At the turn of 2019 and 2020, many media outlets wrote that the name “Holland” was about to disappear from the political map of the world—the local government now plans to call its country exclusively the Netherlands. What really happened?

Let's start with the fact that the words "Holland" and "Netherlands" have never been completely synonymous. Previously, the Low Countries (Nederlanden) referred to the entire vast territory between Germany and the North Sea coast. After Belgium gained independence in 1830, the name “Netherlands” was assigned to a territory consisting of 12 provinces, including North Holland with the capital Amsterdam and South Holland, where The Hague and Rotterdam are located. Over time, this region became the center of the political, economic and cultural life of the country.

It is logical that more tourists come to Holland than to any other province. This was taken advantage of by marketers who proposed a national logo with a tulip and the word Holland, as well as those who created the site Holland.com, where the main local attractions were described. The brand successfully existed for more than 20 years, until last year the Dutch government decided to update it. Foreign Office spokeswoman Ingrid de Beer cites research showing that many foreigners have outdated or highly stereotypical views of the country. Supporters of the new brand emphasize that the Netherlands is interesting not only for its usual symbols, such as cheese, tulips, mills, Amsterdam canals and the red light district. On the contrary, in each of the 12 provinces you can find something worthy of attention.

It turns out that the news is not about renaming the country at all, but only about changing the tourism brand and rethinking how the Netherlands positions itself in the world.