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In theNetherlands, theConstitution refers toAmsterdam as thecapital city. However, since 1588, theStates General and theExecutive Branch, along with theSupreme Court and theCouncil of State, have been situated inThe Hague as theseat of government.[1][2] Since the 1983 revision of the Constitution of the Netherlands, Article 32 mentions that "the King shall be sworn in and inaugurated as soon as possible in the capital city, Amsterdam".[3][4] It is the only reference in the document stating that Amsterdam is the capital. In contrast, The Hague is customarily called theresidentie ("residence").
Only once during its history was Amsterdam both "capital" and seat of government. Between 1808 and 1810, during theKingdom of Holland,King Louis Napoleon resided in Amsterdam and declared the city capital of his kingdom and seat of government. To accommodate the king, the grand seventeenth-century Town Hall of Amsterdam, a prime example of the republican values that were prevalent for so long in the Netherlands, was converted into aRoyal Palace.
In 1810, theNetherlands were annexed by theFrench Empire and King Louis Napoleon was replaced by a French governor, who took up residence in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam. From 1810 to 1813, Amsterdam kept its position of capital city somewhat, asEmperor Napoleon declared the city to be the third city of the Empire (afterParis andRome) and an imperial residence. In December 1813, after the fall of Napoleon and the accession ofPrince William VI of Orange as Sovereign Prince of the Netherlands, The Hague was restored as the seat of government.
Although the proper legal status of Amsterdam as capital of the Netherlands is of recent date, the city has been recognized as the capital since 1814. In that year Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange and Nassau, was proclaimed Sovereign Prince of theUnited Netherlands and invested as such on 30 March 1814 inthe Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam.[5] This is partly because it is aRoyal City, used not only for the inauguration of kings, but also for royal weddings (note though that royal burials take place inDelft), and also because of its dominant position in Dutch history. From the end of the 16th century, the city grew rapidly to become the largest and most powerful city in the Netherlands and the main centre of trade, commerce, finance and culture.
The origins of the split between Amsterdam as capital city and The Hague as seat of government lay in the peculiar Dutch constitutional history. From the middle-ages to the sixteenth century, The Hague had been the seat of government of theCounty of Holland and residence of theCounts of Holland. Amsterdam in the meantime was growing to be a more important city. After the establishment of theRepublic of the United Netherlands in 1572/1581,Dordrecht briefly became the seat of government of theUnited Provinces, residence of the States General, theCouncil of State and the Prince of Orange asPrince Stadtholder. In 1588, these central governmental institutions were moved to The Hague, which, from that point onwards, kept the position of seat of government for the whole republic. Amsterdam remained loyal to the Spanish/Burgundian empire until relatively late in theEighty Years War, which allowed the city a lot of trade opportunities, but made it unsuitable for the seat of government of the emerging 'rebel' state.
Before the institution of theBatavian Republic of 1795, the Netherlands was not aunitary state, but more of aconfederation in which the independent provinces and the larger cities and towns were very much politically autonomous. During the seventeenth century, the Prince Stadtholder as official of theStates of Holland clashed several times with the city government of Amsterdam about policy, up to the point that the city was beleaguered by the army. Up to 1795 there remained a strong animosity between the Orange faction and the republican faction in Dutch politics. The former supported the idea of hereditary political leadership vested in the princes of Orange as Stadtholders, and had its powerbase in The Hague and the rural areas. The latter supported civic independence and found its support mainly in the cities and towns of Holland, with Amsterdam as its progenitor and most outspoken representative.
When in 1814 the new kingdom was formed, the appointment of Amsterdam, still the most prominent city in the kingdom, as capital city was also very much a conciliatory gesture of the Orange faction towards the town, and a recognition of the strong civic and republican basis of the new kingdom.
Brussels was briefly the capital of the Netherlands and theLow Countries in the 16th and 19th centuries.Brussels was the capital of theSeventeen Provinces (1549–1581). During theUnited Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815–1839), there were two government centers: The Hague and Brussels. The government sat in one of these cities every other year. As a result, ministers and officials had to own or rent homes in both cities.
Brussels was successively the capital of theDuchy of Brabant, theSeventeen Provinces, theSouthern Netherlands, theUnited Kingdom of the Netherlands,Belgium, theFlemish andFrench Community and is currently the(de facto)capital of theEuropean Union.
... de hoofdstad Amsterdam ...
Amsterdam is the statuary capital of the Netherlands, while the Dutch government resides in De Hague. [sic]" (p. 13) "The Netherlands' seat of government is The Hague but its capital is bustling Amsterdam, the national cultural center. (p. 38)
