Topic summary
Dutch province
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Provinces of the Netherlands.
History
Nearly all Dutch provinces can trace their origin to a medievalcounty or duchy, as can the provinces of regions in Belgium. Their status changed when they came under a single ruler who centralised their administration, reducing their powers. There were 17 in total: from these unified Netherlands, seven northern provinces from 1588 formed the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, namely three counties of Holland and Zeeland, the duchy of Gelderland, and the Lordships of Utrecht, Friesland, Overijssel and Groningen.