It’s time to visit the Netherlands! This low-lying country is brilliant in all it’s ways. But hold your breath, because the sea will try to drown you while you’re here!
A VERY warm welcome to you all! We’re back with episode number 2 on our journey throughout the world! And this time we’re visiting the Netherlands, because, you know.. why not?
Before we get into things let’s just make one thing CRISTAL clear. This is not Holland. Yes you heard me right. If you’re saying Holland you’re doing it wrong.. Holland was earlier referred to as a common name for the two provinces ”North-Holland” and ”South-Holland”. But as of January 2020 the Dutch government officially dropped the nickname of the country. So now there’s just the “Netherlands”, ok? Well it actually always was, but, yeah.. Let’s move on!
The home of the windmills and tulips! But believe it or not, there is so much more to this country! Like being the healthiest people in the world, in regards to diet. Now.. How that’s possible with all the cheese they eat, I don’t know.. Or being the most physically active population of Europe! Well that one is pretty obvious. It’s because they ride bikes all freakin day! Yeah trust me when I say this, they love their bicycles.. Anyway, these GIANTS, yeah we get into that later on.. seem to just have it all!
You definitely do NOT want to miss this episode. So ladies and gentlemen. Cheese lovers and liberal people. We present to you, the red, white and blue.. And apparently orange?! The Netherlands! ..Oh, and hold your breath because the sea will try to drown you while you’re here!
Quick Country Facts –
Located in northwestern Europe, this ”low-lying” country, which by the way is the actual meaning of ”Netherlands”, is kinda sandwiched in between Belgium and Germany. Like most countries in Europe.. Being close to Germany that is.
With a total area of 41,850 km2 (16,158 mi) it’s one of the smaller countries in Europe ranking in on 32nd place in regards to land area. Right above Moldova, and just below, like REALLY just below Switzerland.
The kingdom of Netherlands also includes a few more places in the world. First there is the place referred to as the ”Dutch Caribbean”, that contains the islands of ”Bonaire”, ”St. Eustatius” and ”Saba”. Then there’s a few more islands that separately belong to the Kingdom, and go under the name of the ”ABC Islands”, named ”Aruba”, ”Curaçao” and ”Bonaire again”. Then there’s also the island named Sint. Maarten.
The North Sea is located to the north and west of the Netherlands, and it’s continually ”eating” the land itself. In fact there is a Dutch saying: ”God made the Earth, but the Dutch made “Holland”. And yes I know.. I said there was no such thing as ”Holland”, but they’re referring to the provinces I mentioned earlier. Which is where most of Dutch people live anyways. But don’t get it twisted here. The country is called the Netherlands, nothing else.
But what did they mean by that saying? Well in fact almost a third of the Netherlands is below sea level. and if it wasn’t for the people, ”the Dutch”, the country wouldn’t even be there today. The Dutch came out strong, fighting the sea itself, by building a series of canals, dams, dikes and pumping stations that over the years made it possible for the water to go ”through” the country rather than over it. And today there are more than 4,400 km (2,734 mi) of dikes, rivers and canals shielding the ”low-lying” country. This is also the reason for all the windmills you see around the country. They were simply used to drain the land of water, and help the Dutch survive!
Oh, and there’s three major rivers that cross the country, to help with the flow of water. They’re named, ”the Meuse”, ”the Scheldt” and ”the Rhine”.
So.. With whatever land surface the Dutch had remaining, they had to be creative with it, and find innovative solutions for everything. And I guess they did, because they have about 17.5 million people living in this area. Something that makes the Netherlands the most densely populated country in the European Union, and in fact one the most densely populated countries in the world!
Dutch is the official language of the country. A language most similar to German if anything. Dutch or Netherlandic as it also can be called, but probably shouldn’t, is also spoken in Belgium with a bit of a dialect, but here it’s called ”Flemish”. Most people in the country also speak English and often a bit of German or French as well! Then there’s ”Frisian” which is spoken in the northern Friesland region. Also it’s worth mentioning that the Afrikaans language of south Africa is basically Dutch with an African twist.
The religion of the Netherlands is ”kinda” Roman Catholics, but I say kinda because only about 20% of the population identify with this religion. Actually about half of the country’s population don’t identify with any particular religion at all.
Today, the Netherlands embodies the liberal middle road of having both freedom ”of” religion as well as freedom ”from” religion. And there’s a strong growth of ”ietsism” which can be described as a ”faith without a religion”. So basically a person saying ”I don’t believe in god, but I do think there is something out there”.
The flag of the Netherlands consists of three horizontal striped lines, with the colors red, white and blue. In the early days the red stripe was actually orange to symbolize the Prince of Orange, which the rebel province fought under, in the independence war against Spain between the years 1568-1648. But since red was easier to “see at sea”… How do you like that pun? They changed the orange to red. And so, these have been the official colors since 19th February, 1937 when Queen Wilhelmina made the decision.
However, most of us have seen the orange color still being representative of the Netherlands, especially in different sport events. So.. what’s up with that?
The simple answer is that the orange color refers to the Dutch Royal Family, the house of Orange-Nassau. And their ancestor, William of Orange, who is the founding father of the Netherlands. But this kinda turns us into the history segment of things. So let’s jump right there, shall we?!
