Editing North Holland (section)

===Urbanisation and economic growth (1840 to today)===
[[File:Broek in waterland 077.JPG|thumb|left|[[Broek in Waterland]]]]
After the [[Haarlemmermeer]] was drained in 1855 and turned into arable land, it was made part of North Holland. In exchange, South Holland received the greater part of the municipality of [[Leimuiden]] in 1864. In 1942, the islands [[Vlieland]] and [[Terschelling]] went back to the province of [[Friesland]]. In 1950, the former island [[Urk]] was ceded to the province of [[Overijssel]].

In February 2011, North Holland, together with the provinces of [[Utrecht (province)|Utrecht]] and [[Flevoland]], showed a desire to investigate the feasibility of a merger between the three provinces.<ref>{{in lang|nl}} "[http://nos.nl/artikel/216649-drie-provincies-denken-over-fusie.html Drie provincies denken over fusie]", ''[[Nederlandse Omroep Stichting|NOS]]'', 2011.</ref> This has been positively received by the [[First Rutte cabinet]], for the desire to create one [[Randstad]] province has already been mentioned in the [[coalition agreement]].<ref>{{in lang|nl}} "[http://www.rtl.nl/(/actueel/rtlnieuws/)/components/actueel/rtlnieuws/2011/02_februari/04/binnenland/provincies-willen-fusie.xml Randstadprovincies bekijken fusie]", ''[[RTL Nieuws]]'', 2011.</ref> The province of South Holland, part of the Randstad urban area, visioned to be part of the Randstad province,<ref>{{in lang|nl}} Marije Willems, "[http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2011/02/04/randstadprovincies-onderzoeken-fusie/ Randstadprovincies onderzoeken fusie]", ''[[NRC Handelsblad]]'', 2011.</ref> and very much supportive of the idea of a merger into one province.<ref>{{in lang|nl}} [http://www.zuid-holland.nl/contentpagina.htm?id=74163 "Echte Randstadprovincie is robuuste oplossing"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724173855/http://www.zuid-holland.nl/contentpagina.htm?id=74163 |date=24 July 2011}}, [[South Holland|Provincie Zuid-Holland]], 2011.</ref> With or without South Holland, if created, the new province would be the largest in the Netherlands in both [[Ranked list of Dutch provinces|area and population]].