At the turn of 2019 and 2020, many media 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 happened in reality?

To begin with, the words "Holland" and "Netherlands" have never been completely synonymous. Previously, the lower lands (Nederlanden) were called the entire extensive territory between Germany and the coast of the North Sea. After Belgium gained independence in 1830, the name “Netherlands” was entrenched in 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, it was this region that became the center of the country's political, economic and cultural life.

It is logical that just more tourists come to Holland than to any other province. This was used by marketers who proposed at the end of the last century a national Logo with tulip and word Holland, as well as creating a site Holland.com, where it was talked about the main local attractions. The brand successfully lasted more than 20 years, until last year the Netherlands government decided to update it. Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ingrid de Ber provides research data showing that many foreigners have outdated or extremely stereotypical ideas about the country. Supporters of the new brand emphasize that the Netherlands are interesting not only to the usual symbols, such as cheese, tulips, mills, Amsterdam channels and a quarter of red lamps. On the contrary, in each of the 12 provinces you can find something worthy of attention.

It turns out that the news is not at all about the renaming of the country, but only about changing the tourist brand and rethinking how the Netherlands position themselves in the world.