History Segment –
Alright, so try to keep up now, because we have a LOT to cover, and I’m running out of space with this script..
But for the purpose of history, let’s bring ourselves back to the prehistoric times and roughly 250,000 BP. To a place called the ”Low Countries”. This place is generally understood to include the territory of what today are referred to as the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. This is where we find the first remains of human life in the Netherlands.
But take a leap in time until the year 1275 and the founding of Amsterdam! The greatest planned city of Northern Europe! This city has always been well-known in history, and played a very central part in the history of the Netherlands.
Then in 1568 Spain came to ruin all the fun.. With the Spanish king and his governor in the forefront, they tried to dominate the Netherlands and introduce its taxation there.
So there was WAR, war, war, war, then a little bit of war, and some war to that as well.. All-in-all we’re looking at 80 years worth of war against Spain until 1581 where the United Provinces declared their independence from Spain.
Then comes the discovery period, or the ”golden age” of colonialism if you so will. And boy, oh boy was the Dutch a force to be reckoned with here. They expanded all over the world and discovered new lands left and right. From America to Asia, Africa and South America, the Dutch had colonized them all! So by the mid 17th century they were actually the biggest maritime power in Europe! Yeah, suck on that Spain!
One of the more known stories is the one of how Director-general of the Dutch West India Company, Peter Minuit bought the entire Manhattan island for $24! But is it true though? … No. It’s not.. Story has it that Peter offered some trinkets and glass beads, which with today’s value would be around $24, in exchange for ownership of the land to some Natives he ran into.
Peter felt like a boss obviously, since he had done the deal of well.. ever. But the deal didn’t turn out that well in the end. First the natives who sold him the land, didn’t actually own it. Sorry Peter, you’ve been scammed.. And also The Dutch turned out to have very little interest in colonizing the area after all. This led to the English Naval force simply sailing into the harbour in 1664 and took over New Amsterdam, without firing a single shot. Charles II of England then later gave the territory to his brother James II of England, the Duke of York, and the land was later renamed New York.
The Netherlands then started a slow but constant economical growth and implemented important constitutional reforms, which lead them to be a liberal and modern state.
In WW1 the country remained neutral. But in WW2, like most European countries they were invaded by German troops in 1940. After a few years under terror of the Nazis, the whole country began to suffer the burden of war. So when the Nazis tried to incorporate the Netherlands into the “Third Reich” they fought back.
After the difficult years of trying to reconstruct the country right after WW2. the Netherlands had exponential economic growth in the second half of the 20th century. And today, they’re one of the most developed and wealthiest countries in the world!
Fun Facts
So what’s some fun facts about the Netherlands? well for starters
Dutch men are the tallest in the world! They have been on “top” for quite some time now, with an average length of 1.83 m (6’0). But the women aren’t exactly short either, averaging at 1.69 m (5’7). Only losing out to the women of Latvia.
Then there is this absolutely fascinating fact about this country. Did you know that the carrots are orange because of the Dutch? Back in the 10th century this vegetable was actually white or purple. But as you know, Orange is a big deal in the Netherlands. So as a tribute to William the Orange, the Dutch farmers tried to make their carrots orange. And we all know the results of that!
Then there’s the flowers. Or more specifically the tulips. Now there is an understatement that these are a big part of the Netherlands. But did you know that about 75% of the entire world’s flower bulbs are exported from the Netherlands? pretty crazy when you think about it!
As we mentioned earlier the Dutch have been a really clever people, using their creativity to find ways to save their land from the sea trying to drown them. One of the things they made are windmills. And there are actually over 1000 of them throughout the country!
And speaking of being creative, the city of Amsterdam is in fact completely built on top of over 1 million wooden poles, which extends around 12 metres into the ground. The city was built on a very wet swampy land, so talk about trying to see the possibilities instead of focusing on things being impossible!
And if you didn’t know.. They love bikes, they love them so much that the Dutch own more bicycles than any other country in the world! About 22 million of them are present in the country. So that’s more than 1 per person on average. Did I mention they love bikes?
Famous
So what famous people does this country have? And what things are they known for in the world? Well besides bikes, tulips and windmills there are a few more things they should have credit for!
Well for starters it’s home of the world’s first stock exchange! Established in 1602 by the Dutch East India Company.
If you’ve ever been to the Netherlands, chances are small you’ve missed that they like cheese. The Dutch have a long history of cheese-making. But the most famous one is without a doubt the Gouda cheese.
Then there is Vincent van Gogh. Most of us have heard of this extremely famous painter. He’s one of the most influential figures in Western art and he made over 2000 artworks in his lifetime. His most notable works being Starry Night, Sunflowers and the Siesta.
Closing
This country is just amazing! And it would take me a day to tell you every single thing about this place! We could mention Anne Frank, football, Rembrandt, licorice, beer, and probably a million other things as well. But the space on my script has come to an end yet again!
So what did you think of the video? Did you learn anything? If you’re from the Netherlands, what did we miss? I’d love to hear your opinions, so I can keep making better and better videos!