The republic was a confederation of <answer>seven</answer> provinces, which had their own governments and were very independent, and a number of so-called Generality Lands. The latter were governed directly by the States General (Staten-Generaal in Dutch), the federal government. The States General were seated in The Hague and consisted of representatives of each of the <answer>seven</answer> provinces. The provinces of the republic were, in official feudal order:
The Dutch Republic consisted of how many provinces?
seven