Note: Even though the European Netherlands are located within theUTC±0 longitudes, the country adoptedUTC+1 (Central European Time) as its standard time underGerman occupation on 2 November 1942, with a +0:40:28 offset (+1:40:28 duringDST) from Amsterdam’sLMT (UTC+0:19:32).[12]
TheNetherlands (also referred to asHolland) is acountry that is part (of aconstituent country) of theKingdom of the Netherlands. Most of it is inWestern Europe, but there are also some parts in theCaribbean. Nearly 18 million people live there. To the north and west of theEuropean part of the Netherlands is theNorth Sea, and to the east isGermany, and to the south isBelgium. The Netherlands is one of the countries that started theEuropean Union. People who live in the Netherlands are called "Dutch". The language of the Netherlands is also calledDutch. The official capital of the Netherlands isAmsterdam. However, the government is inThe Hague.
"The Netherlands" means "the low lands". The land only rises, on average, 1meter above sea level. One third of the land is below sea level. The Netherlands is also - incorrectly - referred to asHolland. Holland is a very rich area (two provinces) in the western part of the Netherlands, thus causing people to be mistaken. Most people who do not live in the western part of the Netherlands do not like it when people call the country Holland. The name "Holland" originates from the old Dutch words "Holt land" which means "wood lands". Holt eventually changed into hout, the current Dutch word for wood.
At the end of theMiddle Ages thedukes ofBurgundy, a country that is now part ofFrance, united seventeen areas. Those areas were called theBurgundian Netherlands. When the daughter of their duke marriedMaximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1477, the Netherlands became part ofSpain. In the 16th century many Dutch people becameProtestant. The king of Spain did not like it, he wanted all Dutch to beRoman Catholic. Of course the Dutch people did not like this, and after violent excesses by the Spanish they started a war against Spain in 1568, also for reasons of taxation. The war lasted until 1648, therefore it is called theEighty Years' War. An important leader of the Dutch in this war was Willem van Oranje (William of Orange) also calledWilliam the Silent.
In 1648 the Netherlands and Spain signedpeace. The Dutch people were allowed to keep all the areas they conquered. The part of the Netherlands that was not conquered by the Dutch stayed part of Spain. Later this part became the countryBelgium.
When the Netherlands became independent, it was a very special country. That time almost all countries inEurope were ruled by a king, but the Netherlands was arepublic. The Netherlands was made up of sevenprovinces, that were ruled by the big cities. The cities were ruled by the municipality which consisted of rich civilians. Together those provinces were ruled by astadtholder, a very powerful man, but compared to the kings of other European countries he had much less power.
In the17th century the Netherlands was the richest and one of the most powerful countries in the world. Therefore, the Dutch call the 17th century theGolden Age. TheirDutch Empire hadcolonies around the world. One important colony was theEast Indies, which is now calledIndonesia. They also had colonies in theCaribbean, like the other European empires. They also startedNew Netherland, which is now calledNew York. The Netherlands often fought wars against other European countries, especially theAnglo-Dutch Wars againstEngland.Michiel de Ruyter, a Dutchadmiral, became a Dutch hero when he defeated the English navy close to London.
In the 18th century the Netherlands became poorer. Many people blamed this on the government leaders, the stadtholders. Many thought they had too much power and wanted them to get away. In 1789 the French peopledeposed (got rid of) their king. French armies attacked other countries to depose their leaders too. In 1795 they attacked the Netherlands. StadtholderWilliam V had to flee to England. The Netherlands were renamed toBatavian Republic and became ademocracy. But the French were not content (satisfied) with the Dutch ruler, so in 1806 the FrenchemperorNapoleon made his brotherLouis Bonaparte king of the Netherlands. Louis became popular in the Netherlands, but the emperor was again not content with him, so in 1810 the Netherlands became a part of France.
In 1815 Napoleon was defeated, and the Netherlands became independent again. The rulers of European countries thought it was a good idea to make the Netherlands stronger, to make them able to resist another French invasion. Therefore,Belgium andLuxembourg were added to the Netherlands.William I, the son of stadtholder William V, became king. Some Belgians disliked their Dutch king. In 1830 they revolted. William sent an army. He was much more powerful than the Belgians but after ten days the French sent an army to support them. In 1831 the Belgians chose their own king and Belgium became an independent country.
Some people again thought the Dutch king had too much power. They wanted to give him less power and vote for the government themselves. In 1848 there were violent revolts against the kings of many European countries. The Dutch king was afraid the same would happen in the Netherlands. Therefore, he allowedJohan Rudolf Thorbecke to write aconstitution. From then on people were allowed to vote. At first only rich men were allowed to vote. From 1919 onall adults were allowed to vote.
InWorld War I, the Netherlands did not fight and were not invaded. The Dutch wanted to stayneutral inWorld War II as well, but in 1940 the country was invaded and occupied byGermany. Like in other countries they had occupied, the German authorities started to killJews.Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who lived in the Netherlands. Her family hid from the Nazis and she wrote adiary. She died in a Naziconcentration camp and her diary became famous.
In 1944 theAmerican,Canadian,Polish and British armies liberated the south of the Netherlands from Nazi Occupation. They wanted to cross theRhine river inOperation Market Garden to liberate the rest of the country, but they were defeated. It took until May 1945 before the entire country was liberated. During the five years of Nazi occupation, 250,000 people had died in the Netherlands.
