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The Netherlands, often referred to as “ HOLLAND”, is situated in the north-west part of continental Europe. It is bordered in the east by Germany and in the south by Belgium; the north and west borders are on the North Sea coastline. The inhabitants, the Dutch, call their country NEDERLAND. The name originates from an older word meaning “low-lying country”.
A1.1 Situation map
The national flag, showing the three horizontal red, white and blue stripes, is shown in A1.2. When the flag is presented during celebrations in which the royal family is involved, an orange lash is added to it.
A part of the national hymn, the WILHELMUS can be heard in A1.3 .
The official language is DUTCH (Nederlands).
A1.2 National flag
The Netherlands is a small country in terms of surface area; it covers 41,526 km² in total, consisting of 33,883 km² of land, 3,468 km² of inland waters and 4,175 km² of territorial waters in the North Sea. A significant part of the land is situated below sea level, because it was reclaimed from lakes and from the sea.
The landscape is mostly flat; the highest hill is only 322.5 m above sea level and is located in the far south-east of the country. The countryside looks very green, as it is mainly covered in flat green meadows used for agricultural purposes such as farming and grazing. The centre of the country is covered in a forest called the VELUWE. The delta formed by the Rhine and Meuse (Maas) Rivers flows into the North Sea from the Netherlands. Rivers and canals make a large part of the country look like a jigsaw puzzle.
For administrative purposes the country is divided into 12 provinces. A map of the country detailing the layout of the provinces is shown in A1.4. The Netherlands is a kingdom with a constitutional monarchy.
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A1.4 Provinces
Some outlying territories belonging to the kingdom are situated off the north-east coast of the continent of South America. These former colonies, ARUBA and the NETHERLANDS ANTILLES, are six small, sparsely populated islands. This guide does not focus on these parts of the kingdom in any more detail.
The capital of the country is AMSTERDAM, but the seat of government is in THE HAGUE (DEN HAAG). Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht are the largest cities. Due to the small size of the country and its many inhabitants, people in the Netherlands do not live exclusively in cities and villages. Travelling through the countryside, houses and farms can be seen everywhere.
The climate in the Netherlands can be classified as a temperate marine climate. Located next to the sea, the temperatures in the country are influenced by the temperature of the sea water. As these waters origin from the Gulf of Mexico, temperatures are mild and do not range into extremes. In general the winds come from the south-west, but the wind patterns are also influenced by depressions that move from the North Sea towards continental Europe.
The result is that it often rains. The coldest month of the year is February, but even then temperatures below 0° Celsius during the whole day are exceptional. The warmest month of the year is August; the number of days with a temperature of more than 30° Celsius is far lower than days with a temperature below 30°. There is often a significant difference between actual temperature and “felt” temperature, due to the wind chill factor in winter and the high humidity in summer. As a result of the recent trend towards global warming, snow has become rare and rainfall has intensified. The Dutch meteorological institute (KNMI) offers an extensive source of statistics and maps showing all the details in the climate area, published on their website at www.knmi.nl
The official language is Dutch. All the inhabitants and official authorities use this language. The language is also used by approximately five million Belgians, half a million Surinamese, and a few thousand inhabitants of a small region in the north of France. This means that the language is spoken by more than 21 million people.
Besides Dutch, the inhabitants and authorities of the province of Friesland are allowed to use the FRISIAN language, which is a language that is closely related to Dutch, but is recognized to be a language in its own right.
The Netherlands is very densely populated. In the spring of 2005, there were 16,300,000 registered inhabitants. The estimated number of unregistered inhabitants varies between 125,000 and 270,000. Only Bangladesh has more inhabitants per km².
The growth rate of the population was highest in the 40 years after World War II: 6 million people. As the Netherlands has been a politically very tolerant country in the past centuries, many political refugees settled here in the past for that reason. Since the 1960s, many foreigners moved to this country for economical reasons as well, and only a few of them returned to their homeland.
total |
natives |
foreign background |
|
|
|
first generation |
second generation |
16.3 |
13.2 |
1.6 |
1.5 |
(in millions)
A1.5 Population of the Netherlands as of spring 2005
Of the population that comes from a foreign background, 1.7 million (10.4 percent of the total population) comes from a non-Western background. The countries of origin of the three largest ethnic groups are:
- Turkey 358,000
- Surinam 328,000
- Morocco 315,000
The many different ethnic minorities make integrating the foreigners into the Western, Dutch society a major issue. Some succeed very well; others have and cause more difficulties.
In the 1990s, the government had the policy of “pursuing a multi-cultural society”. As hardly any social improvements were made, this policy changed to “integrating foreigners into the society” by requiring immigrants to learn and accept the Dutch rules and values and behave in public accordingly. It is expected that the population will peak at 17.7 million in 2040. A decrease of approximately 10,000 per year is expected after 2040. A great variety of statistics on the population, including a flexible age pyramid, can be found on the website of Statistics Netherlands at www.cbs.nl
The Netherlands are host to many tourists from all over the world each year. The country is appealing to tourists because of its geographical position, good infrastructure, liberal policy, mild climate throughout the year, world-famous museums, relatively low prices and many other reasons. Between 9.5 and 10 million tourists spend 25 to 26 million nights every year. The largest group of visitors comes from the neighbouring countries of Germany and Belgium.
