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Zeeland consists of a number of islands and peninsulas (hence its name, meaning "Sealand"), with only the southern part (Zeelandic Flanders) not being an island or peninsula. Its capital isMiddelburg with a population of 48,544 as of November 2019,[6] although the largest municipality in Zeeland isTerneuzen (population 54,589). Zeeland has twoseaports:Vlissingen and Terneuzen. Its area is 2,933 square kilometres (1,132 sq mi), of which 1,154 square kilometres (446 sq mi) is water; it had a population of about 391,000 as of January 2023.[2]
Large parts of Zeeland are below sea level. Thelast great flooding of the area was in 1953.[7] Tourism is an important economic activity. In the summer, its beaches make it a popular destination for tourists, especiallyGerman tourists. In some areas, the population can be two to four times higher during the high summer season. Thecoat of arms of Zeeland shows a lion half-emerged from water, and the textluctor et emergo (Latin for "I struggle and emerge").[8] The country ofNew Zealand was named after Zeeland after it was sighted by Dutch explorerAbel Tasman.
Zeeland was a contested area between the counts ofHolland andFlanders until 1299, when the last count of Holland died. The Counts ofHainaut then gained control of theCounty of Zeeland, followed by the counts ofBavaria,Burgundy, andHabsburg. After 1585, Zeeland followed, as one of the 7 independent provinces, the fate of the Northern part of The Netherlands.
Zeeland consists of several islands (eilanden) and peninsulas (schiereilanden). The following are all the geographic parts that make up the province, from north to south:
The province of Zeeland is a largeriver delta situated at the mouth of several major rivers, namelyScheldt ('Schelde'),Rhine ('Rijn') andMeuse ('Maas') (i.e. theRhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta). Most of the province lies below sea level and wasreclaimed from the sea by inhabitants over time. What used to be a muddy landscape, flooding at high tide and reappearing at low tide, became a series of small man-made hills that stayed dry at all times. The people of the province would later connect the hills by creatingdikes, which led to a chain of dry land that later grew into bigger islands and gave the province its current shape. The shape of the islands has changed over time at the hands of both people and nature.
The deadlyNorth Sea flood of 1953 inundated vast amounts of land that were only partially reclaimed. The subsequent construction of theDelta Works also changed the face of the province. The infrastructure, although very distinct by the number of bridges, tunnels and dams, has not shaped thegeography of the province so much as the geography of the province has shaped its infrastructure. The dams, tunnels and bridges that are currently a vital part of the province'sroad system were constructed over the span of decades and came to replace old ferry lines. The final touch to this process came in 2003 when theWestern Scheldt Tunnel was opened. It was the first solid connection between both banks of theWestern Scheldt and ended the era of water separating the islands and peninsulas of Zeeland.
TheProvincial executive (Gedeputeerde Staten) of Zeeland is the executive branch of the province, which consists of several ministers and theKing's commissioner of Zeeland.Hugo de Jonge (CDA) was appointed commissioner on September 3rd, 2025[15] (having been acting commissioner from September 2024 onwards). The previous commissioner wasHan Polman (D66), who filled the position from March 1st, 2013 until September 16th, 2024.
TheGross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 13.6 billion € in 2018, accounting for 1.8% of the Netherlands economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was €30,900, or 102% of the EU27 average that year.[16]
Nehalennia is a mythological goddess of an ancient religion known around the province of Zeeland. Her worship dates back at least to the 2nd century BC,[17] and flourished in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.[17] She was possibly a regional god, eitherCeltic or pre-Germanic – but sources differ on the culture that first worshipped her. During theRoman era, her main function appeared to be the protection of travelers, especially seagoing travelers crossing theNorth Sea. Most of what is known about her mythology comes from the remains of carved stone offerings (votives) which have been dredged up from the Oosterschelde (Eastern Scheldt) since 1870. Two more Nehalennia offering stones have also been found inCologne, Germany.[17]Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant andBN/De Stem are the regional daily newspapers in the province.
The first westerners to sightNew Zealand were captained byDutch navigatorAbel Tasman in 1642, although he did not land there. Tasman named itStaten Landt, believing it to be part of the land of that name off the coast ofArgentina that is now known asIsla de los Estados. When that was shown not to be so, Dutch authorities named itNova Zeelandia inLatin,Nieuw Zeeland in Dutch. The two major seafaring provinces of the Netherlands in its Golden Age wereHolland and Zeeland, and the Dutch explorers originally named the largest landmass of Oceania and the two islands to the southeast Nieuw Holland and Nieuw Zeeland, respectively. The former was eventually replaced by the name Australia, but the name New Zealand remained in place for the latter.Captain James Cook of Britain later anglicised the name toNew Zealand and, after British settlers arrived in New Zealand, English became the main language.
The city ofZeeland in the US state ofMichigan was settled in 1847 by Dutchman Jannes van de Luyster and wasincorporated in 1907.Flushing, a neighborhood within theborough ofQueens, New York, is named after the cityFlushing (Vlissingen in Dutch) in Zeeland. This dates from the period of the colony ofNew Netherland, when New York was still known asNew Amsterdam. The Dutch colonies ofNieuw Walcheren andNieuw Vlissingen, both on theAntillian island ofTobago, were both named after parts of Zeeland. The Canadian town ofZealand, New Brunswick, was named for the Zeeland birthplace of Dutchman Philip Crouse who settled in the area in 1789.[18]Zeeland, North Dakota is another town named for this province and whose earliest settlers were of Dutch heritage.
Paramaribo, the capital and largest city ofSuriname, has aFort Zeelandia, the former Fort Willoughby during British colonization.
Fort Zeelandia was a fortress built over ten years from 1624 to 1634 by theDutch East India Company, in the town of Anping (Tainan) on the island ofFormosa, present dayTaiwan, during their 38-year rule over the western part of it.
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