Although I moved it earlier to The Netherlands, comparing with United States, "The" may not be needed. 13:32, 21 Mar 2005 (UTC)

See also Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_%28definite_and_indefinite_articles_at_beginning_of_name%29#Rule_of_thumb. Usually one does not capitalize the "the" in "the Netherlands" inside a sentence, which would mean that the article name should be without "The". 14:05, 21 Mar 2005 (UTC)

The Netherlands cannot be compared with United States. The short form of Kingdom of the Netherlands is normally The Netherlands, and while a form Netherlands does occur this is always prefixed by "the" in a sentence. From CIA factbook: "The Netherlands remained neutral in World War I, but suffered invasion and occupation by Germany in World War II. A modern, industrialized nation, the Netherlands is also a large exporter of agricultural products." "The Netherlands has a prosperous and open economy, which depends heavily on foreign trade." "The Netherlands, along with 11 of its EU partners, began circulating the euro currency on 1 January 2002.", etc. The form 'Netherlands' (without the article) is nowhere used in the article itself except when listing the short name (where it is acceptable). Any and all references to the country must include 'the'.  14:17, 21 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Your argument doesn't work because the same could be applied to the US: I could use almost the exact same wording. The short form of The United States of America is normally The United States, and while a form United States does occur this is always prefixed by "the" in a sentence. From CIA factbook: "were recognized as the new nation of the United States of America following the Treaty of Paris..." "The US has the largest and most technologically powerful economy..." "undocumented nationals from Mexico and Central America continue to enter the United States illegally", etc. The form 'United States' (without the article) is nowhere used in the article itself except when listing the short name (where it is acceptable). Any and all references to the country must include 'the'...and yet Wikipedia still places the article at United States, showing that your argument that the usage in the CIA Factbook does not mean that Netherlands must be preceded by an article in Wikipedia. —  18:15, Mar 21, 2005 (UTC)

This must go properly through Wikipedia:Requested moves. It didn't last time, when it was removed from Wikipedia:Requested moves almost as soon as it was put up, before there could be any debate (see ). —  18:01, Mar 21, 2005 (UTC)