Capital of the Netherlands and residence of the Counts of Holland. Amsterdam in the mean time was growing to be a more important city. After the establishment of the Republic of the United Netherlands in 1572/1581, Dordrecht briefly became the seat of government of the United Provinces, residence of the States General, the Council of State and the Prince of Orange as Prince Stadtholder. In 1588 these central governmental institutions were moved to The Hague, which, from that point onwards, kept the position of seat of government for the whole republic. Amsterdam remained loyal to the Spanish/Burgundian empire until relatively late in the Eighty
Kingdom of the Netherlands ("Kolonie Curaçao en Onderhorige Eilanden") were colonies of the Netherlands. Suriname was a constituent country within the Kingdom from 1954 to 1975, while the Netherlands Antilles were a constituent country from 1954 until 2010. Suriname has since become an independent republic, and the Netherlands Antilles were dissolved into the constituent countries: Aruba (since 1986), Curaçao and Sint Maarten (since 2010), and the special municipalities of the Netherlands proper, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba. Netherlands New Guinea was a dependent territory of the Kingdom until 1962, but was not an autonomous country, and was not mentioned in the Charter. In 1955,