Shortly after the war,Indonesia declared its independence. The Dutch sent soldiers to fight in Indonesia. After other countries, including theUnited States, told the Dutch to leave Indonesia, they finally did so in 1949.
After the war the Netherlands became one of the richest countries in the world. In 2004 theUnited Nations said that the Netherlands was the 5th best country to live in.
The Netherlands is aconstitutional monarchy. That means the country has a king, but the real power is in the hands of aparliament, chosen by the Dutch people. All Dutch people at least 18 years old or older are allowed to vote. The Dutch parliament consists of two chambers: theSecond Chamber (Dutch:Tweede Kamer, this is the House of Representatives, elected every four years), and theFirst Chamber (Dutch:Eerste Kamer, this is the Senate, elected by provincial politicians every four years). After the Second Chamber elections, parties that have had a majority of the votes create acabinet. The cabinet consists of aprime minister and several other ministers and deputy ministers. Current cabinet is the liberal-Christian democraticFourth Rutte cabinet, consisting ofVVD,D66,CDA, andCU politicians. Prime Minister isMark Rutte (VVD). This cabinet fell on 7 July 2023 and is taking care for the time being until a new cabinet has been installed.
The latest general elections were held on22 November 2023. Winners were populist partyPVV, leftist allianceGL-PvdA, and centrist partiesNSC andBBB. Losers were liberal partiesVVD andD66, leftist partiesSP andPvdD, Christian democratic partiesCDA andCU, populist partiesFVD andJA21, and European partyVolt Netherlands.
The Netherlands is known fortolerance in politics. The Netherlands is the only country wheresoft drugs are not entirely considered illegal. Furthermore, the Netherlands is one of the few countries that allowsame-sex marriages,euthanasia andprostitution to a certain extent.
When the Kingdom was formed in 1954, the territories in the Caribbean became part of theNetherlands Antilles. At that time it also includedSuriname inSouth America, which became anindependent country in 1975. Aruba left the Antilles in 1986, and Curaçao and Sint Maarten did the same in 2010. The rest of the islands then became the Caribbean Netherlands which is part of the Netherlands proper.
In fact a large part of the Netherlands (the province Flevoland) was created by the sand that came from the manyrivers flowing through it. Notable Dutch rivers are theRhine, theMaas, theIJssel and theScelt. A large part of the Netherlands is belowsea level. This is because the Dutch have made many lakes and parts of the sea dry, creating polders. Therefore, there is asaying "God created the earth, but the Dutch created the Netherlands." This makes the Netherlands very flat. In the very south-east of the Netherlands, inLimburg, there are some hills. Therefore, this region is a tourist-attraction for many Dutch people. The highest point in the European portion of the Netherlands, theVaalserberg, is 323metres above sea level. The highest point in both the Netherlands proper and the Kingdom of the Netherlands isMount Scenery, on the Caribbean island ofSaba, at 887metres.
The Netherlands is a small flat country; about 300kilometers from north to south, and about 170kilometers from east to west. It has anoceanic climate (Cfb in theKöppen climate classification).
The Netherlands is a small country, but many people live there. It is one of the mostdensely populated countries of the world.
Most people in the Netherlands speakDutch. InFriesland, about 200,000 people speakFrisian. Frisian is the language with the most similarities toEnglish. Some Dutch people speakdialects. The Saxon dialects spoken in the northeastern part of the Netherlands are somewhat similar toLow German.
According to a survey done in 2010, 23% of the Dutch people areChristian and 6% is islam and 71% believe in another organised religion, like Judaism, Islam or Hinduism. Twenty-six percent are 'unbounded spiritual' (have their own beliefs and are not tied to a religion). The other 44% are not religious.
Nederlandse Spoorwegen (English:Dutch Railways) orNS is the main passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. The railinfrastructure is maintained by network managerProRail, which was split from NS in 2003. Freight services, formerly operated byNS Cargo, merged with theDB Schenker group in 2000.
NS runs 4,800 scheduled trains daily. In addition, NS provides international rail services from the Netherlands to other European destinations and carries out concessions on a number of foreign rail markets through its subsidiaryAbellio such asAbellio Greater Anglia,Merseyrail andScotRail.
Arriva is another passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is asubsidiary of the German companyDeutsche Bahn. Their local headquarters is based atHeerenveen. They have been active since 1998.
↑CET and CEST are used in the European Netherlands, and AST is used in the Caribbean Netherlands.
↑+599 was the country code designated for the now dissolvedNetherlands Antilles. The Caribbean Netherlands still use +5997 (for Bonaire), +5993 (for Sint Eustatius), and +5994 (for Saba).
↑.nl is the common internet top level domain name for the Netherlands. The.eu domain is also used, as it is shared with otherEuropean Union member states. .bq is designated, but not in use, for theCaribbean Netherlands.
1.Transcontinental country/territory that is part of both Europe and Asia. 2. Territory or with territory geographically part of North America. 3. Partially recognized. 4. Not all dependent territories are listed. 5. Territory has some form of self-rule. 6. Territory or with territory geographically part of Africa. 7. Governed by theHoly See.
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