belanda

Belanda is a term used in Indonesian and Malay to refer to the Netherlands or to Dutch people. In daily language, orang Belanda means a Dutch person, and Belanda can be used to denote the country itself.

Etymology and usage: The origin is tied to centuries of contact between Southeast Asia and European traders and settlers, especially from the Dutch. The exact source is uncertain, but many scholars consider Belanda to be a local adaptation of the name for Holland or the Netherlands, transmitted through Malay or Javanese pronunciation as part of colonial-era vocabulary.

Historical context: During the colonial era, Dutch companies and later colonial administration controlled extensive territories in what is now Indonesia. Local languages absorbed terms to designate the Netherlands and its people, and Belanda appears in historical documents, literature, and everyday speech. The term persists in modern Indonesian and Malay, though official contexts often use Nederland or the Netherlands.

Contemporary usage: Today, orang Belanda and Belanda refer to national or cultural associations with the Netherlands, or to Dutch people in a historical or colloquial sense. The Netherlands remains a Western European constitutional monarchy and a member of the European Union and NATO.