An introduction
The History of the Netherlands is more complicated than only the Netherlands or some stereotypes like most Americans (also a stereotype of course would know. This story involves a lot of factors and details, some going back ages.
The best example I could give is the misconception about the name: is it Holland or the Netherlands? Maybe it's obvious it's the Netherlands to me but anywhere but around the big cities like Amsterdam the name Holland is generaly accepted but in the rest of the provinces like Friesland the name Holland is answered with varying degrees of irritation.
Why? I'll spoiler a bit: Holland, the name, comes from ages of dominance of the region Holland, even inside the state that evolved into the Netherlands. Holland is the region that is now the Randstad. Holland dominated from the 15th century in economic and political terms and fought wars, in political disagreements and culture clashes, especially with Friesland, Gelderland and Brabant.
Of course it isn't this easy to tell as well and i'm guessing you don't understand yet. but for clarities sake: call our country just the Netherlands, because that's the whole country, not just one domenating region like Holland was.
I actually hope you won't understand just yet, because some irritations and problems on national ánd global scale have been caused by specific factors, events and individuals, which I can hopefully cover in the podcast episodes on Spotify: The History of the Netherlands!