[DAILY FACTS #1] The Netherlands

Day 2,734, 06:34 • Published in Netherlands Netherlands • by Legendardisch

Greetings, and welcome to a new series of this newspaper. Instead of game side news, interviews and all, this newspaper tries to find both, starting with a new section called Daily Facts about everyday stuff.

This time, to kick it off, The Netherlands.



1. Netherlands and Holland are not synonymous. Holland is largely the western coastal region of the Netherlands, comprising of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Haarlem, Leiden and the Hague.

2. The Dutch are the tallest in the world with an average height of 184 cm for men and 170 cm for women. Some believe its the combined result of DNA and dairy.

3. Gin was invented in the Netherlands. Called "jenever", it was originally used for medicinal purposes in the 16th century.

4. Dutch brewery Heineken is the 3rd largest beer brewer in the world with over 140 breweries in over 70 countries. Back home, it owns around 50 percent of the Dutch beer market

5. Although the colours of the Dutch National flag are Red, white and Blue as per the royal decree by Queen Wilhelmina in 1937, a orange pennant is flown as a sign of allegiance of the Dutch people to the House of Orange to accompany the national flag.

6. The Dutch national anthem, Wilhelmus, is the oldest in the world. It was written and first used from 1568, although it was only officially adopted in 1932. The national flag of the Netherlands dates from 1572 and is also the oldest tricolour flag.

7. The Dutch were the first Europeans to discover Australia and New Zealand in the 17th century. Australia was then named "New Holland". New Zealand was named after the province of Zeeland.Tasmania was named after Dutch explorer Abel Tasman (1603-1659).

8. Although the Portuguese were the first Europeans to "discover" tea in East Asia, it was the Dutch who introduced the beverage commercially to Europe in 1610. Tea didn't reach England until the 1650's.

9. New York City started as Dutch colony called New Amsterdam. Many places names in New York remind of the Dutch origins of the city, such as Flushing in Queens (famous for Flushing Meadows), named after Flushing in the Dutch province of Zeeland.

10. The microscope, the telescope, pendulum clock and the mercury thermometer are all 16th or 17th century Dutch inventions.

BONUS FACTS:

11. The Dutch company 'Philips' invented the audio tape (in 1967), the video tape (in 1972), the Compact Disk (in 1982) and the CD-ROM (in 1985).

12. Smith & Jones in Amsterdam is Europe's first and only addiction clinic, treating everything from compulsive gambling to alcoholism, and from eating disorders to video game addiction.

13. Famous Dutch companies include Philips, Akzo Nobel , Royal Dutch Shell (half-British), Unilever (half-British), Heineken, IKEA (formerly Swedish) as well as the banks ING and ABN-AMRO.

14. The KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) is the longest running national airline in the world. It was founded in 1919

15. Orange-coloured carrots appeared in the Netherlands in the 16th century. Before that carrots were white, yellow, black, purple or red. Orange carrots are said to have been bred in honour of the House of Orange, who led the Dutch Revolt against Spain and later became the Dutch Royal family. Orange is still the official colour of the Netherlands and a sign of patriotism. The Dutch national football team wears a bright orange shirt. And the country's largest financial institution, the ING Group, makes abundant use of the national colour on its logo and on the decoration of its banks.