[Global Understanding] The Netherlands
Day 746, 05:18
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Published in Belgium 
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by
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by Yasupa
The Netherlands
This will be my first real article after my introduction. Please read it if haven’t yet.
[img]http://cache4.asset-cache.net/xc/200189328-001.jpg?v=1&c=NewsMaker&k=2&d=79D94D7195D79F822A4AB7FD34485AECCA62DE5246472DD0[/img]
The Netherlands is a country in western Europe. It is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands, Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. The capital of the Netherlands is Amsterdam, the government is located in The Hague and the official language is Dutch. There live 16.5 million people in this little country.
Netherlands means ‘lowlands’, roughly 30% of the country lies below sealevel, this means that if the Netherlands didn’t have dams and dikes this part of the Netherlands could flood. 60% of the population lives there.
The Dutch are proud of there country, but why? The Netherlands has a very rich history and was once a superpower, it has played a significant role in history and the Dutch are proud of what the Netherlands has accomplished and what they are accomplishing now. The Netherlands host several international courts and is known of it’s liberal policies towards drugs, prostitution, homosexuality, euthanasia and abortion.
History
Why are the Dutch so proud of their heritage? The Netherlands, together with Belgium, Luxembourg and parts of nowadays France & Germany were part of catholic Spain. In 1581 the Netherlands claimed independence after the 80 years war but it only succeeded for the northern part of the lower countries. It was one of the first republics and it became a mainly protestant country. The Dutch grew to become a major seafaring and economical power in the 17th century, the golden age. Many famous Dutch artist come from this time and the Netherlands began to establish colonies. The Dutch were once quite big, New York was New Amsterdam once and Dutch was a important language in trade. The Netherlands been occupied by France under Napoleon and nazi-Germany.
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Dutch_Empire35.PNG[/img]
Sinterklaas
Today it’s the 5th of December, a traditional Dutch (and Belgian) holiday. Tonight it’s Saint-Nicholas’ eve, children receive presents of Saint-Nicholas and his helpers Zwarte Pieten (Black Petes) Black Petes throw around typical candy, pepernoten/kruidnoten and speculaas. In the former colonies this tradition is upheld as well. America’s Santa Claus is derived from Sinterklaas, it is told that the people of the former Dutch colony of New Amsterdam reinvented the Sinterklaas tradition during the American war of independence as a symbol of their non-English past.
Interviews
I have questioned some in real Dutchmen about their culture. Things named as ‘typically Dutch’ are: windmills, wooden shoes, tulips, drugs, prostitution and complaining about everything. A traditional Dutch celebration would be Sinterklaas or Koninginnedag (this is a day when we celebrate the birthday of a former queen and dress in the national colour orange) Typically Dutch food would be boerenkool, stamppot, frikandellen, kroketten and the typical combination of potatoes with vegetables and meat. What the Netherlands makes so special is the legislation of drugs and prostitution, part of the country is below sea level, open economics, ‘friendly politics’, open-minded culture, many complaints but the people are very happy. Everyone I asked was proud of their country or at least happy to live here because the Netherlands is such a small country but nevertheless it has accomplished a lot and it’s still important now in economics and politics. Brother countries of the Netherlands are mostly Belgium and Luxembourg in the eyes of the Dutch because they once belonged to the Netherlands and they have a similar culture. Most people don’t dislike any nation, some dislike USA because there are dumb people there who can’t even name 5 European countries. If you would compliment the Netherlands as a little country that has accomplished a lot, a Dutchmen would feel complimented and proud of his country. Most Dutchmen like their business talks informal and they like how their eCountry is run.
Of course I haven’t written about everything, there is still lot’s of culture which I haven’t mentioned, but I wanted to give you an idea about the Dutch culture, for any questions you can ask me or look it up.
Funfacts
-Belgian people were much faster with answering my questions than Dutch people
-The United Kingdom's navy was burned in London when the Dutch navy sailed up the river Thames.
