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Thinking of Holland I picture broad rivers meandering through unending lowland
Rose of incredibly lanky poplars huge plumes that linger at the edge of the world in
The astounding distance small holdings that recede into space throughout the country
Clumps of trees townlands stumpy towers churches and elms that contribute to the grand design a
Low sky and the sun smothering slowly in mists pearl gray mother of pearl and in every county the waters warning of more catastrophes
heard and
Heated
Or rather the Netherlands the low countries a country formed from the foaming of the seas
From shifting sands from the earth that remains when rivers wend their way to the sea
The low countries play an eternal game with the seas and the rivers a game where low-level land rises slowly from the water
Over centuries over millennia to submerge once more in a hurricane
Around 250,000 years ago the first people moved along the coastline here along the banks of rivers
And later over higher sandy ground
Prehistoric rural life here disappeared in the ice ages in storm floods and other winds of the climate
Leaving deep traces all over the landscape, but washing away most signs of the earliest human inhabitants
Around the time of Christ Roman legions conquered the low countries for three centuries the Ryan marked a frontier of the Roman Empire
The refined culture of the Romans came and went a glimpse of the farming way of life that remained can still be seen in open-air museums
In the early Middle Ages the climate here was wild and wet
After the 7th century a more temperate climate prevailed
British monks then made their way through the low countries to establish their Christian churches and monasteries
The church stood at the very heart of hundreds of new villages and towns
The city of Utrecht on the old Roman boundary of the Rhine became the religious center of the low countries
But the largest and most beautiful cathedral was St. John's in September in Bosse
Around the year 800, Charlemagne was striving to become a modern Roman emperor
With the aid of counts and dukes he established his personal hegemony in Europe
It didn't last
The nobility was soon behaving like many kings paying little attention to the emperor
Powerful counties and duchies arose around the castles
Independent mini-states that survive in the names of Dutch provinces today
In the late Middle Ages the nobility and the clergy broke free of their bonds of service
A third group emerged accumulating wealth and power
The bourgeoisie made up of the merchants along the coasts and river banks
The Dutch land of water became a land of towns and cities
Thanks to a powerful confederation of cities, the German Hanseatic League, trade with the Baltic countries thrived
Dordrecht grew to be one of the first cities in the county of Holland
It played a key role in trade between England and the German hinterland
In the north, the 11 cities of the province of Friesland were founded, such as Stavoren
And Hindelopen, whose harbors today serve pleasurecraft
The golden age of the great Dutch port cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam had not yet dawned
Instead, towns like Horn were amassing wealth and power
There was also Enkhuisen, which is still flourishing today thanks to water sports
There was also Enkhuisen, which is still flourishing today thanks to water sports
The Great War was a donor of theEDK
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There was also Enkhausen, which is still flourishing today thanks to water sports.
This growing prosperity soon attracted the attention of pirates along the coast and other warlords.
The towns and cities became military strongholds designed to protect the population.
The southern most city in the Netherlands was Maastricht on the River Meurs.
It was founded in the Roman period and a few centuries later became one of the first bishoprics in the Netherlands.
Nowadays, it's a centre for active learning and with a central square as its beating heart for leisure and tourism.
Every country has times when things are going well, with the wind in its sails, and times when they're going not so well.
The 80 years war, 1568 to 1648, was one of the hard times.
From this city of Breda in Brabant, a noble family established its power in the Netherlands.
Its most famous son was Prince William I of Orange.
There was a struggle against King Philip, a strict Catholic.
William of Orange knew that he had the backing of both an ability and the bourgeoisie in the towns and cities of the Netherlands.
The fate of the city of Alkmaar, which managed to hold off a Spanish siege, is better.
This revolt would ultimately lead to the independent Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.
William of Orange had to pay for the war with his life.
He was assassinated in Delft in 1584.
The catacomb of the Orange family lies beneath the new church on the Great Market in Delft.
The Orange dynasty in Delft was the first to rule the Netherlands.
It was the new church on the Great Market in Delft.
The Orange dynasty has played a prominent role in the Netherlands for five centuries.
At the end of the 17th century, William III of Orange had this palace built, het lo.
The current queen, Beatrix, grew up here at Sustijk Palace.
The royal house of the Netherlands is a national symbol with an international profile.
Another iconic symbol is the national capital, Amsterdam.
In the heart of the city is the royal palace.
There's also the Amsterdam National Museum and the National Treasury,
reminders of the heyday of power in the 17th century, the Dutch Golden Age.
The wealth came in from overseas, first from trade in Europe,
and then in the course of the 17th century from trade with Asia, Africa and the Americas.
The Dutch became the best shipbuilders and sailors in the world.
In fact, with its merchant and war fleets, the Netherlands became the most powerful country in Europe.
Money can bring happiness, but it also encourages idleness.
