Map of the major municipalities in the Netherlands

There are no formal rules in the Netherlands to distinguish cities from other settlements. Smaller settlements are usually called dorp, comparable with villages in English speaking countries. The Dutch word for city is stad (plural: steden). The intermediate category of town does not exist in Dutch, but provinciestad (small city in the province) comes close, moreover with the added diminutive suffix -je.

Historically, there existed systems of city rights, granted by the territorial lords, which defined the status of a place: a stad or dorp. Cities were self-governing and had several privileges. In 1851 the granting of city rights and all privileges and special status of cities were abolished. Since then, the only local administrative unit is the municipality. Regardless of this legal change, many people still use the old city rights as a criterion: certain small settlements proudly call themselves a stad because they historically had city rights, while other, newer towns may not get this recognition. Yet the old and third largest urban center of The Hague, has the status of the seat of the national government, but never received city rights for deliberate historical reasons.

Geographers and policy makers can distinguish between places with respect to the number of inhabitants or the economic and planological functions within a larger area. Hence, settlements can be considered a city if they function as an urban centre in a rural area; while larger population centres in densely populated areas are often neither considered a village nor a city and are usually referred to with the generic word plaats (place). Inhabitants may also base their choice of words just on the subjective way they experience life at a certain place.

List of cities by province

When discussing cities, the distinction is sometimes made between the cities in two urban networks.

The largest urban network is known as Randstad, including the largest four cities in the Netherlands: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. Of these, 3 have historic city rights: Utrecht from 1122; Amsterdam from 1306; and Rotterdam from 1340. The second urban network in the Netherlands is known as Brabantstad, a partnership of the Brabant "Big 5": Eindhoven, Tilburg, Breda, 's-Hertogenbosch and Helmond. In addition, there are several medium-sized cities in the Netherlands without an urban network. Groningen, notably, is a medium-sized city (sixth-largest city in the Netherlands), without an urban network.

Province City Province map
Drenthe Assen
Coevorden
Emmen
Hoogeveen
Meppel
Flevoland Almere
Biddinghuizen
Emmeloord
Lelystad
Friesland Bolsward
Dokkum
Franeker
Harlingen
Hindeloopen
IJlst
Leeuwarden
Sloten
Sneek
Stavoren
Workum
Gelderland Apeldoorn
Arnhem
Bredevoort
Buren
Borculo
Culemborg
Dieren
Doetinchem
Ede
Elburg
Enspijk
Gendt
Groenlo
Harderwijk
Hattem
Heukelum
Huissen
Nijkerk
Nijmegen
Staverden
Tiel
Ulft
Voorst
Wageningen
Wijchen
Winterswijk
Zaltbommel
Zevenaar
Zutphen
Groningen Appingedam
Delfzijl
Groningen
Hoogezand-Sappemeer
Stadskanaal
Veendam
Winschoten
Limburg Echt
Geleen
Gennep
Heerlen
Kerkrade
Tegelen
Kessel
Landgraaf
Maastricht
Montfort
Nieuwstadt
Roermond
Schin op Geul
Sittard
Stein
Susteren
Thorn
Vaals
Valkenburg
Venlo
Weert
North Brabant 's-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch)
Bergen op Zoom
Boxtel
Breda
Eindhoven
Geertruidenberg
Geldrop
Grave
Helmond
Heusden
Klundert
Oosterhout
Oss
Ravenstein
Roosendaal
Sint-Oedenrode
Tilburg
Valkenswaard
Veldhoven
Waalwijk
Willemstad
Woudrichem
North Holland Alkmaar
Amsterdam
Den Helder
Edam
Enkhuizen
Haarlem
Heerhugowaard
Hilversum
Hoorn
Laren
Medemblik
Monnickendam
Muiden
Naarden
Purmerend
Schagen
Velsen
Volendam
Weesp
Zaanstad
Overijssel Almelo
Blokzijl
Deventer
Enschede
Genemuiden
Hardenberg
Hasselt
Hengelo
Kampen
Oldenzaal
Rijssen
Steenwijk
Vollenhove
Zwolle
South Holland Alphen aan den Rijn
Capelle aan den IJssel
Delft
Dordrecht
Gorinchem
Gouda
The Hague (Den Haag)
Leiden
Maassluis
Rotterdam
Schiedam
Spijkenisse
Vlaardingen
Voorburg
Zoetermeer
Utrecht Amersfoort
Baarn
Bunschoten
Eemnes
Hagestein
Houten
Leerdam
Montfoort
Nieuwegein
Oudewater
Rhenen
Utrecht
Veenendaal
Vianen
Wijk bij Duurstede
Woerden
IJsselstein
Zeist
Zeeland Arnemuiden
Goes
Hulst
Middelburg
Sluis
Terneuzen
Veere
Vlissingen
Zierikzee

See also

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