Capital of the Netherlands to 1795 there remained a strong animosity between the Orange faction and the republican faction in Dutch politics. The former supported the idea of hereditary political leadership vested in the princes of Orange as Stadtholders, and had its powerbase in The Hague and the rural areas. The latter supported civic independence and found its support mainly in the cities and towns of Holland, with Amsterdam as its progenitor and most outspoken representative. When in 1814 the new kingdom was formed, the appointment of Amsterdam, still the most prominent city in the kingdom, as capital city was also very much a
Kingdom of the Netherlands at only , but with the constitutional reform of 10 October 2010 this changed as Saba became part of the Netherlands as a special municipality, and its Mount Scenery () took the place of the Vaalserberg. The Caribbean parts of the Kingdom consist of two zones with different geographic origins. The Leeward Islands (Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten) are all of volcanic origin and hilly, leaving little ground suitable for agriculture. The Windward Islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao) have a mixed volcanic and coral origin. The Caribbean islands have a tropical climate, with warm weather all year round. The