Netherlands, Kingdom in Western Europe, in the north and west of the North Sea, in East Germany and Belgium to the south borders. Together with Belgium and Luxembourg, the Netherlands the so-called Benelux countries. The Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, two self-administered territories in the Caribbean, are also part of the Kingdom. The Netherlands comprise a total of 41 526 square kilometers, of which 33 880 square kilometers of land are. The capital and largest city is Amsterdam, the seat of government is The Hague.
The country has a maximum north-south extension of 300 kilometers, from west to east is about 180 km. The coastline is approximately 451 km.
The word Netherlands (Dutch Nederlanden) means low-lying country, a large portion of the north and west of the country lies below sea level. This region, as the Low Netherlands called, is of canals, rivers and bays shaped. In the east and south, the High Netherlands, whose surface is slightly above the sea level and its landscape flat to slightly hilly is. The area in the High Netherlands is rarely higher than 50 meters. Only in the extreme southeast, there are several surveys of 100 meters.
“God created the world, but the Dutch created the Netherlands” is an old Dutch proverb. The levees, canals, dams, sluices and windmills, the Netherlands dominate the landscape, are all part of the drainage system, which already existed in the Middle Ages. This system, it allows residents of the country, whose land area by almost one fifth to enlarge. Without the constant drainage and the protection of beach dunes would be about half of the Netherlands of water.
Netherlands Guide 
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