National name: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden

Sovereign: Queen Beatrix (1980)

Premier: Wim Kok (1994)

Area: 41,526 sq. km

Population (2000 est.): 15,892,237 (average annual rate of natural increase: 0.3%); birth rate: 12.1/1000; infant mortality rate: 4.4/1000; density per sq. mi.: 980

Capital and largest city (1994 est.): Amsterdam (official), 724,096; The Hague (administrative capital), 445,279

Other large cities (1994 est.):
Rotterdam, 598,521;
Utrecht, 234,106;
Eindhoven, 196,130

Monetary units: Guilder and euro

Language: Dutch

Ethnicity/race: Dutch 96%, Moroccans, Turks, and other 4% (1988)

Religions: Roman Catholic 34%, Protestant 25%, Muslim 3%, other 2%, no religion 36%

Literacy rate: 99% (1979)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (1998 est.): $348.6 billion; $22,200 per capita. Real growth rate: 3.7%. Inflation: 2%. Unemployment: 4.1%. Arable land: 27%. Agriculture: grains, potatoes, sugar beets, fruit, vegetables; livestock. Labor force: 7 million; services 73%, manufacturing and construction 23%, agriculture 4%. Industries: agroindustries, metal and engineering products, electrical machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum, construction, microelectronics, fishing. Natural resources: natural gas, petroleum, fertile soil. Exports: $160 billion (f.o.b., 1998): machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuel, food and tobacco. Imports: $142 billion (f.o.b., 1998): machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, foodstuffs, fuel, consumer goods. Major trading partners: EU (Germany, Belgium-Luxembourg, France, U.K., Italy), central and eastern Europe, U.S.

Geography:
The Netherlands, on the coast of the North Sea, is twice the size of New Jersey. Part of the great plain of north and west Europe, The Netherlands is at its widest 360 by 257 km and is low and flat except in Limburg in the southeast, where some hills rise to 92 m. About half the country's area is below sea level, making the famous Dutch dykes necessary to hold back the sea. Reclamation of land from the sea through dykes has continued through recent times. All drainage reaches the North Sea, and the biggest rivers-Rhine, Maas (Meuse), and Schelde-begin outside the country.

Government:
Constitutional monarchy.

History:
Julius Caesar found the low-lying Netherlands settled by Germanic tribes&emdash;the Nervii, Frisii, and Batavi. The Batavi on the Roman frontier did not submit to Rome's rule until 13 B.C., and then only as allies.

Over the next 1500 years, the area was governed by the Fench, the Austrians, and the Spanish.

They got angry and wanted to rule themselves, and set upthe United Provinces of The Netherlands in 1579. War between the United Provinces and Spain continued into the 17th century, but in 1648 Spain finally recognized Dutch independence.

The Dutch East India Company was established in 1602, and by the end of the 17th century Holland was one of the great sea and colonial powers of Europe.

The nation's independence was not completely established until after the Thirty Years' War (1618&endash;48), when the country's rise as a commercial and maritime power began. In 1688, the English Parliament invited William of Orange,, and his wife, Mary Stuart, to rule England as William III and Mary II. William then used the combined resources of England and The Netherlands to wage war on Louis XIV's France. In 1814, all the provinces of Holland and Belgium were merged into one kingdom, but in 1830 the southern provinces broke away to form the kingdom of Belgium.

The country remained neutral during World War I and World War II, but it was invaded by the Nazis in May 1940, and the Dutch East Indies were later taken by the Japanese. The nation was liberated in May 1945.

In 1948, after a reign of 50 years, Queen Wilhelmina abdicated and was succeeded by her daughter Juliana.

In 1949, after a four-year war, The Netherlands granted independence to the Dutch East Indies, which became the Republic of Indonesia. The Netherlands also joined NATO that year. The Netherlands joined the European Economic Community (later, the EU) in 1958. In 1999, it adopted the single European currency, the euro.

In 1963, it turned over the western half of New Guinea to Indonesia, ending 300 years of Dutch presence in Asia.

The Sovereign, Queen Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, born on Jan. 31, 1938, and took the throne in 1980. In 1967, Beatrix gave birth to a son, Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand, the first male heir to the throne since 1884.