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The Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland , IPA: [ˈne:dərlɑnt]) is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba in the Caribbean. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname The Netherlands and The Kingdom of the Netherlands are two distinct geographical and administrative entities The Netherlands Antilles ( Dutch:) previously known as the Netherlands West Indies or Dutch Antilles/West Indies, is part of the Lesser Antilles Aruba is a -long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, north of the Paraguaná Peninsula, Falcón State, Venezuela The Netherlands is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy, located in Western Europe. A parliamentary system, also known as parliamentarianism (and parliamentarism in American English) is a System of government in which Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system A constitutional monarchy, or a limited monarchy, is a form of Constitutional Government, wherein either an elected or hereditary Monarch is Western Europe at its most general meaning means 'all the countries in the West of Europe ' It is bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east. The North Sea is a marginal, Epeiric sea of the Atlantic Ocean on the European Continental shelf. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe.
The Netherlands is often called Holland. Holland is a region in the western part of the Netherlands. A maritime and economic power in the 17th century Holland today consists of the Dutch provinces of This is formally incorrect as North and South Holland in the western Netherlands are only two of the country's twelve provinces. North Holland ( Dutch: Noord-Holland,, West Frisian: Noôrd-Holland) is a province situated on the North Sea in the South Holland ( Dutch:) is a province situated on the North Sea in the western part of the Netherlands. As a matter of fact, many Dutch people colloquially use Holland as a synecdoche, being well aware of the widespread use of this name. Synecdoche is taken from Greek sinekdohi (συνεκδοχή meaning "simultaneous understanding" (si-nek-duh-kee (pronounced /sɪˈnɛkdoˌki/ For more on this and other naming issues see terminology of the Netherlands. The Netherlands is known under various terms both in English and other languages.
The Netherlands is a geographically low-lying and densely populated country. Population density (in agriculture standing stock and Standing crop) is a measurement of Population per unit area or unit volume It is popularly known for its traditional windmills, tulips, cheese, clogs (wooden shoes), delftware and gouda pottery, for its bicycles, its dikes and surge barriers, and, on the other hand, traditional values and civil virtues such as its classic social tolerance. A windmill is a machine that is powered by the energy of the wind Tulipa, commonly called tulip, is a Genus of about 150 species of bulbous Flowering plants in the family Liliaceae. Cheese is a Food made from Milk, usually the milk of cows, Buffalo, Goats or sheep, by coagulation. The word clog, as applied to footwear has these meanings A type of Shoe or sandal made predominantly out of wood Delftware, or Delft Pottery, denotes blue and white pottery made in and around Delft in the Netherlands and the tin-glazed Pottery Gouda is a style of Dutch Pottery named after the city of Gouda. The bicycle, cycle, or bike is a pedal-driven, human-powered vehicle with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind LeveeEmbankmentDitch A dike (or dyke) levee, levée, embankment, floodbank or stopbank is a natural or artificial An old parliamentary democracy, the country is more recently known for its rather liberal policies toward recreational drugs, prostitution, homosexuality, abortion, and euthanasia. A parliamentary system, also known as parliamentarianism (and parliamentarism in American English) is a System of government in which Liberalism is a broad array of related ideas and theories of Government that consider individual Liberty to be the most important political goal In the Netherlands the national drug policy has officially four major objectives To prevent drug use and to treat and rehabilitate drug users Prostitution in the Netherlands is legal and common A majority of the women working in prostitution are foreigners and the country is fighting against Human The Netherlands is known for its liberal policies on personal matters such as Sexual orientation. Abortion in the Netherlands is currently legal on demand with a five-day waiting period In 2002 the Netherlands legalized Euthanasia. Euthanasia is still a criminal offence but the law codified a twenty year old convention of not prosecuting doctors
The Netherlands has an international outlook; among other affiliations the country is a founding member of the European Union (EU), NATO, the OECD, and has signed the Kyoto protocol. The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in The North Atlantic Treaty The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the international Framework Convention on Climate Change with the objective of reducing Greenhouse gases in an effort Along with Belgium and Luxembourg, the Netherlands is one of three member nations of the Benelux economic union. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those Luxembourg (Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small Landlocked country in Western Europe, bordered by The Benelux is an economic union in Western Europe that includes three neighboring monarchies, '''Be'''lgium, the '''Ne'''therlands, and The country is host to five international (ised) courts: the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Court and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The Permanent Court of Arbitration ( PCA) is an International organization based in The Hague in the Netherlands. See also International Commission of Jurists The International Court of Justice (known colloquially as the World Court or ICJ; Cour The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991 The International Criminal Court ( ICC or ICCt) was established in 2002 as a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for Genocide, crimes against The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is an international criminal court that was established by an Agreement between the United Nations and the Lebanese Republic pursuant to Security Council All of these courts (except the Special Tribunal for Lebanon), as well as the EU's criminal intelligence agency (Europol), are situated in The Hague, which has led to the city being referred to as "the world's legal capital. Europol (contraction of European Police Office) is the European Union 's Criminal intelligence agency "[1]
A remarkable aspect of the Netherlands is its flatness. Hilly landscapes can be found only in the south-eastern tip of the country on the foothills of the Ardennes, the central part and where the glaciers pushed up several hilly ridges such as the Hondsrug in Drenthe, the stuwwallen (push moraines) near Arnhem and Nijmegen, Salland, Twente and the Utrechtse Heuvelrug. For the political subdivision of France see Ardennes (department. "Glacial" and "Glaciation" redirect here For the geological periods see Glacial period. The Hondsrug is a Dutch ridge of sand that is mainly located in the province Drenthe and partly in the province Groningen. Arnhem ( ( South Guelderish: Èrnem) is a city and Municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. Nijmegen (ˈnɛɪmeɣən) (obsolete spellings Nijmwegen Nymegen Nieumeghen &mdash Nimwegen in local dialect and in German, Nimègue in French Salland is a historical region in the west and north of the present Dutch Province of Overijssel. Twente (or Twenthe is a non-administrative region in the eastern Netherlands, probably named after the Tuihanti a tribe that settled in that region in the beginning of our Utrechtse Heuvelrug is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht.
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History
Under Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and king of Spain, the region was part of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands, which also included most of present-day Belgium, Luxembourg, and some land of France and Germany. The historical period sets in with the Roman Empire, as the parts south of the Rhine were included in the province of Gallia Belgica, and later of Charles V (24 February 1500 &ndash 21 September 1558 was The Holy Roman Emperor (Römischer Kaiser or Römisch-Deutscher Kaiser Romanorum Imperator was the elected monarch ruling over the many varying numbers of states The Spanish Empire (Imperio Español was one of the largest Empires in history and one of the first Global empires In the 15th and 16th centuries The Seventeen Provinces were a Personal union of states in the Low Countries in the 15th century and 16th century roughly covering the current Netherlands The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those Luxembourg (Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small Landlocked country in Western Europe, bordered by This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. 1568 saw the start of the Eighty Years' War between the provinces and Spain. The Dutch Revolt, Eighty Years' War or the Revolt of the Netherlands (1568—1648 was the revolt of the Seventeen Provinces in the Low Countries In 1579, the northern half of the Seventeen Provinces formed the Union of Utrecht, a treaty in which they promised to support each other in their defense against the Spanish army. The Union of Utrecht (Unie van Utrecht is a treaty signed on January 23, 1579 in Utrecht, the Netherlands, unifying the northern Provinces The Union of Utrecht is seen as the foundation of the modern Netherlands. In 1581 the northern provinces adopted the Oath of Abjuration, the declaration of independence in which the provinces officially deposed Philip II. Philip II (Felipe II de España Filipe I ( May 21, 1527 &ndash September 13 1598) was King of Spain from 1556 until 1598 Philip II the son of Charles V, was not prepared to let them go easily and war continued until 1648 when Spain under King Philip IV finally recognised Dutch independence in the Treaty of Münster. Charles V (24 February 1500 &ndash 21 September 1558 was Philip IV (es ''Felipe IV'' pt ''Filipe III'' ( 8 April, 1605 &ndash 17 September, 1665) was King of Spain between 1621 and Münster ( is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the
Dutch Republic 1581-1795
Since their independence from Phillip II in 1581 the provinces formed the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. Philip II (Felipe II de España Filipe I ( May 21, 1527 &ndash September 13 1598) was King of Spain from 1556 until 1598 The republic was a confederation of the provinces Holland, Zeeland, Groningen, Friesland, Utrecht, Overijssel and Gelre. A confederation is a group of empowered states or communities usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution Holland is a region in the western part of the Netherlands. A maritime and economic power in the 17th century Holland today consists of the Dutch provinces of Zeeland ( also called Zealand in English and Zeelandic, is a province of the Netherlands. Groningen is the name of several places Groningen (province, a province of the Netherlands Groningen (city, a city in the Netherlands Friesland ( West Frisian: Fryslân, Dutch Friesland) is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the bigger region known Utrecht ( ˈyːtrɛxt is the smallest province of the Netherlands, and is located in the center of the country Overijssel (Transiselania is a Province of the Netherlands in the central eastern part of the country This article deals with the historical county and duchy of Guelders for other meanings see Gelderland. All these provinces were autonomous and had their own government, the "States of the Province". The States-General, the confederal government, were seated in The Hague and consisted of representatives from each of the seven provinces. The very thinly populated region of Drenthe, mainly consisting of poor peatland, was part of the Republic too, although Drenthe was not considered one of the provinces. Drenthe is a province of the Netherlands, located in the north-east of the country Drenthe had its own States but the landdrost of Drenthe was appointed by the States-General. Landdrost was the title of various officials with local jurisdiction
The Republic occupied a number of so-called Generality Lands (Generaliteitslanden in Dutch). The Generality Lands, Lands of the Generality or Common Lands (Generaliteitslanden were about one fifth of the territories of the United Provinces of the These territories were governed directly by the States-General, so they did not have a government of their own and they did not have representatives in the States-General. Most of these territories were occupied during the Eighty Years' War. The Dutch Revolt, Eighty Years' War or the Revolt of the Netherlands (1568—1648 was the revolt of the Seventeen Provinces in the Low Countries They were mainly Roman Catholic and they were used as a buffer zone between the Republic and the Southern Netherlands. The Southern Netherlands (Zuidelijke Nederlanden Países Bajos del Sur Pays-Bas du sud were a part of the Low Countries controlled by Spain ( Spanish
The Dutch grew to become one of the major seafaring and economic powers of the 17th century during the period of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. "United Netherlands" redirects here For the "Kingdom of the United Netherlands" see United Kingdom of the Netherlands. In the so-called Dutch Golden Age, colonies and trading posts were established all over the globe. This article focuses on social and cultural history For political events see History of the Netherlands and Dutch Revolt (1568–1648 A trading post is a place where the trading of goods takes place (See Dutch colonial empire)
Many economic historians regard the Netherlands as the first thoroughly capitalist country in the world. The Dutch Empire was the territories controlled by The Netherlands from the 17th to the 20th century Capitalism is the Economic system in which the Means of production are owned by private Persons and operated for Profit and where In early modern Europe it featured the wealthiest trading city (Amsterdam) and the first full-time stock exchange. Amsterdam (pronounced) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west This entry is on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange before it merged into Euronext. The inventiveness of the traders led to insurance and retirement funds as well as such less benign phenomena as the boom-bust cycle, the world's first asset-inflation bubble, the tulip mania of 1636–1637, and according to Murray Sayle, the world's first bear raider - Isaac le Maire, who forced prices down by dumping stock and then buying it back at a discount. Insurance, in Law and Economics, is a form of Risk management primarily used to hedge against the Risk of a contingent loss Tulip mania or tulipomania ( Dutch names include tulpenmanie tulpomanie tulpenwoede tulpengekte and bollengekte) was a period in the [2] The republic went into a state of general decline in the later 18th century, with economic competition from England and long standing rivalries between the two main factions in Dutch society, the Staatsgezinden (Republicans) and the Prinsgezinden (Royalists or Orangists) as main factors. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland
Under French influence 1795-1815
On 19 January 1795, a day after stadtholder William V of Orange fled to England, the Batavian Republic (Bataafse Republiek in Dutch) was proclaimed. The Batavian Republic (Bataafse Republiek was the successor of the Republic of the United Netherlands. Events 1419 - Hundred Years' War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England completing his reconquest of Normandy. Year 1795 ( MDCCXCV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a A Stadtholder ( Dutch: stadhouder, " steward " or literally "place-keeper" or "stead-holder" in older Dutch in the Low William V Batavus Prince of Orange and Nassau ( March 8, 1748 &ndash April 9, 1806) was the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic The Batavian Republic (Bataafse Republiek was the successor of the Republic of the United Netherlands. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname The proclamation of the Batavian Republic introduced the concept of the unitary state in the Netherlands. From 1795 to 1806, the Batavian Republic designated the Netherlands as a republic modelled after the French Republic. A republic is a State or Country that is not led by a hereditary Monarch, but in which the people (or at least a part of its people have impact on its The First Republic in France, officially the French Republic (République française was proclaimed on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution.
