South Holland: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

This article is about the province of the Netherlands. For the town in the United States, see South Holland, Illinois; for the district of Lincolnshire, see South Holland, England

South Holland (Dutch Zuid-Holland) is a province of the Netherlands, located in the west of the country on the North Sea coast. It is one of the most densely populated and industrialized of the provinces. Neighbouring provinces are Zeeland to the southwest, Noord Brabant to the southeast, Gelderland to the east, Utrecht to the northeast and Noord-Holland to the north.

It contains the major cities of The Hague (Den Haag or s-Gravenhage) (the seat of government of the country and the seat of the International Court of Justice) and Rotterdam. Leiden, Delft and Gouda have town centers with many 17th-century buildings. Rotterdam has one of the world's largest harbours.

Rivers and other bodies of water include Nieuwe Maas, Nieuwe Waterweg, Oude Maas, Haringvliet, Hollands Diep.

Geography and Location

Aerial map

Municipalities

South Holland is divided into 86 municipalities) (before 2004: 91) (here with shopping evenings in parentheses, and links to maps in brackets):

1. Alblasserdam [1]
2. Albrandswaard [2]
3. Alkemade (Roelofarendsveen: fr) [3]
4. Alphen aan den Rijn (fr) [4]
5. Barendrecht [5]
6. Bergambacht [6]
7. Bergschenhoek [7]
8. Berkel en Rodenrijs [8]
9. Bernisse [9]
10. Binnenmaas
11. Bleiswijk [10]
12. Bodegraven [11]
13. Boskoop [12]
14. Brielle [13]
15. Capelle aan den IJssel [14]
16. Cromstrijen [15]
17. Delft (fr) [16]
18. Den Haag - including Scheveningen (th)
19. Dirksland [17]
20. Dordrecht [18]
21. Giessenlanden [19]
22. Goedereede [20]
23. Gorinchem [21]
24. Gouda [22]
25. Graafstroom
26. 's-Gravendeel
27. Hardinxveld-Giessendam [23]
28. Hellevoetsluis [24]
29. Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht [25]
30. Hillegom (th) [26]
31. Jacobswoude [27]
32. Katwijk (th, except Hoornes and Rijnsoever: fr) [28]
33. Korendijk [29]
34. Krimpen aan den IJssel [30]
35. Leerdam [31]
36. Leiden (th, except Merenwijk: fr) [32]
37. Leiderdorp (fr) [33]
38. Leidschendam-Voorburg [34]
39. Liemeer [35]
40. Liesveld
41. Lisse (th) [36]
42. Maassluis [37]
43. Middelharnis [38]
44. Midden-Delfland (until 2004 Maasland and Schipluiden}
45. Moordrecht [39]
46. Nederlek [40]
47. Nieuw-Lekkerland [41]
48. Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel [42]
49. Nieuwkoop [43]
50. Noordwijk (th) [44]
51. Noordwijkerhout (fr) [45]
52. Oegstgeest (fr) [46]
53. Oostflakkee [47]
54. Oud-Beijerland [48]
55. Ouderkerk [49]
56. Papendrecht [50]
57. Pijnacker-Nootdorp (Nootdorp: fr)
58. Reeuwijk [51]
59. Ridderkerk [52]
60. Rijnsburg (fr) [53]
61. Rijnwoude [54]
62. Rijswijk [55]
63. Rotterdam - including Hoek van Holland (fr)
64. Rozenburg [56]
65. Sassenheim (th)
66. Schiedam [57]
67. Schoonhoven [58]
68. Sliedrecht [59]
69. Spijkenisse [60]
70. Strijen [61]
71. Ter Aar [62]
72. Valkenburg (fr)
73. Vlaardingen [63]
74. Vlist [64]
75. Voorhout (fr)
76. Voorschoten (fr) [65]
77. Waddinxveen [66]
78. Warmond
79. Wassenaar [67]
80. Westland (until 2004 De Lier, 's-Gravenzande, Monster, Naaldwijk and Wateringen)
81. Westvoorne [68]
82. Zederik [69]
83. Zevenhuizen-Moerkapelle [70]
84. Zoetermeer (th) [71]
85. Zoeterwoude [72]
86. Zwijndrecht - including Heerjansdam [73], [74]

On 1 January 2004 the municipalities De Lier, 's-Gravenzande, Monster, Naaldwijk and Wateringen have been merged to a new municipality Westland, and Maasland and Schipluiden to another one, Midden-Delfland.

