3 replies to this topic

[Dennis McClendon]

I'm doing a map of Germany in 1938. Some source material that I would have thought reliable (the HarperCollins Atlas of the Second World War) consistently uses the name "Holland" for the nation to the west. But I would have thought "The Netherlands" to be correct for anytime after 1815. Hans?

[Hans van der Maarel]

I'm doing a map of Germany in 1938. Some source material that I would have thought reliable (the HarperCollins Atlas of the Second World War) consistently uses the name "Holland" for the nation to the west. But I would have thought "The Netherlands" to be correct for anytime after 1815. Hans?

Only from 1806 to 1810, when this country was a vassal state of Napoleonic France, would the name "Holland" be correct. In that period, it was a Kingdom ruled by Napoleon's brother. There's a pretty good page on Wikipedia about this: http://en.wikipedia....gdom_of_Holland

Other than that, "Holland" signifies one of the original 7 nations that joined together to form the Republic Of The 7 United Netherlands. Holland was the area now covered by the provinces Noord- and Zuid-Holland. The correct name for 1938 is The Netherlands.

Mind you, even we Dutch people use the word Holland when we mean the enitre country...

[Dennis McClendon]

That's OK. Some of us in the New World use the word America when we mean less than the entire continent.

Anyway, thanks. I'll make it The Netherlands on my map. Now if I can figure out whether it's Rumania or Romania in 1938 . . .

[vartman]

That's OK. Some of us in the New World use the word America when we mean less than the entire continent.

Anyway, thanks. I'll make it The Netherlands on my map. Now if I can figure out whether it's Rumania or Romania in 1938 . . .

The two have always been pretty interchangeable. In western maps, I've noticed a transition from "Roumania" to "Rumania" and then "Romania", but that's a pretty broad generalization.

This page gives a little insight, claiming that "Rumania" is technically correct, but since the late 19th Century, it has been official Romanian policy to emphasize the "ROMAN" in Romania, and maps showing "Rumania" reflect Western modes of spelling that were slow to adopt the usage of "Romania."

This Wikipedia article notes that "Rumania" comes from the French "Roumania" which was originally intended to distinugish "Romania" from "The Roman Empire" and spread to other languages (most of which still use it). English, however, seems to have changed to "Romania."

So "Romania" is probably best for an English audience since the actual name of the country hasn't changed, just how it's referred to in different countries.