The Kingdom of Holland 1806 – 1810 (Dutch: Koninkrijk Holland, French: Royaume de Hollande) was set up by Napoleon Bonaparte as a puppet kingdom for his third brother, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, in order to control the Netherlands more effectively. Not to be confused with the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Kingdom of Holland 1806 - 1810 (Koningrijk Holland Royaume Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821 was a French military and political leader who had a significant impact on the History of Europe. Early life Louis was born Luigi Buonaparte in Ajaccio, Corsica. The name of the leading province, Holland, was now taken for the whole country. Holland is a region in the western part of the Netherlands. A maritime and economic power in the 17th century Holland today consists of the Dutch provinces of The kingdom of Holland covered the area of present day Netherlands, with the exception of Limburg, and parts of Zeeland, which were French territory. In 1807 Prussian East Frisia and Jever were added to the kingdom. East Frisia or Eastern Friesland ( Low Saxon: Oostfreesland, German Ostfriesland) is a coastal region in the northwest of the Jever (ˈjeːfɐ the pronunciation /ˈjeːvɐ/ is also often heard from non-locals is the capital of the district of Friesland in Lower Saxony, Germany In 1809 however, after an English invasion, Holland had to give over all territories south of the river Rhine to France. The Rhine (Rhein Rijn Rhin Reno Rain Rhenus is one of the longest and most important Rivers in Europe at 1320 kilometres (820 mi with an average discharge
King Louis Napoleon did not meet Napoleon's expectations — he tried to serve Dutch interests instead of his brother's — and the King had to abdicate on 1 July 1810. "July 1st" redirects here For the Ayumi Hamasaki song see H (song. Year 1810 ( MDCCCX) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year He was succeeded by his five year old son Napoleon Louis Bonaparte. Napoleon Louis Bonaparte ( October 11 1804 - March 17, 1831) or' Louis II of Holland', was the middle son of Louis Bonaparte Napoleon Louis reigned as Louis II for just ten days as Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte ignored his young nephew’s accession to the throne. The Emperor sent in an army to invade the country and dissolved the Kingdom of Holland. The Netherlands then became part of the French Empire.
From 1810 to 1813, when Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated in the battle of Leipzig, the Netherlands were part of the French Empire. The Battle of the Nations (or Battle of Leipzig or Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig) on 16–19 October 1813 was one of the most decisive defeats suffered by Napoleon
Kingdom of the Netherlands
In 1795 the last stadtholder William V of Orange fled to England. William V Batavus Prince of Orange and Nassau ( March 8, 1748 &ndash April 9, 1806) was the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic His son returned to the Netherlands in 1813 to become William I of the Netherlands, Sovereign Prince of the Netherlands. William Frederick (William I, born Willem Frederik Prins van Oranje-Nassau ( The Hague, 24 August 1772 - Berlin, 12 December 1843 was a Prince of On 16 March 1815 the Sovereign Prince became King of the Netherlands. Events 597 BC - Babylonians capture Jerusalem, replace Jehoiachin with Zedekiah as king Year 1815 ( MDCCCXV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year
- See also: Kingdom of the Netherlands
In 1815 the Congress of Vienna formed the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, by expanding the Netherlands with Belgium in order to create a strong country on the northern border of France. The Netherlands and The Kingdom of the Netherlands are two distinct geographical and administrative entities The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of the major powers of Europe, chaired by the Austrian statesman Clemens Wenzel von Metternich United Kingdom of the Netherlands (or Kingdom of the United Netherlands) (1815 - 1830 (1839 (Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden Royaume-Uni des Pays-Bas was the unofficial The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those In addition, William became hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg. The Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg ( House of Nassau-Weilburg, agnatically a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon) consists of the extended The Congress of Vienna gave Luxembourg to William personally in exchange for his German possessions, Nassau-Dillenburg, Siegen, Hadamar and Diez. Nassau was a German state within the Holy Roman Empire and later in the German Confederation. Siegen is a city in Germany in the South Westphalian part of the North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate. Hadamar is a small town in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany. For other uses see Diez (disambiguation. Diez (also Dietz) is a municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Belgium rebelled and gained independence in 1830, while the personal union between Luxembourg and the Netherlands was severed in 1890, when King William III of the Netherlands died with no surviving male heirs. A personal union is the combination by which two different States are governed by the same Monarch, while their boundaries their laws and their interests remain distinct Luxembourg (Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small Landlocked country in Western Europe, bordered by William III ( Willem Alexander Paul Frederik Lodewijk, anglicised William Alexander Paul Frederick Louis of Orange-Nassau) ( February 19, Ascendancy laws prevented his daughter Queen Wilhelmina from becoming the next Grand Duchess. Salic law ( Lat Lex Salica) was an important body of traditional Law codified for governing the Salian Franks in the Early Middle Ages Wilhelmina (Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Marie 31 August 1880 &ndash 28 November 1962) was Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Therefore the throne of Luxembourg passed over from the House of Orange-Nassau to the House of Nassau-Weilburg, another branch of the House of Nassau. The House of Orange-Nassau (in Dutch: Huis van Oranje-Nassau) a branch of the German House of Nassau, has played a central role in the political life The House of Nassau-Weilburg ruled a division of Nassau which was a state in current Germany, a state that existed from 1344 to 1816 The House of Nassau is a diversified dynasty in Europe It is named after the German lordship associated with the castle of Nassau, which is today located in the
Colonies
The largest Dutch settlement abroad was the Cape Colony. It was established by Jan van Riebeeck on behalf of the Dutch East India Company at Cape Town (Dutch: Kaapstad) in 1652. Cape Town (Kaapstad Xhosa: Ikapa) is the second most populous city in South Africa, forming part of the metropolitan municipality of the Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname The Prince of Orange acquiesced to British occupation and control of the Cape Colony in 1788. The Netherlands also possessed several other colonies, but Dutch settlement in these lands was limited. Most notable were the vast Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and Suriname (the latter was traded with the British for New Amsterdam, now known as New York). See http//enwikipediaorg/wiki/WikipediaFootnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the tags and the template below The Republic of Indonesia ( (Republik Indonesia is a Country in Southeast Asia. Suriname ( Dutch: Suriname; Sranan Tongo: Sranan) officially the Republic of Suriname (traditionally spelled Surinam by New Amsterdam (Nieuw Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that later became New York City. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous These 'colonies' were first administered by the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company, both collective private enterprises. The Dutch East India Company ( Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC in old-spelling Dutch, literally "United East Indian Dutch West India Company ( Dutch: Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie or GWC; English: Chartered West India Company was a company of Three centuries later these companies got into financial trouble and the territories in which they operated were taken over by the Dutch government (in 1815 and 1791 respectively). Only then did they become official colonies.
Industrialisation
During the 19th century, the Netherlands was slow to industrialize compared to neighbouring countries, mainly due to the great complexity involved in the modernizing of the infrastructure consisting largely of waterways and the great reliance its industry had on windpower.
World War I
Many historians do not recognise the Dutch involvement during World War I. However, recently historians started to change their opinion on the role of the Dutch. Although the Netherlands remained neutral during the war, it was heavily involved in the war. [3] Von Schlieffen had originally planned to invade the Netherlands while advancing into France in the original Schlieffen Plan. For the French counter-plan see Plan XVII The Schlieffen Plan was the German General Staff 's early 20th century overall strategic This was changed by Helmuth von Moltke the Younger in order to maintain Dutch neutrality. Later during the war Dutch neutrality would prove essential to German survival up till the blockade integrated by the USA and Great Britain in 1916 when the import of goods through the Netherlands was no longer possible. However, the Dutch were able to remain neutral during the war using their diplomacy and their ability to trade. [4]
World War II
The Netherlands remained neutral in World War I and intended to do so in World War II. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including However, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940 in the Western European campaign of the Second World War. Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers The country was quickly overrun and the army main force surrendered on May 14 after the bombing of Rotterdam, although a Dutch and French allied force held the province of Zeeland for a short time after the Dutch surrender. The Rotterdam Blitz refers to the aerial bombardment of Rotterdam by the German Airforce on 14 May 1940, during the German invasion Zeeland ( also called Zealand in English and Zeelandic, is a province of the Netherlands. The Kingdom as such continued the war from the colonial empire; the government in exile resided in London. A government in exile is a political group that claims to be a country's legitimate government but for various reasons is unable to exercise its legal power and instead resides in a foreign London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom.