Tourists not only come for their yearly holiday, but also for a day trip or a short holiday of a few days; some even come several times a year. Day trippers come mainly from the neighbouring countries, but as Rotterdam and Amsterdam are main seaports which both have an active marketing policy targeting cruise lines, many “few-hour” tourists spend a lot of money in a short time. As the country is full of lakes and rivers, the Netherlands are equipped with a number of good-quality harbours for pleasure boats: boats large enough for a comfortable stay for a family for a longer period. Many Dutch and Germans and some Belgians own a boat based in a Dutch harbour.
As boating and water sporting are not only hobbies, but quite expensive and intensive ways of spending spare time, the boat owners spend as much time as possible on their boats. There is a regular flow of water sports lovers coming and going, especially in summer. In addition, there are also many campgrounds and bungalow parks in the Netherlands. Equipped with the most modern facilities, many mobile homes are owned by families from the surrounding countries, who sometimes also own a boat harboured near the parks. These mobile-home owners spend as many of their weekends and holidays at the campground as possible. Short-term rental of a bungalow in a park is also very popular. Campsites and bungalow parks are located all over the country, while boating is concentrated in the north, middle and south-west.
Although all government institutes are based in The Hague, Amsterdam is the capital of the country.
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A1.6 Amsterdam
Amsterdam attracts many tourists throughout the year. The city has a lot to offer to a variety of visitors. World-famous paintings are exhibited in various museums; “The Night Watch” by Rembrandt van Rijn is probably the most famous. There is also a special museum featuring works by Van Gogh. There are also museums and art centres spotlighting other disciplines of the arts. The city has more than 40 museums, many of which are well known around the world. The ANNE FRANK museum is a good example.
Amsterdam organizes all kinds of music and theatre festivals throughout the year, which showcase international artists and attract an international audience. There are 40 performances a day in this area alone. The city has a great appeal for young and “free” people. The atmosphere is very liberal, still in some way giving a sense of the spirit of the 1960s hippie generation.
One world-famous (or infamous) tourist attraction is the “coffee shops”, where the consumption not of coffee but of cannabis products is the important issue. Because of the many canals (165), the 1300 bridges crossing them and the 2500 houseboats the city also has a certain level of romantic charm. A first visit to Amsterdam must include a tour by boat through the canals. The more than 700,000 inhabitants, originating from some 150 different countries, using 400,000 bicycles, offer the visitors and themselves more than 10,000 shops, 1400 cafés and bars, 750 restaurants and 30,000 hotel beds.
The Amsterdam zoo ARTIS is home to a collection of 6100 animals. One of the most well-known royal palaces is located in the centre city. Near the historical harbour of Amsterdam lies the entertainment district that sprung up alongside, as well as the traditional red-light district. And then AJAX, one of the world’s leading soccer clubs for more than 35 years now. There are truly many reasons for all kinds of people to visit Amsterdam.
A1.7 Tulips from Amsterdam
If there is something the Netherlands is identified with, it is tulips. In the little town of Lisse, located just between Amsterdam and The Hague, there is a park called the KEUKENHOF. An exhibition of flowers, especially featuring tulips, just opened and runs from the last week of March through the third week of May. More than 750,000 visitors come to see the Keukenhof tulips each year.
Cheese is another product the Netherlands is famous for. Although this product is manufactured all over the country, it is especially the town of Alkmaar that attracts tourists in connection with cheese. The Alkmaar cheese market is the spot where tourist visits are as important as the trade in cheeses.
As the seat of government, The Hague is not only popular among tourists. All governmental institutes and a number of important international institutes such as Europol and numerous foreign embassies are based here.
The queen of the Netherlands, Her Royal Majesty Queen Beatrix, uses NOORDEINDE Palace as her work palace.
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A1.8 The work palace of Her Majesty BEATRIX, Queen of the Netherlands
Besides the official traffic that accompanies the process of governing and international relations, many tourists visit the city as well. The town is situated directly next to the sea; together with the beach town of SCHEVENINGEN, The Hague is really a tourist centre. Besides sea-bathing and other beach-related activities, The Hague offers arts, shopping, museums and “royalty”. Throughout the year, there is a program to attract tourists and the city’s Internet site at www.denhaag.com offers a very pleasant introduction to the seat of government for the Netherlands.
The historical and eternal battle with the sea has earned the Dutch worldwide respect as experts in solving threats to land and people that come from the sea. A visit to the
WATERWORKS all along the coast of the province of ZEELAND shows the visitor not only the enormous engineering solutions that have dealt with these threats, but a beautiful coastline and countryside as well.