Editing Capital of the Netherlands

{{short description|References to The Hague in the Constitution of the Netherlands}}
[[Image:Berckheyde, Gerrit - Dam square Amsterdam - Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Dresden).jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Dam Square]] with a view of the [[Royal Palace of Amsterdam|City Hall of Amsterdam]] in the late 17th century. Painting by [[Gerrit Adriaenszoon Berckheyde]] (Gemäldegalerie, Dresden).]]
[[Image:Netherlands-TheHague-binnenhof-1900.jpg|thumb|250px|The Hague has been the seat of government of the Netherlands since 1588. The [[Binnenhof]] houses the [[States General of the Netherlands]].]]
In the [[Netherlands]], the [[Constitution of the Netherlands|Constitution]] refers to [[Amsterdam]] as the [[capital city]]. However, since 1588, the [[States General of the Netherlands|States General]] and the [[Cabinet of the Netherlands|Executive Branch]], along with the [[Supreme Court of the Netherlands|Supreme Court]] and the [[Council of State (Netherlands)|Council of State]], have been situated  in [[The Hague]] as the [[seat of government]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Dutch Wikisource |title=Grondwet voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden |trans-title=Constitution for the Kingdom of the Netherlands |language=nl |url=http://nl.wikisource.org/wiki/Grondwet_voor_het_Koninkrijk_der_Nederlanden |at=[http://nl.wikisource.org/wiki/Nederlandse_grondwet/Hoofdstuk_2#Artikel_32 Chapter 2, Article 32] |quote=''... de hoofdstad Amsterdam ...'' |access-date=7 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Daum|first=Andreas|title=Berlin–Washington, 1800–2000 Capital Cities, Cultural Representation, and National Identities|year=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0521841178|pages=13, 38|quote=Amsterdam is the statuary capital of the Netherlands, while the Dutch government resides in De Hague. [''sic'']" (p. 13) "The Netherlands' seat of government is The Hague but its capital is bustling Amsterdam, the national cultural center. (p. 38)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OA-yi2sUDT4C}}</ref> Since the 1983 revision of the Constitution of the Netherlands, Article 32 mentions that "the King shall be sworn in and inaugurated as soon as possible in the capital city, Amsterdam".<ref>{{cite web | title = Grondwet voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden (1983) |language= nl | url = http://www.denederlandsegrondwet.nl/9353000/1/j9vvihlf299q0sr/vi7pkiszc8xq | access-date = 2016-12-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = The Constitution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands 2008 |date= 18 October 2012 |language= en | url = http://www.government.nl/documents-and-publications/regulations/2012/10/18/the-constitution-of-the-kingdom-of-the-netherlands-2008.html | access-date = 2016-12-06}}</ref> It is the only reference in the document stating that Amsterdam is the capital. In contrast, The Hague is customarily called the {{lang|nl|residentie}} ("residence").

Only once during its history was Amsterdam both "capital" and seat of government. Between 1808 and 1810, during the [[Kingdom of Holland]], [[Louis Bonaparte|King Louis Napoleon]] resided in Amsterdam and declared the city capital of his kingdom and seat of government. To accommodate the king, the grand seventeenth-century Town Hall of Amsterdam, a prime example of the republican values that were prevalent for so long in the Netherlands, was converted into a [[Royal Palace (Amsterdam)|Royal Palace]].

In 1810, the [[Netherlands]] was annexed by the [[First French Empire|French Empire]] and King Louis Napoleon was replaced by a French governor, who took up residence in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam. From 1810 to 1813, Amsterdam kept its position of capital city somewhat, as [[Napoleon|Emperor Napoleon]] declared the city to be the third city of the Empire (after [[Paris]] and [[Rome]]) and an imperial residence. In December 1813, after the fall of Napoleon and the accession of [[William I of the Netherlands|Prince William VI of Orange]] as Sovereign of the Netherlands, The Hague was restored as the seat of government.