During the occupation over 100,000 Dutch Jews [5] were rounded up to be transported to Nazi concentration camps in Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people commonly in large groups without trial Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Czechoslovakia may also refer to what is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia. By the time these camps were liberated, only 876 Dutch Jews survived. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Dutch workers were conscripted for forced labour in German factories, civilians were killed in reprisal for attacks on German soldiers, and the countryside was plundered for food for German soldiers in the Netherlands and for shipment to Germany. Although there are many stories of Dutch people risking their lives by hiding Jews from the Germans, like in the diary of Anne Frank, there were also Dutch people who collaborated with Nazi occupiers in hunting down and arresting hiding Jews, and some joined the Waffen-SS to form the 4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Netherlands, fighting on the Eastern Front. Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank ( (12 June 1929 – early March 1945 was a Jewish girl born in the city of Frankfurt am Main in Weimar Germany The Waffen-SS ( German for "Armed SS" literally "Weapons SS" was the Combat arm of the Schutzstaffel ("Protective Squadron" The 4 SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Brigade Nederland was a German Waffen SS volunteer brigade comprising volunteers of Dutch background The Eastern Front of World War II (die Ostfront 1941-1945, der Rußlandfeldzug 1941-1945 (Russian campaign or der Ostfeldzug 1941-1945 (Eastern Campaign
The government-in-exile lost control of its major colonial stronghold, the Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia), to Japanese forces in March 1942. See http//enwikipediaorg/wiki/WikipediaFootnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the tags and the template below The Empire of Japan ( {{unicode|Kyūjitai}}: ja 大日本帝國 Shinjitai: ja 大日本帝国 pronounced Dai Nippon Teikoku "American-British-Dutch-Australian" (ABDA) forces fought hard in some instances, but were overwhelmed. The American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA Command, code name ABDACOM, was a short-lived supreme command for all Allied forces in South East Asia, in The Netherlands East Indies campaign of 1941 - 42 was the short-lived defence of the Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia by Allied forces against During the occupation, the Japanese interned Dutch civilians and used both them and Indonesian civilians as forced labour, both in the Netherlands East Indies and in neighbouring countries. Imperial Japan occupied Indonesia during World War II from March 1942 until after the end of War in 1945 Unfree labour is a generic or collective term for those work relations especially in modern or early modern history in which people are employed against their will This included forcing women to work as "comfort women" (sex slaves) for Japanese personnel. Comfort women is a Euphemism for women forced into Prostitution and Sexual slavery for Japanese military brothels during World War Some military personnel escaped to Australia and other Allied countries from where they carried on the fight against Japan. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics.
After a first liberation attempt by the Allied 21st Army Group stalled, much of the northern Netherlands was subject to the Dutch famine of 1944, caused by the disrupted transportation system, caused by German destruction of dikes to slow allied advances, and German confiscation of much food and livestock and above that all a very severe winter made the "Hunger Winter" of 1944-1945 one in which malnutrition and starvation were rife among the Dutch population. The 21st Army Group was a formation comprising British and Canadian forces stationed in the United Kingdom The Dutch famine of 1944 (known as hongerwinter ("Hunger winter" in Dutch was a Famine that took place in the Netherlands during the winter German forces held out until the surrender of May 5, 1945, in Wageningen at Hotel De Wereld. Events 553 - The Second Council of Constantinople begins 1215 - Rebel Barons renounce their allegiance to King John Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar Wageningen is a Municipality and a historical town in the central Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland.
After the war
After the war, the Dutch economy prospered by leaving behind an era of neutrality and gaining closer ties with neighbouring states. The Netherlands became a member of the Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) grouping. The Benelux is an economic union in Western Europe that includes three neighboring monarchies, '''Be'''lgium, the '''Ne'''therlands, and Furthermore, the Netherlands was among the twelve founding members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and among the six founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community, which would later evolve, via the EEC (Common Market), into the European Union. The North Atlantic Treaty The European Coal and Steel Community ( ECSC) was a six-nation International organisation serving to unify Western Europe during the Cold War and creating The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in
Geography
Floods
In years past, the Dutch coastline has changed considerably as a result of human intervention and natural disasters. Most notable in terms of land loss is the 1134 storm, which created the archipelago of Zeeland in the south west. An archipelago (ɑrkəˈpɛləgoʊ is a chain or cluster of Islands The word archipelago literally means "chief Sea " from Italian Zeeland ( also called Zealand in English and Zeelandic, is a province of the Netherlands. The St. Elizabeth flood of 1421 and the mismanagement in its aftermath destroyed a newly reclaimed polder, replacing it with the 72 square kilometres (28 sq mi) Biesbosch tidal floodplains in the south-centre. The St Elizabeth's flood of 1421 was a Flooding of an area in what is now the Netherlands. A polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes, that forms an artificial hydrological entity meaning it has no connection with The square mile is an imperial and US unit of Area equal the area of a square of one statute mile. De Biesbosch ('forest of sedges or 'rushwoods' is one of the largest National parks of the Netherlands and one of the last freshwater Tide The most recent parts of Zeeland were flooded during the North Sea Flood of 1953 when 1,836 people were killed, after which the Delta Plan was executed. The North Sea flood of 1953 and the associated storm combined to create a major Natural disaster which affected the coastlines of the Netherlands and England The Deltaworks are a series of constructions built between 1950 and 1997 in the southwest of The Netherlands to protect a large area of land around the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt
The disasters were partially increased in severity through human influence. People had drained relatively high lying swampland to use it as farmland. This drainage caused the fertile peat to compress and the ground level to drop, locking the land users in a vicious circle whereby they would lower the water level to compensate for the drop in ground level, causing the underlying peat to compress even more. Peat is an accumulation of partially Decayed Vegetation matter. The problem remains unsolvable to this day. Also, up until the 19th century peat was mined, dried, and used for fuel, further adding to the problem.
To guard against floods, a series of defences against the water were contrived. In the first millennium AD, villages and farmhouses were built on man-made hills called terps. Later, these terps were connected by dykes. In the 12th century, local government agencies called "waterschappen" (English "water bodies") or "hoogheemraadschappen" ("high home councils") started to appear, whose job it was to maintain the water level and to protect a region from floods. (These agencies exist to this day, performing the same function. ) As the ground level dropped, the dykes by necessity grew and merged into an integrated system. By the 13th century, windmills had come into use in order to pump water out of areas below sea level. The windmills were later used to drain lakes, creating the famous polders. A polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes, that forms an artificial hydrological entity meaning it has no connection with In 1932, the Afsluitdijk (English "Closure Dyke") was completed, blocking the former Zuiderzee (Southern Sea) from the North Sea and thus creating the IJsselmeer (IJssel Lake). The Afsluitdijk ( English: Closure Dike Frisian: Ofslútdyk is a major dike in the Netherlands, constructed between 1927 and The Zuiderzee (ˌzaɪdɚ ˈzeɪ] Dutch: Zuiderzee, ˈzœydərzeː was a shallow Inlet of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands IJsselmeer (sometimes translated as Lake IJssel, alternative international spelling Lake Yssel) is a shallow lake of 1100 km² in the central Netherlands River IJssel (ˈɛi̯səl sometimes called Gelderse IJssel (" Gelderland IJssel" to avoid confusion with its Hollandse IJssel namesake It became part of the larger Zuiderzee Works in which four polders totalling 2,500 km2 (965 mi2) were reclaimed from the sea. The Zuiderzee Works (Zuiderzeewerken are a human-made system of Dams Land reclamation and water drainage works and the largest Hydraulic engineering [6][7]
Delta works
After the 1953 disaster, the Delta project, a vast construction effort designed to end the threat from the sea once and for all, was launched in 1958 and largely completed in 2002. The North Sea flood of 1953 and the associated storm combined to create a major Natural disaster which affected the coastlines of the Netherlands and England The Deltaworks are a series of constructions built between 1950 and 1997 in the southwest of The Netherlands to protect a large area of land around the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt The official goal of the Delta project was to reduce the risk of flooding in the province of Zeeland to once per 10,000 years. (For the rest of the country, the protection-level is once per 4,000 years. ) This was achieved by raising 3,000 kilometres (1,864 miles) of outer sea-dykes and 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) of inner, canal, and river dikes to "delta" height, and by closing off the sea estuaries of the Zeeland province. An estuary is a semi-enclosed Coastal body of Water with one or more Rivers or Streams flowing into it and with a free connection to the open New risk assessments occasionally show problems requiring additional Delta project dyke reinforcements. The Delta project is one of the largest construction efforts in human history and is considered by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
Additionally, the Netherlands is one of the countries that may suffer most from climatic change. Climate change is any long-term significant change in the “average weather” that a given region experiences Not only is the rising sea a problem, but also erratic weather patterns may cause the rivers to overflow. [8][9][10]
Rivers
The country is divided into two main parts by three large rivers, the Rhine (Rijn) and its main distributary Waal, as well as the Meuse (Maas). The Rhine (Rhein Rijn Rhin Reno Rain Rhenus is one of the longest and most important Rivers in Europe at 1320 kilometres (820 mi with an average discharge River Waal is the main Distributary branch of River Rhine flowing to the central Netherlands for about 80 km (50 miles before joining the The Meuse (in Dutch and in German: "Maas" in Latin: "Mosa" in Celtic:"Mus" (the rootword presumingly These rivers function as a natural barrier between earlier fiefdoms, and hence created traditionally a cultural divide, as is evident in some phonetic traits that are recognisable north and south of these "Large Rivers" (de Grote Rivieren). In addition to this, there was, until quite recently, a clear religious dominance of Catholics in the south and of Protestants in the north.