-The Netherlands has been attacked by nearly all neighbouring countries at once.
-Many people like the idea of having Belgium or Flanders being merged with the Netherlands
eRepublik
The Netherlands has merged with Belgium and has been in PEACEgc for a long time. Now there are talks about a merge with the UK. You could say that the culture of UK is similar, but what I have talked about above you wouldn’t find so easily in the UK.
Article about Belgium coming up! Please subscribe and vote!
This will be my first real article after my introduction. Please read it if haven’t yet.
[img]http://cache4.asset-cache.net/xc/200189328-001.jpg?v=1&c=NewsMaker&k=2&d=79D94D7195D79F822A4AB7FD34485AECCA62DE5246472DD0[/img]
The Netherlands is a country in western Europe. It is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands, Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. The capital of the Netherlands is Amsterdam, the government is located in The Hague and the official language is Dutch. There live 16.5 million people in this little country.
Netherlands means ‘lowlands’, roughly 30% of the country lies below sealevel, this means that if the Netherlands didn’t have dams and dikes this part of the Netherlands could flood. 60% of the population lives there.
The Dutch are proud of there country, but why? The Netherlands has a very rich history and was once a superpower, it has played a significant role in history and the Dutch are proud of what the Netherlands has accomplished and what they are accomplishing now. The Netherlands host several international courts and is known of it’s liberal policies towards drugs, prostitution, homosexuality, euthanasia and abortion.
History
Why are the Dutch so proud of their heritage? The Netherlands, together with Belgium, Luxembourg and parts of nowadays France & Germany were part of catholic Spain. In 1581 the Netherlands claimed independence after the 80 years war but it only succeeded for the northern part of the lower countries. It was one of the first republics and it became a mainly protestant country. The Dutch grew to become a major seafaring and economical power in the 17th century, the golden age. Many famous Dutch artist come from this time and the Netherlands began to establish colonies. The Dutch were once quite big, New York was New Amsterdam once and Dutch was a important language in trade. The Netherlands been occupied by France under Napoleon and nazi-Germany.
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Dutch_Empire35.PNG[/img]
Sinterklaas
Today it’s the 5th of December, a traditional Dutch (and Belgian) holiday. Tonight it’s Saint-Nicholas’ eve, children receive presents of Saint-Nicholas and his helpers Zwarte Pieten (Black Petes) Black Petes throw around typical candy, pepernoten/kruidnoten and speculaas. In the former colonies this tradition is upheld as well. America’s Santa Claus is derived from Sinterklaas, it is told that the people of the former Dutch colony of New Amsterdam reinvented the Sinterklaas tradition during the American war of independence as a symbol of their non-English past.
Interviews
I have questioned some in real Dutchmen about their culture. Things named as ‘typically Dutch’ are: windmills, wooden shoes, tulips, drugs, prostitution and complaining about everything. A traditional Dutch celebration would be Sinterklaas or Koninginnedag (this is a day when we celebrate the birthday of a former queen and dress in the national colour orange) Typically Dutch food would be boerenkool, stamppot, frikandellen, kroketten and the typical combination of potatoes with vegetables and meat. What the Netherlands makes so special is the legislation of drugs and prostitution, part of the country is below sea level, open economics, ‘friendly politics’, open-minded culture, many complaints but the people are very happy. Everyone I asked was proud of their country or at least happy to live here because the Netherlands is such a small country but nevertheless it has accomplished a lot and it’s still important now in economics and politics. Brother countries of the Netherlands are mostly Belgium and Luxembourg in the eyes of the Dutch because they once belonged to the Netherlands and they have a similar culture. Most people don’t dislike any nation, some dislike USA because there are dumb people there who can’t even name 5 European countries. If you would compliment the Netherlands as a little country that has accomplished a lot, a Dutchmen would feel complimented and proud of his country. Most Dutchmen like their business talks informal and they like how their eCountry is run.
