Before the institution of the Batavian Republic of 1795 the Netherlands were not a unitary state, but more of a confederation in which the independent provinces and the larger cities and towns were very much politically autonomous.
До образования Батавской республики в 1795 г. Нидерланды были не унитарным государством, а конфедерацией, в которой провинции и крупные города имели значительную политическую автономию.