The south-western part of the Netherlands is actually a massive river delta of these rivers and two tributaries of the Scheldt (Westerschelde and Oosterschelde). A delta is a Landform where the mouth of a River flows into an Ocean, Sea, Estuary, Lake or another river The Scheldt (Dutch Schelde, French Escaut, Latin Scaldis) is a 350 km[http //www Only one significant branch of the Rhine flows northeastwards, the IJssel river, discharging into the IJsselmeer, the former Zuiderzee ('southern sea'). River IJssel (ˈɛi̯səl sometimes called Gelderse IJssel (" Gelderland IJssel" to avoid confusion with its Hollandse IJssel namesake IJsselmeer (sometimes translated as Lake IJssel, alternative international spelling Lake Yssel) is a shallow lake of 1100 km² in the central Netherlands The Zuiderzee (ˌzaɪdɚ ˈzeɪ] Dutch: Zuiderzee, ˈzœydərzeː was a shallow Inlet of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands This river also happens to form a linguistic divide. People to the east of this river speak Low Saxon dialects (except for the province of Friesland that has its own language). Friesland ( West Frisian: Fryslân, Dutch Friesland) is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the bigger region known [11]
Climate
The predominant wind direction in the Netherlands is south-west, which causes a moderate maritime climate, with cool summers and mild winters. An oceanic climate (also called marine west coast climate and maritime climate) is the Climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes
Mean measurements by the KNMI weather station in De Bilt between 1971 and 2000:
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. De Bilt is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. highest temp. (°C) | 5. 2 | 6. 1 | 9. 6 | 12. 9 | 17. 6 | 19. 8 | 22. 1 | 22. 3 | 18. 7 | 14. 2 | 9. 1 | 6. 4 | 13. 7 |
| Avg. lowest temp. (°C) | 0. 0 | -0. 1 | 2. 0 | 3. 5 | 7. 5 | 10. 2 | 12. 5 | 12. 0 | 9. 6 | 6. 5 | 3. 2 | 1. 3 | 5. 7 |
| Avg. temp. (°C) | 2. 8 | 3. 0 | 5. 8 | 8. 3 | 12. 7 | 15. 2 | 17. 4 | 17. 2 | 14. 2 | 10. 3 | 6. 2 | 4. 0 | 9. 8 |
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. precipitation (mm) | 67 | 48 | 65 | 45 | 62 | 72 | 70 | 58 | 72 | 77 | 81 | 77 | 793 |
| Avg. hours sunshine | 52 | 79 | 114 | 158 | 204 | 187 | 196 | 192 | 133 | 106 | 60 | 44 | 1524 |
Nature
- See also: List of national parks of the Netherlands and List of extinct animals of the Netherlands. National parks in the Netherlands were defined in the 1960s as areas of at least 10 km² consisting of natural terrains water and/or forests with a special landscape This list of extinct animals of the Netherlands includes the animal Species and Subspecies once lived in the Netherlands but have disappeared since
The Netherlands has 20 national parks and hundreds of other nature reserves. Most are owned by Staatsbosbeheer and Natuurmonumenten and include lakes, heathland, woods, dunes and other habitats. Staatsbosbeheer is a Dutch organization founded in 1899 to control and conserve Dutch nature reserves. Vereniging tot Behoud van Natuurmonumenten in Nederland ( English: Society for preservation of nature monuments in the Netherlands is a Dutch organisation founded A lake (from Latin lacus) is a Terrain feature (or Physical feature) a body of Liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the Heaths are Shrubland habitats characterised by open low growing woody Vegetation, found on mainly infertile Acidic soils Ecologically a woodland is an area covered in trees differentiated from a Forest. In physical Geography, a dune is a Hill of Sand built by Aeolian processes.
Phytogeographically, the Netherlands are shared between the Atlantic European and Central European provinces of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom. Phytogeography, also called geobotany is the branch of Biogeography that is concerned with the geographic distribution of Plant Species, or more generally Vaccinium vitis-idaea 20060824 003jpg|thumb|right| Vaccinium vitis-idaea ]]Alnus-viridis Rhododendron-palustreJPG|thumb|right| Rhododendron tomentosum ]]The Boreal Kingdom or Holarctic Kingdom ( Holarctis) is a Floristic kingdom According to the WWF, the territory of the Netherlands belongs to the ecoregion of Atlantic mixed forests. An ecoregion ( ecological region) sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area smaller than a "realm" or " In 1871 the last old original natural woods (Beekbergerwoud) were cut down and most woods today are planted monocultures of trees like Scots Pine and trees that are not native to the Netherlands. The Scots Pine ( Pinus sylvestris L family Pinaceae) is a species of Pine native to Europe and Asia, ranging from These woods were planted on anthropogenic heaths and sand-drifts (overgrazed heaths) (Veluwe). Heaths are Shrubland habitats characterised by open low growing woody Vegetation, found on mainly infertile Acidic soils The Veluwe is a forest-rich ridge of hills in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands.
Government and administration
Government
The Netherlands has been a constitutional monarchy since 1815 and a parliamentary democracy since 1848; before that it had been a republic from 1581 to 1806, a kingdom between 1806 and 1810, and a part of France between 1810 and 1813. A constitutional monarchy, or a limited monarchy, is a form of Constitutional Government, wherein either an elected or hereditary Monarch is A parliamentary system, also known as parliamentarianism (and parliamentarism in American English) is a System of government in which A republic is a State or Country that is not led by a hereditary Monarch, but in which the people (or at least a part of its people have impact on its This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The Netherlands is described as a consociational state. Political scientists define a consociational state as a State which has major internal divisions along ethnic religious or linguistic lines with none of the divisions Dutch politics and governance are characterised by an effort to achieve broad consensus on important issues, within both the political community and society as a whole. In 2007, The Economist ranked The Netherlands as the third most democratic country in the world. The Economist is an English-language weekly news and International affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd and edited in London The Economist has in a study examined the state of Democracy in 167 countries and attempted to quantify this with an Economist Intelligence Unit Index of Democracy
The head of state is the monarch, at present Queen Beatrix. Head of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a Monarchic or Republican Nation-state The Netherlands has been an independent Monarchy since 16 March 1815, and has been governed by members of the House of Orange-Nassau Constitutionally the monarch still has considerable powers, but in practice it has become a ceremonial function. The monarch can exert most influence during the formation of a new cabinet, where he/she serves as neutral arbiter between the political parties.
In practice the executive power is formed by de ministerraad Dutch cabinet. In Political science and Constitutional law, the executive is the branch of government responsible for the day-to-day management of the State. The cabinet of the Netherlands is the main executive body of the Dutch government. Because of the multi-party system no party has ever held a majority in parliament since the 19th century, therefore coalition cabinets have to be formed. This article lists political parties in the Netherlands. The Netherlands has a Multi-party system with numerous parties in which any one party has little A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a Cabinet of a parliamentary Government in which several parties cooperate The cabinet consists usually of around thirteen to sixteen ministers of which between one and three ministers without portfolio, and a varying number of state secretaries. A Minister without Portfolio is either a Government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister that does not head a particular ministry. The head of government is the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, who is often, but not always, the leader of the largest party in the coalition. This article focuses on the cases where the Head of Government is a separate office from the Head of State The Prime minister of the Netherlands is the Head of government of the Netherlands and is the chair of the Dutch cabinet, and In practice the Prime Minister has been the leader of the largest coalition party since 1973. He is a primus inter pares, meaning he has no explicit powers that go beyond those of the other ministers. Primus inter pares ( Latin) or First among equals is a phrase which indicates that a person is the most senior of a group of people
The cabinet is responsible to the bicameral parliament, the States-General which also has legislative powers. Ministerial responsibility or Individual ministerial responsibility is a constitutional convention in governments using the Westminster System that a In Government, bicameralism (bi + Latin la ''camera'' chamber is the practice of having two legislative or Parliamentary chambers Thus a bicameral TalkParliament#Screen-size. -->A parliament is a Legislature, especially in those The States-General ( Staten-Generaal) is the Parliament of the Netherlands. A legislature is a type of representative Deliberative assembly with the power to create amend and change Laws The law created by a legislature is called Legislation The 150 members of the Second Chamber, the Lower House, are elected in direct elections, which are held every four years or after the fall of the cabinet (by example: when one of the chambers carries a motion of no-confidence, the cabinet offers her resignation to the monarch). The Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal ( literally "Second Chamber of the States-General" short Tweede Kamer, is the Dutch Lower house. A lower house is one of two chambers of a Bicameral Legislature, the other chamber being the Upper house. Direct election is a term describing a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the person persons or political party that they desire to The provincial assemblies are directly elected every four years as well. The members of the provincial assemblies elect the 75 members of the First Chamber, the upper house, which has less legislative powers, as it can merely reject laws, not propose or amend them. The Eerste Kamer ( First Chamber) is the Upper House or Senate of the Netherlands parliament the States-General An upper house is one of two chambers of a Bicameral Legislature, the other chamber being the Lower house.
Both trade unions and employers organisations are consulted beforehand in policymaking in the financial, economic and social areas. A trade union or labour union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages hours and working conditions forming An employers' organization, employers' association or employers' federation is an association of Employers A Trade union, which organizes They meet regularly with government in the Social-Economic Council. The Sociaal-Economische Raad (Social Economic Council SER is a major economic advisory council of the Dutch government This body advises government and its advice cannot be put aside easily.
While historically the Dutch foreign policy was characterised by neutrality, since the Second World War the Netherlands became a member of a large number of international organisations, most prominently the UN, NATO and the EU. The Foreign policy of the Netherlands is based on four basic commitments to the atlantic cooperation, to European integration, to International For other uses of Neutral and Neutrality see Neutral A neutral country takes no side in a War between other parties World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security The North Atlantic Treaty The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in The Dutch economy is very open and relies on international trade. International trade is exchange of Capital, Goods, and Services across International borders or Territories.