Of course I haven’t written about everything, there is still lot’s of culture which I haven’t mentioned, but I wanted to give you an idea about the Dutch culture, for any questions you can ask me or look it up.
🙂
Funfacts
-Belgian people were much faster with answering my questions than Dutch people
-The United Kingdom's navy was burned in London when the Dutch navy sailed up the river Thames.
-The Netherlands has been attacked by nearly all neighbouring countries at once.
-Many people like the idea of having Belgium or Flanders being merged with the Netherlands
eRepublik
The Netherlands has merged with Belgium and has been in PEACEgc for a long time. Now there are talks about a merge with the UK. You could say that the culture of UK is similar, but what I have talked about above you wouldn’t find so easily in the UK.
Article about Belgium coming up! Please subscribe and vote!
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Comments
I know you're going to write an article about Belgium as well but I wanted to respond to the history part, because you speak of the 'Catholic' Netherlands.
One of the reasons why Belgium and the Netherlands split up was because of the fact the 'Northern Netherlands' chose to divide from the Catholic church and applied the reformed protestant system of Johannes Calvijn. Willem of the Netherlands wanted the 'Southern Netherlands' (Belgium) to be 'calvinized' as well, the same goes for the Dutch language. The French Catholic bourgeoisie of the south did not agree with him of course 🙂 ergo the Belgian Revolution.
The Flemish catholic people are not more agree. (The revolution of Brussels was make by flemish)
I don't really understand what you are trying to say...please say it in French.
The southern part of the Netherlands (North-Brabant & Limburg) are still catholic Kheops, but thanks for the remark
Of course, as well as there are protestant communities in Belgium...
North Brabant, Limburg and Zeeuws Flanders are conquered by the Northern Netherlands. These only got voting rights after Napoleon conquered the Netherlands. These parts are and were Catholic and the Dutch from above the Rhine did not trust them at all. Only because of the long divided history these parts are not part of Belgium. Still the culture in these Southern parts of the Northern Netherlands are close to Belgium.
You could say the Dutch are not one culture...
I live in North Brabant, and we do have different culture with people above the Rhine. (Carnaval, soft G, they have sint maarten, catholic - protestant) but as a child I have always felt Dutch and now I still do. I really like flemish people though (and they talk much nicer than people form Holland, I don't like the 'harde g' 😃)
"The southern part of the Netherlands (North-Brabant & Limburg) are still catholic Kheops, but thanks for the remark"
Yes, part of Belgium was lost after the defeat of 1831.
And still 1919, part of Belgium are ready to launch a war to conquer Luxembourg and North of Nederlands.
Kheops, ce sont les flamands de Bruxelles qui ont chassé les armées néerlandaises de Bruxelles lors des journées de Septembre. Les bourgeois catholique n'étaient qu'une faible proportion à Bruxeles et le reste du pays n'a pas materielement pu intervenir dés le début.
Ce n'est pas la seule hostilité des bourgeois catholique francophone qui est la cause de la révolution. (d'ailleurs, les liberaux étaient aussi favorable à des "changements"😉
Communaute FR, Ok, but let us be honest about the Flemish people in the early 19th century, not more than some angry poor farmers who benefited from the revolutionary atmosphere. Willem van Nederland who said he wanted to turn the Southern Netherlands (Belgium) into Dutch was the final strike that put Belgians over the edge to start a revolution. Flemish people had no political power at that time. Brussels was a socially Flemish city but culturally it was French. 'La Muette de Portici' showed at the place de la Monnaie performed on the evening of the revolution, was performed in French, for a French audience...just because French wast THE language for Belgium at that time. We wouldn't have an independent Belgium if it wasn't for those 'bourgeois catholique francophone' and I wasn't using those terms to give them a negative connotation. An independent Belgium was a good thing at that time, just because of the cultural differences between the north and the south.
Belgium and the Netherlands have been seperated for too long to be joined together again so easily. But in the article of Belgium which is coming very soon there will be a short piece of information about the revolution. Please subscribe ^-^