Южная Голландия: провинция Нидерландов

Province of the Netherlands
the Dutch province

South Holland (Zuid Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.8 million as of January 2023 Ackerdijkse Plassen, a bird reserve north of Rotterdam, and Buytenpark and Westerpark near Zoetermeer. The Kagerplassen are a collection of lakes north east of Leiden, popular for boating, watersports, fishing, camping and walking. The southern part of South Holland consists of a number of islands of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. Although technically islands in the sense that they are surrounded by rivers, canals or other bodies of water, most of these islands are well connected to the rest of the province via bridges, tunnels and dams. The southern islands, most notably Goeree Overflakkee (1 on the map), Tiengemeten (2), Hoeksche Waard (6) and Voorne Putten (4/5), are largely agrarian, while more to the north, the islands are more urban, such as Dordrecht (7), IJsselmonde (9) and Rozenburg (10), while other islands, like Rozenburg (10), are mostly used for petrochemical industry. Together, these cities form the Rijnmond conurbation, centred on the city of Rotterdam. Together with Haaglanden (centred on The Hague) and Delfland (centred on Delft) in the north, and the Drechtsteden to the south east, this conurbation in turn forms the South Wing of the Randstad conurbation, which spans across South Holland, North Holland and Utrecht. Other regions in South Holland include Alblasserwaard, Gouwestreek ("The Gouwe Area"), Hoeksche Waard, Krimpenerwaard, Rijnland ("Rhineland"), Rijnstreek ("The Rhine Area"), Vijfheerenlanden and Westland (roughly including Hook of Holland and the municipalities of Westland and Midden Delfland).

Like the rest of the Netherlands, South Holland experiences a temperate oceanic climate, a Cfb class according to the Köppen climate classification. The climate is influenced by the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, which results in relatively cooler summers and milder winters. Rain showers are common in the fall and winter seasons. Because of the flat surface, wind storms are also not uncommon in the winter. Although rain occurs all year long, the first six months of the year are relatively dry. Eastern winds can result in temporary continental climate conditions with relatively warm and dry summers and cold and stormy winters. The temperature varies between the 2 °C and 6 °C in the winter and 17 °C and 20 °C in the summer.

In 2015, 18.2% of the population belonged to the Protestant Church in the Netherlands while 14.5% were Roman Catholic, 7.5% Muslim and 7.5% belonged to other churches or faiths. Over half (52.2%) of the population identified as non religious.