The Netherlands has a long tradition of social tolerance. In the 18th century, while the Dutch Reformed Church was the state religion, Catholicism and Judaism were tolerated. Dutch Reformed Church (in Dutch: Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk or NHK was one of many branches of churches coming out of the Protestant Reformation in Europe A state religion (also called an official religion, established church or state church) is a religious body or Creed officially The Catholic Church in the Netherlands is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and Curia in Rome Most history of the Jews in the Netherlands was generated between the end of the sixteenth century and World War II. In the late 19th century this Dutch tradition of religious tolerance transformed into a system of pillarisation, in which religious groups coexisted separately and only interacted at the level of government. Pillarisation ( verzuiling in Dutch, pilarisation in French) is a term used to describe the denominational segregation of Dutch This tradition of tolerance is linked to the Dutch policies on recreational drugs, prostitution, LGBT rights, euthanasia, and abortion which are among the most liberal in the world. In the Netherlands the national drug policy has officially four major objectives To prevent drug use and to treat and rehabilitate drug users Prostitution in the Netherlands is legal and common A majority of the women working in prostitution are foreigners and the country is fighting against Human The Netherlands is known for its liberal policies on personal matters such as Sexual orientation. Euthanasia (literally "good death" in Ancient Greek) refers to the practice of ending a life in a painless manner Abortion in the Netherlands is currently legal on demand with a five-day waiting period
Since suffrage became universal in 1919 the Dutch political system has been dominated by three families of political parties: the strongest family were the Christian democrats currently represented by the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), second were the social democrats, of which the Labour Party (PvdA) is currently the largest party and third were the liberals of which the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) is the main representative. Suffrage (from the Latin suffragium, meaning "voting tablet" and figuratively "right to vote" probably from suffrago "hough" and originally Christian democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian (and often specifically Catholic) principles to public policy The Christian Democratic Appeal ( CDA) (Christen Democratisch Appèl is a Dutch Christian-democratic Political party. Social democracy is a Political ideology of the left and centre-left This article gives an overview of liberalism in the Netherlands. The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( VVD) (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie is a Dutch liberal Political party. These cooperated in coalition cabinets in which the Christian democrats had always been partner: so either a centre left coalition of the Christian democrats and social democrats or a centre right coalition of Christian democrats and liberals. In the 1970s the party system became more volatile: the Christian democratic parties lost seats, while new parties, like the radical democrat and progressive liberal D66, became successful. For opposition to all forms of government social hierarchy or authority see Anarchism. Progressivism is a term that refers to a broad school of international social and political philosophies. Democrats 66 ( D66, Democraten 66 official name Politieke Partij Democraten 66) is a Dutch progressive, social-liberal and
In the 1994 election the CDA lost its dominant position. A general election of the Tweede Kamer of the Dutch Parliament was held in The Netherlands on May 3, 1994. A "purple" cabinet was formed by the VVD, D66 and PvdA. In 2002 elections this cabinet lost its majority, due to the rise of LPF, a new political party around the flamboyant populist Pim Fortuyn, who was shot to death a week before the elections took place. A general election of the Tweede Kamer of the Dutch Parliament was held in The Netherlands on May 15, 2002 Pim Fortuyn List ( Lijst Pim Fortuyn, LPF is a defunct Political party in the Netherlands. Wilhelmus Simon Petrus (Pim Fortuyn (pɪm fɔʁtœʏn ( February 19, 1948 – May 6, 2002) was a controversial openly gay charismatic The elections also saw increased support for the CDA. A short lived cabinet was formed by CDA, VVD and LPF, led by the leader of the Christian democrats, Jan Peter Balkenende. Jan Peter Balkenende (pronounced ˈjɑn ˈpetər ˈbɑɫkənɛndə) (born 7 May 1956 is a Christian Democratic politician who has been the Prime Minister of the After the 2003 elections in which the LPF lost almost all its seats, a cabinet was formed by the CDA, the VVD and D66. A general election of the Tweede Kamer of the Dutch Parliament was held in The Netherlands on January 22, 2003 The cabinet initiated an ambitious program of reforming the welfare state, the health care system and immigration policies. This article refers specifically to the Welfare state of the United Kingdom. This article describes policy-related systems For the article on hospital networks which are sometimes referred to as health care systems see Hospital network. An immigration policy is any policy of a State that deals with the transit of persons across its borders but especially those that intend to work and to remain in the country
In June 2006 the cabinet fell, as D66 voted in favour of a motion of no confidence against minister of immigration and integration Rita Verdonk in the aftermath of the upheaval about the asylum procedure of Ayaan Hirsi Ali instigated by the Dutch immigration minister Verdonk. Drs Maria Cornelia Frederika ("Rita" Verdonk (born 18 October 1955) is a Dutch Politician who was minister for Immigration Ayaan Hirsi Ali ( Ayaan Xirsi Cali; born Ayaan Hirsi Magan 13 November 1969 in Mogadishu, Somalia) is a Dutch Drs Maria Cornelia Frederika ("Rita" Verdonk (born 18 October 1955) is a Dutch Politician who was minister for Immigration A care taker cabinet was formed by CDA and VVD, and the general elections were held on 22 November 2006. The 2006 Dutch general elections were held in the Netherlands on Wednesday November 22, 2006, and followed the call for new elections after Events 498 - Kofi Aseidu- After the death of Anastasius II, Symmachus is elected Pope in the Lateran Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. In these elections the Christian Democratic Appeal remained the largest party and the Socialist Party made the largest gains. The Christian Democratic Appeal ( CDA) (Christen Democratisch Appèl is a Dutch Christian-democratic Political party. The Socialist Party ( SP, Dutch: Socialistische Partij) is a Dutch socialist Political party. The formation of a new cabinet started two days after the elections. Following the 2006 Dutch general election, held on November 22, a process of cabinet formation started involving negotiations about which coalition partners Initial investigations toward a CDA-SP-PvdA coalition failed, after which a coalition of CDA, PvdA and ChristianUnion was formed.
Summary of the 22 November 2006 Netherlands Second Chamber election results:
Administrative divisions
The Netherlands is divided into twelve administrative regions, called provinces, each under a Governor, who is called Commissaris van de Koningin (Commissioner of the Queen), except for the province Limburg where the commissioner is called Gouverneur (Governor) which underlines the more "non-Dutch" mentality. The Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal ( literally "Second Chamber of the States-General" short Tweede Kamer, is the Dutch Lower house. The Party for the Animals (Partij voor de Dieren is a Political party in the Netherlands with two out of the one hundred and fifty seats in parliament. Democrats 66 ( D66, Democraten 66 official name Politieke Partij Democraten 66) is a Dutch progressive, social-liberal and GroenLinks ( GL, English: GreenLeft) is a Dutch Green Political party. The Socialist Party ( SP, Dutch: Socialistische Partij) is a Dutch socialist Political party. This article is about the Dutch political party See Christian Union (students (with space between the two words for the university religious organization and Christian The Christian Democratic Appeal ( CDA) (Christen Democratisch Appèl is a Dutch Christian-democratic Political party. The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( VVD) (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie is a Dutch liberal Political party. The Political Reformed Party ( Dutch: Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij, SGP) is an orthodox Protestant Dutch political party. The Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid PVV) is a Dutch conservative political party Events 498 - Kofi Aseidu- After the death of Anastasius II, Symmachus is elected Pope in the Lateran Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. A lower house is one of two chambers of a Bicameral Legislature, the other chamber being the Upper house. A Dutch province represents the administrative layer in between the national government and the local municipalities having the responsibility for matters of subnational or regional |||} All provinces of the Netherlands are divided into municipalities ( gemeenten) together 443 (2007 A province is a territorial unit almost always an Administrative division. A governor is a governing official usually the executive (at least nominally to different degrees also politically and administratively of a non-sovereign level of government Limburg ( Dutch: (Nederlands Limburg is the southern-most of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. A governor is a governing official usually the executive (at least nominally to different degrees also politically and administratively of a non-sovereign level of government All provinces are divided into municipalities (gemeenten), 458 in total (1 January 2006). |||} All provinces of the Netherlands are divided into municipalities ( gemeenten) together 443 (2007 New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. The country is also subdivided in water districts, governed by a water board (waterschap or hoogheemraadschap), each having authority in matters concerning water management. As of 1 January 2005 there are 27. New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The creation of water boards actually pre-dates that of the nation itself, the first appearing in 1196. In fact, the Dutch water boards are one of the oldest democratic entities in the world still in existence.
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-Flag.svg/27px-Utrecht_(province)-Flag.svg.png){kind=small}
Demographics and urbanisation
Demographics
- The Netherlands is the 25th most densely populated country in the world, with 395 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,023 sq mi)—or 484 people per square kilometre (1,254/sq mi) if only the land area is counted, since 18. A flag is a piece of Cloth, often flown from a pole or mast, generally used Symbolically for signaling or identification A province is a territorial unit almost always an Administrative division. Area is a Quantity expressing the two- Dimensional size of a defined part of a Surface, typically a region bounded by a closed Curve. In Biology a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular Species; in Sociology Drenthe is a province of the Netherlands, located in the north-east of the country Assen ( is a Municipality and a City in the north eastern Netherlands, capital of the Province of Drenthe. Assen ( is a Municipality and a City in the north eastern Netherlands, capital of the Province of Drenthe. Flevoland is a province of the Netherlands. Located in the centre of the country at the location of the former Zuiderzee, the province was established on Lelystad ( is a Municipality and a City in the centre of the Netherlands, and it is the Capital of the Province of Flevoland Almere is a city and Municipality in Flevoland, the Netherlands bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde. Friesland ( West Frisian: Fryslân, Dutch Friesland) is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the bigger region known Leeuwarden ( Stadsfries: Liwwadden, West Frisian: Ljouwert) is the Capital city of the Dutch province of Friesland Leeuwarden ( Stadsfries: Liwwadden, West Frisian: Ljouwert) is the Capital city of the Dutch province of Friesland Gelderland ( English also Guelders) is a province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country Arnhem ( ( South Guelderish: Èrnem) is a city and Municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. Nijmegen (ˈnɛɪmeɣən) (obsolete spellings Nijmwegen Nymegen Nieumeghen &mdash Nimwegen in local dialect and in German, Nimègue in French Groningen is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. Groningen is the capital city of the province of Groningen in the Netherlands. Groningen is the capital city of the province of Groningen in the Netherlands. Limburg ( Dutch: (Nederlands Limburg is the southern-most of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. Maastricht ( Dutch; Limburgish and city dialect Mestreech; French: Maestricht or Maëstricht; Spanish: Maastricht ( Dutch; Limburgish and city dialect Mestreech; French: Maestricht or Maëstricht; Spanish: North Brabant ( Dutch: Noord-Brabant,) is a province of the Netherlands, located in the south of the country bordered by Belgium ' s-Hertogenbosch ( (literally "The Duke's Forest" colloquially known as Den Bosch ( — translated in French as Bois-le-Duc, in German Eindhoven ( is a Municipality and a city located in the province of Noord-Brabant in the south of the Netherlands, originally at the confluence North Holland ( Dutch: Noord-Holland,, West Frisian: Noôrd-Holland) is a province situated on the North Sea in the in the past usually Harlem in English is a city in the Netherlands. Amsterdam (pronounced) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west Overijssel (Transiselania is a Province of the Netherlands in the central eastern part of the country Zwolle is a Municipality and the capital city of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands, 120 kilometers northeast of Amsterdam. or Eanske in the local dialect ( Twents) is a Municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel, in the Utrecht ( ˈyːtrɛxt is the smallest province of the Netherlands, and is located in the center of the country Utrecht ( city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. Utrecht ( city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. Zeeland ( also called Zealand in English and Zeelandic, is a province of the Netherlands. This is about the city in the Netherlands For other uses see Middelburg (disambiguation. This is about the city in the Netherlands For other uses see Middelburg (disambiguation. South Holland ( Dutch:) is a province situated on the North Sea in the western part of the Netherlands. Rotterdam (pronounced) is the 2nd-largest City by population in the Netherlands, located in the province of Population density The Netherlands is the twenty-third most densely populated country in the world Population density (in agriculture standing stock and Standing crop) is a measurement of Population per unit area or unit volume List of countries and dependencies by Population density in inhabitants/km² 4% is water.
Population density in the Netherlands, 2006
Fertility rate
The fertility rate in the Netherlands is 1. The total fertility rate ( TFR, sometimes also called the fertility rate, period total fertility rate (PTFR or total 72 children per woman, well below the 2. 1 rate required for population replacement.
