Have you ever wondered what the difference is between the Netherlands and Holland? And what is Dutch, exactly? Today's Garner's Usage Tip of the Day from Oxford University Press helps us figure it out:

Netherlands, the; Kingdom of the Netherlands; Holland; Dutch; The Hague

The European country is called "the Netherlands." The Netherlands together with two of its former Caribbean colonies — the now-independent countries of Aruba and Netherlands Antilles — make up the "Kingdom of the Netherlands."

Strictly speaking, "Holland" refers to two coastal provinces of the Netherlands (North Holland and South Holland), and not the country's ten other provinces. Still, "Holland" is commonly used to refer to the Netherlands as a whole. The people, language, and culture are called "Dutch." While the country's capital is Amsterdam, its government is located in The Hague.

The article "the" is not capitalized in "the Netherlands" (though it always is in "The Hague"). The country's name is plural in form but grammatically singular. This means that it takes a singular verb {the Netherlands is home to the International Court of Justice} but forms a plural possessive {the Netherlands' population is over 16 million}.

So now you know.
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