==Historical background==
Although  the proper legal status of Amsterdam as capital of the Netherlands is of recent date, the city has been recognized as the capital since 1814. In that year [[William I of the Netherlands | Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange and Nassau]], was proclaimed Sovereign Prince of the [[Sovereign Principality of the United Netherlands|United Netherlands]] and invested as such on 30 March 1814 in [[Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam |the Nieuwe Kerk]] in Amsterdam.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.royal-house.nl/topics/kings-and-queens/king-willem-i-1772-1843|title = King Willem I (1772-1843) - Kings and Queens - Royal House of the Netherlands|date = 2 February 2015}}</ref>  This is partly because it is a ''Royal City'', used not only for the inauguration of kings, but also for royal weddings (note though that royal burials take place in [[Delft]]), and also because of its dominant position in Dutch history. From the end of the 16th century, the city grew rapidly to become the largest and most powerful city in the Netherlands and the main centre of trade, commerce, finance and culture. 

The origins of the split between Amsterdam as capital city and The Hague as seat of government lay in the peculiar Dutch constitutional history. From the middle-ages to the sixteenth century, The Hague had been the seat of government of the [[County of Holland]] and residence of the [[Counts of Holland]]. Amsterdam in the meantime was growing to be a more important city. After the establishment of the [[Dutch Republic|Republic of the United Netherlands]] in 1572/1581, [[Dordrecht]] briefly became the seat of government of the [[Dutch Republic|United Provinces]], residence of the States General, the [[Council of State (Netherlands)|Council of State]] and the Prince of Orange as [[Stadtholder|Prince Stadtholder]]. In 1588, these central governmental institutions were moved to The Hague, which, from that point onwards, kept the position of seat of government for the whole republic. Amsterdam remained loyal to the Spanish/Burgundian empire until relatively late in the [[Eighty Years War]], which allowed the city a lot of trade opportunities, but made it unsuitable for the seat of government of the emerging 'rebel' state.

Before the institution of the [[Batavian Republic]] of 1795, the Netherlands was not a [[unitary state]], but more of a [[confederation]] in which the independent provinces and the larger cities and towns were very much politically autonomous. During the seventeenth century, the Prince Stadtholder as official of the [[States of Holland]] clashed several times with the city government of Amsterdam about policy, up to the point that the city was beleaguered by the army. Up to 1795 there remained a strong animosity between the Orange faction and the republican faction in Dutch politics. The former supported the idea of hereditary political leadership vested in the princes of Orange as Stadtholders, and had its powerbase in The Hague and the rural areas. The latter supported civic independence and found its support mainly in the cities and towns of Holland, with Amsterdam as its progenitor and most outspoken representative.

When in 1814 the new kingdom was formed, the appointment of Amsterdam, still the most prominent city in the kingdom, as capital city was also very much a conciliatory gesture of the Orange faction towards the town, and a recognition of the strong civic and republican basis of the new kingdom.

==Brussels==
Brussels was briefly the capital of the Netherlands and the [[Low Countries]] in the 16th and 19th centuries. [[Brussels]] was the capital of the [[Seventeen Provinces]] (1549–1581). During the [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands]] (1815–1839), there were two government centers: The Hague and Brussels. The government sat in one of these cities every other year. As a result, ministers and officials had to own or rent homes in both cities.

Brussels was successively the capital of the [[Duchy of Brabant]], the [[Seventeen Provinces]], the [[Southern Netherlands]], the [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands]], [[Belgium]], the [[Flemish Community|Flemish]] and [[French Community of Belgium|French Community]] and is currently the ''([[de facto]])'' [[Brussels and the European Union|capital]] of the [[European Union]].

==See also==
{{Portal|Netherlands}}
* [[List of countries with multiple capitals]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Dutch capital cities}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Capital Of The Netherlands}}
[[Category:Capitals by country|Netherlands]]
[[Category:Cities in the Netherlands| 3]]
[[Category:Government of the Netherlands]]