Life expectancy
Life expectancy is high in the Netherlands: 82 years for newborn girls and 77 for boys (2007). Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining at a given age
Body length The people of the Netherlands are amongst the tallest in the world, with an average height of about 1. 85 m (6 ft 0. 8 in) for adult males and 1. 68 m (5 ft 6 in) for adult females. [14] People in the south are on average about 2 cm shorter than those in the north. [15]
Ethnic origins
The ethnic origins of the citizens of the Netherlands are diverse. A majority of the population, however, still remains indigenous Dutch, although from a historic point of view, the latter notion is also to be relativised strongly. The Dutch people ( Dutch:) are the dominant Ethnic group of the Netherlands. They were:[16]
- 80. 9% Dutch
- 2. The Dutch people ( Dutch:) are the dominant Ethnic group of the Netherlands. 4% Indonesian (Indo-Dutch, South Moluccan)
- 2. The Republic of Indonesia ( (Republik Indonesia is a Country in Southeast Asia. Indo or Indo-European or Eurasian people is a term used to describe people of mixed European and Indonesian and/or Chinese Indonesian ancestry The South Moluccas consist of about 150 islands in the Banda Sea. 4% German
- 2. The German people (Deutsche are an Ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent and speaking the German language as 2% Turkish
- 2. The Turkish-Dutch (Turkse Nederlander are citizens of the Netherlands of Turkish ancestry numbering 357900 people in 2006 according to the Dutch Census 0% Surinamese
- 1. Suriname ( Dutch: Suriname; Sranan Tongo: Sranan) officially the Republic of Suriname (traditionally spelled Surinam by 9% Moroccan
- 0. Morocco (المغرب "al-Maghrib" officially the Kingdom of Morocco (المملكة المغربية is a country located in North Africa 8% Antillean and Aruban
- 6. The Netherlands Antilles ( Dutch:) previously known as the Netherlands West Indies or Dutch Antilles/West Indies, is part of the Lesser Antilles Aruba is a -long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, north of the Paraguaná Peninsula, Falcón State, Venezuela 0% other
However, this does not include the whole Kingdom of the Netherlands (such as the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, which have a non-Dutch majority community), and only includes the population in the Netherlands itself.
Urbanisation
The Netherlands is a very densely populated country, although the cities are modest in size compared to international standards. The geography of the Netherlands is unusual in that much of its land has been reclaimed from the sea and is below Sea level, protected by dikes. It is not the size of the biggest cities, but the very high number of middle sized cities and towns, that accounts for the high degree of urbanisation. The capital and largest city is Amsterdam, although the government is located in The Hague. The capital of the Netherlands is Amsterdam, even though the States-General and the government have been both situated in The Hague since 1588 While the word capital is usually defined as the city of the government seat, no Dutchman would ever call The Hague the capital of The Netherlands.
The Randstad
The Randstad (Edge City) is a conurbation in the western part of the Netherlands. ImageRandstad_with_scalepng|400px|thumb|right|Schematic map of the Randstadcircle 528 380 26 Schiphol rect 426 356 498 436 Haarlemmermeer rect 399 166 479 245 ImageRandstad_with_scalepng|400px|thumb|right|Schematic map of the Randstadcircle 528 380 26 Schiphol rect 426 356 498 436 Haarlemmermeer rect 399 166 479 245 It consists of the four largest Dutch cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht), plus their surrounding areas. With its 7. 5 million inhabitants (almost half of the population of the Netherlands; when other conurbations connected to this area are also taken into consideration, it would have a population a little over 10 million, almost two-thirds of the entire Dutch population) it is one of the largest conurbations in Europe. There is discussion to what extent the Randstad may form a single more integrated metropolis in the future. At this moment, urban structures between these cities are not yet developed to such a level that the Randstad could be considered a kind of distributed super-agglomeration.
Conurbation is not restricted to the Randstad alone, although the centre of gravity lies there. ImageRandstad_with_scalepng|400px|thumb|right|Schematic map of the Randstadcircle 528 380 26 Schiphol rect 426 356 498 436 Haarlemmermeer rect 399 166 479 245 Quite typically, in the Netherlands there are many medium sized cities, but no truly large ones. Its largest city, Amsterdam with about 750,000 inhabitants in its own municipality, belongs to one of the smaller European capitals.
The 10 largest cities
List of the largest cities, by population, within the borders of one municipality with their provinces in 2006: Sources are CBS based
- Amsterdam (North Holland) 744,740
- Rotterdam (South Holland) 581,615
- The Hague ('s-Gravenhage / Den Haag) (South Holland) 474,245
- Utrecht (Utrecht) 294,742
- Eindhoven (North Brabant) 209,601
- Tilburg (North Brabant) 200,975
- Almere (Flevoland) 183,738
- Groningen (Groningen) 180,824
- Breda (North Brabant) 170,451
- Nijmegen (Gelderland) 160,732
However, this picture has to be completed. Amsterdam (pronounced) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west Rotterdam (pronounced) is the 2nd-largest City by population in the Netherlands, located in the province of Utrecht ( city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. Eindhoven ( is a Municipality and a city located in the province of Noord-Brabant in the south of the Netherlands, originally at the confluence Tilburg ( is a Municipality and a City in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of Noord-Brabant. Almere is a city and Municipality in Flevoland, the Netherlands bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde. Groningen is the name of several places Groningen (province, a province of the Netherlands Groningen (city, a city in the Netherlands Breda ( is a Municipality and a city in the southern part of the Netherlands. Nijmegen (ˈnɛɪmeɣən) (obsolete spellings Nijmwegen Nymegen Nieumeghen &mdash Nimwegen in local dialect and in German, Nimègue in French Municipality sizes alone do not reflect the degree of urbanisation in the Netherlands comprehensively. Many of the larger Dutch cities are the cores of a significantly larger urban agglomeration. The largest ones are listed below:
The 15 largest agglomerations
Agglomerations consisting of only one municipality are not included. Sources are CBS based see [1] and[17]
- Rotterdam (Rotterdam, Barendrecht, Ridderkerk, Capelle aan den IJssel, Krimpen aan den IJssel, Spijkenisse, Schiedam, Vlaardingen, Maasland, Maassluis, Rozenburg)
- Amsterdam (Amsterdam, Amstelveen, Uithoorn, Diemen, Landsmeer, Oostzaan, Wormerland, Zaanstad)
- The Hague ('s-Gravenhage, Rijswijk, Wateringen, Voorburg, Leidschendam, Wassenaar, Westland, Zoetermeer, Delft)
- Utrecht (Utrecht, Nieuwegein, IJsselstein, Maarssen)
- Eindhoven (Eindhoven, Veldhoven, Geldrop, Son en Breugel, Waalre)
- Tilburg (Tilburg, Goirle)
- Groningen (Groningen, Haren)
- Haarlem (Haarlem, Heemstede, Bloemendaal)
- Arnhem (Arnhem, Rozendaal)
- Leiden (Leiden, Katwijk, Voorschoten, Leiderdorp, Oegstgeest, Rijnsburg, Valkenburg, Warmond)
- Dordrecht (Dordrecht, 's-Gravendeel, Hardinxveld-Giessendam, Papendrecht, Sliedrecht, Zwijndrecht)
- Heerlen (Heerlen, Kerkrade, Landgraaf, Brunssum)
- 's-Hertogenbosch ('s-Hertogenbosch, Vught)
- Sittard-Geleen (Sittard-Geleen, Beek, Stein)
- Amersfoort (Amersfoort, Leusden, Hoogland, Hooglanderveen)
Language, religion, and culture
Language
The official language is Dutch, which is spoken by a majority of the inhabitants, the exception being some groups of immigrants. Eindhoven ( is a Municipality and a city located in the province of Noord-Brabant in the south of the Netherlands, originally at the confluence Tilburg ( is a Municipality and a City in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of Noord-Brabant. Groningen is the name of several places Groningen (province, a province of the Netherlands Groningen (city, a city in the Netherlands in the past usually Harlem in English is a city in the Netherlands. Arnhem ( ( South Guelderish: Èrnem) is a city and Municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. "Leyden" redirects here For other uses see Leyden (disambiguation. Dordrecht (population 119649 in 2004 or in English (and locally colloquially Dordt, is a city and municipality in the Dutch province of South Heerlen ( is a City and a Municipality in the southeastern Netherlands The municipality is the second largest in the province of Limburg. ' s-Hertogenbosch ( (literally "The Duke's Forest" colloquially known as Den Bosch ( — translated in French as Bois-le-Duc, in German Sittard-Geleen ( is a Municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. Amersfoort is a municipality and the second largest city of the province of Utrecht in central Netherlands. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname Minority languages regional languages and dialects in the Benelux Frisian dialects Westlauwers Frisian Wood Frisian Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname
Another official language is West Frisian, which is spoken in the northern province of Friesland, called Fryslân in that language. West Frisian ( Frysk) is a Language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland ( Fryslân) in the north of the Netherlands. Friesland ( West Frisian: Fryslân, Dutch Friesland) is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the bigger region known [18] West Frisian is co-official only in the province of Friesland, although with a few restrictions. Several dialects of Low Saxon (Nedersaksisch in Dutch) are spoken in much of the north and east, like the Twentse language in the Twente region, and are recognised by the Netherlands as regional languages according to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, as well as the Meuse-Rhenish Franconian varieties in the southeastern province of Limburg, here called Limburgish language. Dutch Low Saxon (Dutch Low Saxon Nedersaksisch) is a group of Low Saxon ( i Twente (or Twenthe is a non-administrative region in the eastern Netherlands, probably named after the Tuihanti a tribe that settled in that region in the beginning of our The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages ( ECRML) is a European Treaty (CETS 148 adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe Meuse-Rhenish is a modern superordinating term in the geography of the southeastern Low Franconian dialects spoken in the greater Meuse - Rhine area 300px|right|thumb|The Franconian languages in Europe|'''Legend'''{{legend|#a0f288|Low Franconian dialects in [[the Netherlands]] Limburg ( Dutch: (Nederlands Limburg is the southern-most of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. Limburgish, or Limburgian or Limburgic ( Dutch: Limburgs, German: Limburgisch, French: Limbourgeois [19]
 Dom Tower of Utrecht. The Dom Tower (Cathedral Tower Dutch Domtoren) of Utrecht is the tallest church tower in the Netherlands, at 112 | |||
|
There is a tradition of learning foreign languages in the Netherlands: about 70% of the total population have good knowledge of English, 55– 59% of German and 19% of French. Dutch cuisine is shaped by the agricultural produce and history of the Netherlands. Dutch culture or culture of the Netherlands is diverse reflecting regional differences as well as the foreign influences thanks to the merchant and exploring spirit The Dutch have a code of etiquette which governs social behaviour and is considered important The Netherlands has 9 main holidays The Holidays in the Netherlands are DateEnglish The Netherlands has multiple Musical traditions Contemporary Dutch popular music music ( Nederpop) is heavily influenced by music styles that emerged in the 1950s Historically the Netherlands is characterized by multitude of Religions Although religious diversity remains to the present day there is a major decline of religious Approximately 45 million of the 16 million people in the Netherlands are registered to one of the 35000 sports clubs in the country Netherlands Mail Postal service in The Netherlands is in many cases performed by TNT Post which has as of 2008 a monopoly on letters until 50 g Overview The Netherlands has a prosperous and Open economy, which depends heavily on foreign Trade. The Netherlands has a rich history dealing with taxation predating the Romanic period. Rail transport Railway tracks The Netherlands has an extensive and much-used railway network which connects virtually all cities and many towns with each other Population density The Netherlands is the twenty-third most densely populated country in the world Education in the Netherlands is characterized by division education is oriented toward the needs and background of the pupil The Dutch have a code of etiquette which governs social behaviour and is considered important Minority languages regional languages and dialects in the Benelux Frisian dialects Westlauwers Frisian Wood Frisian The media in the Netherlands &ndash Television, Radio, Newspapers Magazines &ndash are characterized by a tradition of " The Human rights of the Netherlands are codified in the Dutch constitution. The Netherlands is a civil law country Its laws are written and the application of Customary law is exceptional Law enforcement in The Netherlands is provided by 25 regional police forces (regiokorpsen the National Police Services Agency ( Korps landelijke politiediensten Minority languages regional languages and dialects in the Benelux Frisian dialects Westlauwers Frisian Wood Frisian The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary Representative democracy, a Constitutional monarchy and a Abortion in the Netherlands is currently legal on demand with a five-day waiting period In the Netherlands the national drug policy has officially four major objectives To prevent drug use and to treat and rehabilitate drug users In 2002 the Netherlands legalized Euthanasia. Euthanasia is still a criminal offence but the law codified a twenty year old convention of not prosecuting doctors Pillarisation ( verzuiling in Dutch, pilarisation in French) is a term used to describe the denominational segregation of Dutch Prostitution in the Netherlands is legal and common A majority of the women working in prostitution are foreigners and the country is fighting against Human The Netherlands has allowed Same-sex marriage since 1 April 2001, the first nation in the world to do so English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people [20] Some Dutch secondary schools also teach Latin and Ancient Greek. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage in the development of the Hellenic language family spanning the Archaic (c
Religion
The Netherlands is one of the more secular countries in the Western Europe, with only 39% being religiously affiliated (31% for those aged under 35), although 62% are believers (but 40% of those not in the traditional sense). Historically the Netherlands is characterized by multitude of Religions Although religious diversity remains to the present day there is a major decline of religious Fewer than 20% visit church regularly . [21]
According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll 2005,[22] 34% of Dutch citizens responded that "they believe there is a god", whereas 37% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 27% that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force". Eurobarometer is a series of surveys regularly performed on behalf of the European Commission since 1973
In 1950, before the secularisation of Europe, and the large settlement of non-Europeans in the Netherlands, most Dutch citizens identified themselves as Christians. In 1950, out of a total population of almost 13 million, a total of 7,261,000 belonged to Protestant denominations, 3,703,000 belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, and 1,641,000 had no acknowledged religion.