Possibly Sassenheim, Voorhout and Warmond will be merged in the future.

Noordwijk Katwijk Leiden Alphen aan den Rijn Wassenaar Voorschoten Bodegraven Leidschendam-Voorburg The Hague Zoetermeer Gouda Rijswijk Nootdorp Delft Capelle aan den IJssel Westland Schiedam Rotterdam Barendrecht Zwijndrecht Dordrecht Sliedrecht Gorinchem

(from north to south and from west to east, with municipalities)

• Rozenburg
  • Rozenburg [75]
  • part of Rotterdam (Botlek [76], Europoort [77], Maasvlakte [78])
• IJsselmonde
  • part of Rotterdam
  • Albrandswaard [79]
  • Barendrecht [80]
  • Ridderkerk [81]
  • Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht [82]
  • Zwijndrecht [83], [84]
• Voorne-Putten
  • Westvoorne [85]
  • Brielle [86]
  • Hellevoetsluis [87]
  • Bernisse [88]
  • Spijkenisse [89]
• Hoeksche Waard (the six municipalities are possibly merged in 2005 or 2006)
  • Oud-Beijerland [90]
  • Binnenmaas
  • 's-Gravendeel
  • part of Korendijk [91]
  • Cromstrijen [92]
  • Strijen [93]
• Eiland van Dordrecht [94]
  • Dordrecht
• Goeree-Overflakkee [95]
  • Goedereede
  • Dirksland
  • Middelharnis
  • Oostflakkee.
• Tiengemeten
  • part of Korendijk [96]

There are four official regions [97]:

• Zuid-Holland Zuid [98]
  • Drechtsteden [99]
    • Alblasserdam, Dordrecht, Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, Papendrecht, Sliedrecht, Zwijndrecht, 's-Gravendeel
  • the rest of the Hoeksche Waard (see above) and Tiengemeten
  • Goeree Overflakkee (see above)
• Zuid-Holland West
  • Haaglanden [100], ;
    • Delft, Den Haag, Leidschendam-Voorburg, Midden-Delfland, Pijnacker-Nootdorp, Rijswijk, Wassenaar, Westland, Zoetermeer.
  • Leidse regio [101]; for a little map showing the municipalities see [102], p.4);
    • Alkemade, Leiden, Leiderdorp, Oegstgeest, Voorschoten, Zoeterwoude
  • Duin- en Bollenstreek [103]; for a little map showing the municipalities see the link above;
    • Hillegom, Katwijk, Lisse, Noordwijk, Noordwijkerhout, Rijnsburg, Sassenheim, Valkenburg, Voorhout, Warmond
• Zuid-Holland Oost (Rijn&Gouwestreek [104] + De Waarden) [105]; see also Midden-Holland [106]
  • Krimpenerwaard
    • Bergambacht, Nederlek, Schoonhoven, Vlist, Ouderkerk
  • Alblasserwaard-Vijfheerenlanden
    • Giessenlanden, Gorinchem, Graafstroom, Hardinxveld-Giessendam, Leerdam, Liesveld, Nieuw-Lekkerland, Zederik.
  • Rijnstreek
    • Ter Aar, Alphen aan den Rijn, Jacobswoude, Liemeer, Nieuwkoop, Rijnwoude
  • Gouwestreek
    • Bodegraven, Boskoop, Gouda, Moordrecht, Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel, Reeuwijk, Waddinxveen, Zevenhuizen-Moerkapelle
• Rijnmond [107], also called Stadsregio Rotterdam [108]; see also
  • Albrandswaard, Barendrecht, Bergschenhoek, Berkel en Rodenrijs, Bernisse, Bleiswijk, Brielle, Capelle aan den IJssel, Hellevoetsluis, Krimpen aan den IJssel, Maassluis, Ridderkerk, Rotterdam, Rozenburg, Schiedam, Spijkenisse, Vlaardingen, Westvoorne

The term Zuidvleugel refers to a large part of the province ([109], [110], p. 13):

• Drechtsteden and some more of the Hoeksche Waard: Binnenmaas, Oud-Beijerland
• Zuid-Holland West
• Rijnmond
• a small part of Zuid-Holland Oost: Gorinchem, Hardinxveld-Giessendam

Provinces of the Netherlands
Drenthe | Flevoland | Friesland | Gelderland | Groningen | Limburg | North Brabant | North Holland | Overijssel | South Holland | Utrecht | Zeeland