Amsterdam stores are filled with orange souvenirs emblazoned with lions and the word Holland. These elements have historic backgrounds. The national color of orange stems back to when William became the Prince of Orange in 1544. William the Silent led the Dutch Revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs, is considered the Father of the Netherlands and established the House of Orange-Nassau. His lineage still determines the country’s monarch. The crowned Dutch lion holding a sword (usually with arrows in the left paw) is featured on the Royal Coat of Arms. So, are Holland and Netherlands synonymous? No. The Country of Holland existed from 1091 until 1795. Today, it is represented as two of the Netherlands’ 12 provinces: North Holland and South Holland (which includes Amsterdam). The government is discouraging using the names interchangeably. Finally, why are citizens and the language called Dutch? In the 13th century, the word (Old English for people or race) was applied to the Western Germanic language and later to the people (hence the name Deutschland for Germany). During the 17th century, the British called the Low Lands people and their customs Dutch as a pejorative label. The Dutch Republic was an independent nation state from 1581 until 1795. Subsequently, the country became the Batavian Republic (1795-1806), the Kingdom of Holland under Napoléon Bonaparte (1806-1810) and finally the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815.