However, Christian schools are still funded by the government, but the same applies for schools founded on other religions, nowadays Islam in particular. While all schools must meet strict quality criteria, from 1917 the freedom of schools is a basic principle in the Netherlands.
Three political parties in the Dutch parliament (CDA, ChristianUnion and SGP) base their policy on the Christian belief system.
Culture
The Netherlands has had many well-known painters. The 17th century, when the Dutch republic was prosperous, was the age of the "Dutch Masters", such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Jan Steen, Jacob van Ruysdael and many others. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (July 15 1606 &ndash October 4 1669 was a Dutch painter and etcher. Johannes or Jan Vermeer (baptized in Delft with the name Joannis on October 31 1632, and buried in the same city under the name Jan Jan Havickszoon Steen (c 1626 – buried February 3 1679) was a Dutch genre painter of the 17th century (also known as the Dutch Jacob Izaaksoon van Ruisdael (or Ruysdael) (c 1628 - March 14, 1682) the most celebrated of the Dutch landscapists, was Famous Dutch painters of the 19th and 20th century were Vincent van Gogh and Piet Mondriaan. Painting (pān'tīng in Art, is the practice of applying Color to a Surface (support base such as e Pieter Cornelis (Piet Mondriaan, after 1912 Mondrian, (pronounced Dutch pit 'mɔndrian later pit 'mɔndɹiɔn ( March 7, 1872 &ndash February M. C. Escher is a well-known graphics artist. Maurits Cornelis Escher (17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972 usually referred to as M Willem de Kooning was born and trained in Rotterdam, although he is considered to have reached acclaim as an American artist. Willem de Kooning (April 24 1904 – March 19 1997 was an Abstract expressionist painter born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands Rotterdam (pronounced) is the 2nd-largest City by population in the Netherlands, located in the province of Han van Meegeren was an infamous Dutch art forger. Han van Meegeren (10 October 1889 in Deventer, Overijssel – 30 December 1947 in Amsterdam) born Henricus Antonius van Meegeren, was a Art forgery refers to creating and in particular selling works of Art that are falsely attributed to be work of another usually more famous artist
The Netherlands is the country of philosophers Erasmus of Rotterdam and Spinoza. Baruch or Benedict de Spinoza (ברוך שפינוזה Bento de Espinosa Benedictus de Spinoza ( November 24, 1632 – February 21, All of Descartes' major work was done in the Netherlands. The Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens (1629–1695) discovered Saturn's moon Titan and invented the pendulum clock. Christiaan Huygens (ˈhaɪgənz in English ˈhœyɣəns in Dutch) ( April 14, 1629 &ndash July 8, 1695) was a Dutch A pendulum clock is a Clock that uses a Pendulum, a swinging weight as its Timekeeping element Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was the first to observe and describe single-celled organisms with a microscope. Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek (October 24 1632 &ndash August 30 1723 was a Dutch tradesman and Scientist from Delft, the Netherlands
In the Dutch Golden Age, literature flourished as well, with Joost van den Vondel and P.C. Hooft as the two most famous writers. This article focuses on social and cultural history For political events see History of the Netherlands and Dutch Revolt (1568–1648 Literature is the Art of written works Literally translated the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter Joost van den Vondel ( November 17, 1587 - February 5, 1679) was a Dutch writer and playwright Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft ( March 16, 1581 - May 21, 1647) was a Dutch Historian, Poet and Playwright In the 19th century, Multatuli wrote about the bad treatment of the natives in Dutch colonies. Eduard Douwes Dekker ( 2 March 1820 &ndash 19 February 1887) better known by his Pen name Multatuli, was a Dutch Important 20th century authors include Harry Mulisch, Jan Wolkers, Simon Vestdijk, Cees Nooteboom, Gerard (van het) Reve and Willem Frederik Hermans. Harry Mulisch (born July 29, 1927) is a Dutch author Along with W Jan Hendrik Wolkers ( Oegstgeest, October 26, 1925 &ndash Texel, October 19, 2007) was a Dutch Author Simon Vestdijk ( October 17, 1898 - March 23, 1971) was a Dutch writer Cees Nooteboom, born Cornelis Johannes Jacobus Maria Nooteboom July 31, 1933, in the Hague) is a Dutch author Gerard Kornelis van het Reve (born December 14, 1923 in Amsterdam, Netherlands &ndash died April 8, 2006 in Zulte Willem Frederik Hermans ( September 1, 1921 &ndash April 27, 1995) was a Dutch Author. Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl was published after she died in The Holocaust and translated from Dutch to all major languages. Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank ( (12 June 1929 – early March 1945 was a Jewish girl born in the city of Frankfurt am Main in Weimar Germany The Diary of a Young Girl is a book based on the extracts from a Diary written by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as
Replicas of Dutch buildings can be found in Huis ten Bosch, Nagasaki, Japan. Huis Ten Bosch is a Theme park in Nagasaki Prefecture that recreates the Netherlands by displaying real size copies of old Dutch buildings ( is the Capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture in Japan. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. A similar Holland Village is being built in Shenyang, China. Shenyang ( Ch: 沈阳 pinyin Shěnyáng, or Mukden ( in Manchu) is a Sub-provincial city and capital of Liaoning China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National
Windmills, tulips, wooden shoes, cheese and Delftware pottery are among the items associated with the Netherlands. A windmill is a machine that is powered by the energy of the wind Tulipa, commonly called tulip, is a Genus of about 150 species of bulbous Flowering plants in the family Liliaceae. The word clog, as applied to footwear has these meanings A type of Shoe or sandal made predominantly out of wood Delftware, or Delft Pottery, denotes blue and white pottery made in and around Delft in the Netherlands and the tin-glazed Pottery
Military
Conscription in the Netherlands was suspended in 1996. The military of the Netherlands is composed of four branches all of which carry the prefix Koninklijke (Royal Koninklijke Landmacht All military specialities, except the Submarine service and Marine Corps(Korps Mariniers), are open to women. The Dutch Ministry of Defence employs almost over 70,000 personnel, including over 20,000 civilian and over 50,000 military personnel. [23] The military is composed of four branches, all of which carry the prefix Koninklijke (Royal):
- Koninklijke Landmacht (KL), the Royal Netherlands Army
- Koninklijke Marine (KM), the Royal Netherlands Navy, including the Naval Air Service and Marine Corps
- Koninklijke Luchtmacht (KLu), the Royal Netherlands Air Force
- Koninklijke Marechaussee (KMar), the Royal Military Police, tasks include military police and border control
Economy
Economy
The Netherlands has a prosperous and open economy in which the government has reduced its role since the 1980s. An open economy is an Economy in which people, including Businesses can trade in goods and services with other people and businesses Industrial activity is predominantly in food-processing (for example Unilever and Heineken International), chemicals (for example DSM), petroleum refining (for example Royal Dutch Shell), and electrical machinery (for example Philips). Unilever is a Multi-national corporation, formed of Anglo - Dutch parentage that owns many of the world's Consumer product brands Heineken International is a Dutch Brewing company, founded in 1864 by Gerard Adriaan Heineken in Amsterdam. DSM (in full Koninklijke DSM NV, or Royal DSM NV) is a multinational company specialized in life science and performance materials Petroleum ( L petroleum, from Greek πετρέλαιον, lit Royal Dutch Shell plc, commonly known simply as Shell, is a multinational oil company of Dutch and British origins Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV ( Royal Philips Electronics Inc. In the north of the Netherlands, near Slochteren, one of the largest natural gas fields in the world is situated. Slochteren ( is a Municipality in the northeastern Netherlands. Oil and Natural gas are produced by the same geological process anaerobic Decay of Organic matter deep under the Earth's surface So far (2006) exploitation of this field resulted in a total revenue of €159 billion since the mid 1970s. N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie still is the largest public-private partnership P3 world-wide following the global energy-transition of 1963[24] from coal to gas, coupling oil and gas prices. NV Nederlandse Gasunie (short form Gasunie) is a Dutch Natural gas infrastructure and transportation company Public-private partnership ( PPP) describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more With just over half of the reserves used up and an expected continued rise in oil prices, the revenues over the next few decades are expected to be at least that much. [25]
The Netherlands has the 16th largest economy in the world, and ranks 10th in GDP (nominal) per capita. PLEASE NO RANDOM FIGURES THERE ARE NO FIGURES BASED ON NATIONAL STATISTICS IN THIS ARTICLE This article includes three lists of Countries of the world sorted by their Gross domestic product Per capita at Nominal values, the Between 1998 and 2000 annual economic growth (GDP) averaged nearly 4%, well above the European average. Growth slowed considerably in 2001-05 due to the global economic slowdown, but accelerated to 4. 1% in the third quarter of 2007. Inflation is 1. In economics inflation or price inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services over a period of time 3% and is expected to stay low at around 1. 5% in the coming years. Unemployment is at 4. Unemployment occurs when a person is available to work and currently seeking work but the person is without work. 0% of the labour force. In Economics the people in the labor force are the suppliers of labor By Eurostat standards however, unemployment in the Netherlands is at only 2. The Statistical Office of the European Communities ( Eurostat) is the Statistical arm of the European Commission, producing data for the European Union 9% - the lowest rate of all European Union member states. The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in [26] The Netherlands also has a relatively low GINI coefficient of 0. The Gini coefficient is a measure of statistical dispersion most prominently used as a measure of inequality of income distribution or inequality of wealth 326. Despite ranking only 10th in GDP per capita, UNICEF ranked the Netherlands 1st in child well-being. [27]
Agriculture and horticulture
A highly mechanised agricultural sector employs no more than 4% of the labour force but provides large surpluses for the food-processing industry and for exports. Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture The Dutch rank third worldwide in value of agricultural exports, behind the United States and France, with exports earning $55 billion annually. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. A significant portion of Dutch agricultural exports are derived from fresh-cut plants, flowers, and bulbs, with the Netherlands exporting two-thirds of the world's total. The Netherlands also exports a quarter of all world tomatoes, and one-third of the world's exports of peppers and cucumbers. Capsicum is a Genus of Plants from the nightshade family ( Solanaceae) native to the Americas, where it was cultivated for thousands [28] The Netherlands' location gives it prime access to markets in the UK and Germany, with the port of Rotterdam being the largest port in Europe. Other important parts of the economy are international trade (Dutch colonialism started with cooperative private enterprises such as the VOC), banking and transport. International trade is exchange of Capital, Goods, and Services across International borders or Territories. The Dutch East India Company ( Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC in old-spelling Dutch, literally "United East Indian A banker or bank is a Financial institution whose primary activity is to act as a payment agent for customers and to borrow and lend money Transport or transportation is the movement of people and goods from one place to another The Netherlands successfully addressed the issue of public finances and stagnating job growth long before its European partners.
