lucia's flood]] in 1287 the part of Frisia west of the later [[Zuiderzee]], [[West Friesland (historical region)|West Friesland]], was conquered. As a result, most provincial institutions, including the [[States of Holland|States of Holland and West Frisia]], would for more than five centuries refer to "Holland and West Frisia" as a unit. The [[Hook and Cod wars]] started around this time and ended when the countess of Holland, Jacoba or [[Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut|Jacqueline]] was forced to cede Holland to the [[House of Valois-Burgundy|Burgundian]] Philip III, known as [[Philip the Good]], in 1432.

In 1432, Holland became part of the [[Burgundian Netherlands]] and since 1477 of the [[Habsburg]] [[Seventeen Provinces]]. In the 16th century the county became the most densely [[urbanisation|urbanised]] region in Europe, with the majority of the population living in cities. Within the Burgundian Netherlands, Holland was the dominant province in the north; the political influence of Holland largely determined the extent of Burgundian dominion in that area. The last count of Holland was Philip III, better known as [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]], king of Spain. He was deposed in 1581 by the [[Act of Abjuration]], although the kings of Spain continued to carry the titular appellation of Count of Holland until the [[Peace of Münster]] signed in 1648.

=== Dutch Republic ===
[[File:COMITATUS HOLLANDIAE 1682.jpg|thumb|left|A map of Holland from 1682]]
In the Dutch Rebellion against the Habsburgs during the [[Eighty Years' War]], the naval forces of the rebels, the [[Watergeuzen]], established their first permanent base in 1572 in the town of [[Brielle|Brill]]. In this way, Holland, now a sovereign state in a larger Dutch confederation, became the centre of the rebellion. It became the cultural, political and economic centre of the [[Dutch Republic|United Provinces]] ({{Langx|nl|Verenigde Provinciën}}), in the 17th century, the [[Dutch Golden Age]], the wealthiest nation in the world. After the [[Act of Abjuration|King of Spain]] was deposed as the count of Holland, the executive and legislative power rested with the States of Holland, which was led by a political figure who held the office of [[Grand Pensionary]].

The largest cities in the [[Dutch Republic]] were in the province of Holland, such as [[Amsterdam]], [[Rotterdam]], [[Leiden]], [[Alkmaar]], [[The Hague]], [[Delft]], [[Dordrecht]] and [[Haarlem]]. From the great ports of Holland, Hollandic merchants sailed to and from destinations all over [[Europe]], and merchants from all over Europe gathered to trade in the warehouses of Amsterdam and other trading cities of Holland.

Many Europeans thought of the United Provinces first as ''Holland'' rather than as the ''Republic of the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands''. A strong impression of ''Holland'' was planted in the minds of other Europeans, which then was projected back onto the Republic as a whole. Within the provinces themselves, a gradual slow process of cultural expansion took place, leading to a "Hollandification" of the other provinces and a more uniform culture for the whole of the Republic. The dialect of urban Holland became the [[standard language]].

=== Under French rule ===
{{Further|Kingdom of Holland}}

[[File:Departments of French Empire North 1811-ex.svg|thumb|[[Departments of France|Departments]] of [[First French Empire|French Empire]] North, 1811]]

The formation of the [[Batavian Republic]], inspired by the [[French Revolution]], led to a more centralised government. Holland became a province of a [[unitary state]]. Its independence was further reduced by an administrative reform in 1798, in which its territory was divided into several departments called ''Amstel'', ''Delf'', ''Texel'', and part of ''Schelde en Maas''.

From 1806 to 1810, [[Napoleon]] styled his vassal state, governed by his brother [[Louis Bonaparte|Louis Napoleon]] and shortly by the son of Louis, [[Napoleon Louis Bonaparte]], as the "[[Kingdom of Holland]]". This kingdom encompassed much of what would become the modern Netherlands. The name reflects how natural at the time it had become to equate Holland with the non-Belgian Netherlands as a whole.<ref>Willem Frijhoff, "Hollands hegemonie" in Thimo de Nijs and Eelco Beukers (eds.), 2002, ''Geschiedenis van Holland'', Vol. 2, p. 468</ref>

During the period when the Low Countries were annexed by the [[First French Empire|French Empire]] and actually incorporated into France (from 1810 to 1813), Holland was divided into [[département in France|département]]s [[Zuyderzée]], and [[Bouches-de-la-Meuse]]. From 1811 to 1813, [[Charles-François Lebrun, duc de Plaisance]] served as [[governor-general]]. He was assisted by Antoine de Celles, [[Goswin de Stassart]] and François Jean-Baptiste d'Alphonse.<ref>C.F. Gijsberti Hodenpijl (1904) Napoleon in Holland, pp. 6–7.</ref> In 1813, Dutch dignitaries proclaimed the [[Sovereign Principality of the United Netherlands]].

=== Kingdom of the Netherlands ===
In 1815, Holland was restored as a province of the [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands]]. Holland was divided into the present provinces [[North Holland]] and [[South Holland]] in 1840, after the [[Belgian Revolution]] of 1830. This reflected a historical division of Holland along the [[IJ (Amsterdam)|IJ]] into a Southern Quarter (''Zuiderkwartier'') and a Northern Quarter (''Noorderkwartier''),<ref>G. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel II'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1831-1832</ref> but the present division is different from the old division. From 1850, a strong process of [[nation building|nation formation]] took place, the Netherlands being culturally unified and economically integrated by a [[Modernization theory|modernisation]] process, with the cities of Holland as its centre.<ref>Hans Knippenberg and Ben de Pater, "Brandpunt van macht en modernisering" in Thimo de Nijs and Eelco Beukers (eds.), 2003, ''Geschiedenis van Holland'', Vol. 3, p. 548</ref>