Currency
As a founding member of the Euro, the Netherlands replaced (for accounting purposes) its former currency, the "Gulden" (Guilder), on January 1, 1999, along with the other adopters of the single European currency. Please update other articles as well to avoid contradiction within Wikipedia e A currency is a unit of exchange, facilitating the transfer of Goods and/or services It is one form of Money, where money is New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) Actual Euro coins and banknotes followed on January 1, 2002. Linguistic Euro banknotes are the Banknotes of the Euro, the currency of the Eurozone (see European Union) New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. One Euro is equivalent to 2. 20371 Dutch guilders.
References
- Footnotes
- ^ van Krieken, Peter J. ; David McKay (2005). The Hague: Legal Capital of the World. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9067041858. , specifically, "In the 1990s, during his term as United Nations Secretary-General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali started calling The Hague the world's legal capital"
- ^ "Japan Goes Dutch", London Review of Books (2001-04-01). Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. Events 527 - Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne 3-7.
- ^ Abbenhuis, Maartje M. The Art of Staying Neutral. Amsterdam: Amsterdam UP, 2006.
- ^ Abbenhuis, Maartje M. The Art of Staying Neutral. Amsterdam: Amsterdam UP, 2006.
- ^ 93 trains
- ^ Kerngegevens gemeente Wieringermeer. www. sdu. nl. Retrieved on 2008-01-21. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1189 - Philip II of France and Richard I of England begin to assemble troops to wage the Third Crusade.
- ^ Kerngegevens procincie Flevoland. www. sdu. nl. Retrieved on 2008-01-21. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1189 - Philip II of France and Richard I of England begin to assemble troops to wage the Third Crusade.
- ^ Nickerson, Colin. "Netherlands relinquishes some of itself to the waters", Boston Globe, 2005-12-05. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 63 BC - Cicero reads the last of his Catiline Orations. Retrieved on 2007-10-10. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 680 - Battle of Karbala: Shia Imam Husayn bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, is decapitated
- ^ Olsthoorn, A. A. ; Richard S. J Tol (February 2001). "Floods, flood management and climate change in The Netherlands". Institute for Environmental Studies. Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit.
- ^ Tol, Richard S. J. ; Nicolien van der Grijp, Alexander A. Olsthoorn, Peter E. van der Werff (2003). "Adapting to Climate: A Case Study on Riverine Flood Risks in the Netherlands". Risk Analysis 23 (3): 575–583. Blackwell-Synergy. doi:. A digital object identifier ( DOI) is a permanent identifier given to an Electronic document.
- ^ Welschen, Ad: Course Dutch Society and Culture, International School for Humanities and Social Studies ISHSS, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 2000-2005.
- ^ Regionale Kerncijfers Nederland (Dutch). Statistics Netherlands (2007). Statistics Netherlands, founded in 1899, is a Dutch governmental institution that gathers statistical information about the Netherlands. Retrieved on 2007-10-13. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 54 - Nero ascends to the Roman throne 409 - Vandals and Alans crossed the Pyrenees
- ^ Bevolking per regio naar leeftijd, geslacht en burgerlijke staat (Dutch). Statistics Netherlands (2007). Statistics Netherlands, founded in 1899, is a Dutch governmental institution that gathers statistical information about the Netherlands. Retrieved on 2007-10-13. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 54 - Nero ascends to the Roman throne 409 - Vandals and Alans crossed the Pyrenees
- ^ Dataset 'Nederlandse volwassenen', Populatie 'DINED 2004 (20-30 jaar)' (Dutch). TU Delft. The Delft University of Technology ( Technische Universiteit Delft in Dutch) in Delft, the Netherlands, is the nation's largest technical Retrieved on 2008-02-04. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 211 - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons
- ^ Reported health and lifestyle. Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek. Retrieved on 2007-08-28. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 475 - The Roman General Orestes forces western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos to flee his Capital
- ^ Garssen, Joop, Han Nicolaas and Arno Sprangers (2005). Demografie van de allochtonen in Nederland (Dutch). Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek. Statistics Netherlands, founded in 1899, is a Dutch governmental institution that gathers statistical information about the Netherlands.
- ^ {{2006bevolkingskerneninnederlandart. pdf
- 2005grootstedelijkeagglomeratiesstadsgewestenafgebakendart. pdf
- 2004k4v4p037art. pdf}}
- ^ CIA World Factbook: Official languages per country
- ^ Welschen, Ad: Course Dutch Society and Culture, International School for Humanities and Social Studies ISHSS, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 2000-2005.
- ^ Ginsburgh, Victor; Ignacio Ortuño-Ortin, Shlomo Weber (February 2005). Why Do People Learn Foreign Languages? (pdf). Université libre de Bruxelles. Retrieved on 2007-10-10. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 680 - Battle of Karbala: Shia Imam Husayn bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, is decapitated - specifically, see Table 2.
- ^ Becker, Jos and Joep de Hart (2006). Godsdienstige veranderingen in Nederland (in Dutch). Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau. The Social and Cultural Planning Office (Dutch Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau) usually abbreviated as SCP, is a government agency of the Netherlands ISBN 9037702597. OCLC 84601762. The OCLC Online Computer Library Center is according to its website a "nonprofit membership computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purpose
- ^ Eurobarometer on Social Values, Science and technology 2005 - page 11. Retrieved on 2007-05-05. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 553 - The Second Council of Constantinople begins 1215 - Rebel Barons renounce their allegiance to King John
- ^ Ministerie van defensie - Werken bij Defensie
- ^ xxell.com
- ^ "Aardgas als smeerolie". Andere Tijden. VPRO. The VPRO (originally an acronym for Vrijzinnig Protestantse Radio Omroep, or "Liberal Protestant Radio Broadcasting Company" was established in the Netherlands 2006-01-15. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 588 BC - Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah 's reign Transcript.
- ^ Eurostat unemployment rates november 2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-07. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1325 - Alfonso IV becomes King of Portugal. 1558 - France takes Calais, the last continental
- ^ Child Poverty Report Study by UNICEF 2007.
- ^ Netherlands: Agricultural situation. USDA Foreign Agriculture Service. Retrieved on 2007-06-20. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 451 - Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius ' defeats Attila the Hun.
- Statistics
- Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (2006). Statistics Netherlands, founded in 1899, is a Dutch governmental institution that gathers statistical information about the Netherlands. Health statistics. Retrieved June 17, 2006. Events 1462 - Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II ( The Night Attack) forcing him to retreat Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
- The Netherlands: Economic structure. The Economist. The Economist is an English-language weekly news and International affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd and edited in London Retrieved on 2007-06-20. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 451 - Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius ' defeats Attila the Hun.
- Articles
- Country profiles: The Netherlands. BBC. Retrieved on 2007-06-20. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 451 - Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius ' defeats Attila the Hun.
- Background Note: The Netherlands. United States Department of State. Retrieved on 2007-06-20. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 451 - Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius ' defeats Attila the Hun.
- The Netherlands: Political forces. The Economist. The Economist is an English-language weekly news and International affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd and edited in London Retrieved on 2007-06-20. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 451 - Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius ' defeats Attila the Hun.
- The Netherlands: History in brief. The Economist. The Economist is an English-language weekly news and International affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd and edited in London Retrieved on 2007-06-20. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 451 - Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius ' defeats Attila the Hun.
- Books
- Paul Arblaster. A History of the Low Countries. Palgrave Essential Histories Series New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. 298 pp. ISBN 1-4039-4828-3.
- J. C. H. Blom and E. Lamberts, eds. History of the Low Countries (1998)
- Jonathan Israel. The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall 1477-1806 (1995)
- J. A. Kossmann-Putto and E. H. Kossmann. The Low Countries: History of the Northern and Southern Netherlands (1987)
External links
Wikimedia Atlas of Netherlands- Overheid.nl - official Dutch government portal
- Government.nl - official Dutch government web site
- Provinces of Netherlands at statoids. com
- CIA - The World Factbook -- Netherlands
- CBS - Key figures from the Dutch bureau of statistics
- Netherlands travel guide from Wikitravel
- Local news and features on the Netherlands,Expatica
- Holland.com - English website of the Netherlands tourist office
Wikitravel is a Web -based project "to create a free, complete up-to-date and reliable worldwide travel guide.
Dictionary
Netherlands
-proper noun
- A country in northwestern Europe bordering Germany and Belgium. Official name: Kingdom of the Netherlands.
-adjective
- Of or pertaining to the Netherlands.
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