The Golden Age was followed by an 18th century in which the rich merchants retired
to their stately houses outside the cities.
The steam age and the rise of industry in the 19th century would not pass the Netherlands by.
King William I had canals and roads built in the first half of the 19th century.
The railway network followed soon after.
These modern times also brought periods of great destitution,
as in the Great Depression of the 1930s.
This international crisis created the breeding ground for the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler in Germany,
which was to rage across Europe like a savage storm.
In May 1940, Hitler seized the Netherlands.
Dutch Jews were interned in a camp in the woods at Westerbork in the province of Drenthe.
They awaited their fate in wooden barracks.
From here, trains departed carrying more than 100,000 Jewish men, women and children
to labour camps and extermination camps in central Europe.
Only 5,000 of these people survived the genocide.
In September 1944, the end of the occupation seemed imminent,
as Allied troops crossed into the southern Netherlands.
Sadly, this turned out to be a bridge too far.
In Arnhem at the bridge over the River Rhine, the advance of the liberation forces got bogged down.
The west of the country had to wait until May 1945 for liberation.
Most traces of World War II have long since been erased,
but not here, at the American military cemetery in Margraten in the province of Limburg.
This is one of 30 cemeteries for Allied soldiers in the Netherlands,
a permanent tribute to the many who fought and died.
Reconstruction was slow to get going after World War II,
but progress finally began to gather momentum in the 1950s and 60s.
Post-war developments, with their dead straight streets,
their orange-peaked roofs and their typically Dutch back gardens,
and then the blocks of flats that sprang from the ground like giant mushrooms
were the only ones left.
The population grew from 10 million in 1950 to around 16 million today.
A traditional and obedient society cast off its chains in the 60s and 70s.
The impact was also felt in the urban renewal and architecture
that are now so characteristic of the modern Netherlands.
Bigger, faster, further, billions worth of investment in accommodation, roads,
railways, airports and ports have also helped put the Netherlands on the map.
But at its heart, the Netherlands has remained the same age-old country
of traffic and transport, of international trade and cooperation.
The Amsterdam region, with its international airport's hippo,
is experiencing a new golden age.
Rotterdam is the other powerful engine of the Dutch and European economy.
At the mouth of the river Meurs, a Dutch Manhattan is taking shape.
Rotterdam is by some distance the largest port in Europe
and currently the third biggest in the world.
Between the city and the North Sea, on the banks of the new waterway,
is a vast port and industrial zone for the transfer of goods, oil and other fuels.
With a gross domestic product of around 570 billion euro and a strong social security system,
the Netherlands is in the top 10 most prosperous countries in the world.
It is densely populated and has a wide-ranging business sector
that offers opportunities for everyone.
In the Netherlands, the Netherlands is the most prosperous country in the world.
The Netherlands is the most prosperous country in the world.
In the Netherlands, the Netherlands is the most prosperous country in the world.
In the Netherlands, the Netherlands is the most prosperous country in the world.
In the village of Slachteren in Groningen province, a source was discovered in 1959
that has brought great wealth to the Dutch economy, natural gas.
And then there is the other source of energy, of the renewable type,
found in abundance here, wind energy.
The wind mills, once so typical of the Netherlands, are appearing on the landscape again in a new guise,
wind turbines.
Where a third of a country's area is located far below sea level,
it has to protect itself with extensive waterworks.
The Dutch have been building dykes since as far back as the 11th century.
This process reached new heights in the 1920s and 30s.
On the boundary of the Wadens-E and the Zerders-E,
a 30-kilometer-long Afsluit dyke or enclosing dyke sprang up.
Since its construction, the dyke has protected the north, the center and the east of the Netherlands from flooding.
The former Zerders-E, meaning Southern Sea, became the Islemere or Isle Lake.
The Islemere
Remembering that low land level, we know that it is above all pasture land and agricultural fields that lie below sea level.
We're looking at a typical Dutch polder landscape, with cows grazing and farmers making hay,
in a setting where time seems to have stood still.
The Islemere
But in reality, this rural Isle is the public face of a thriving sector
that is being run on an ever larger, more industrial scale.
Its modern name is agri-business, and it produces 10% of the national product
and contributes a large proportion of Dutch exports.
For foreign visitors, bulb growing, in particular between Leiden and Haarlem, is an iconic Dutch industry.
Greenhouse growing, including what is known as the Glass City south of The Hague, draws fewer tourists
but is possibly of even greater importance for domestic and foreign trade.
The agricultural sector provides prosperity, but is also responsible for the difficult task of reining back environmental damage
and producing in a sustainable way.
The same is doubly true in the fishing industry, which must also face the danger of overfishing
and the depopulation of the seas.
And this is the view on offer in these eternal lowlands in the 21st century,
a Netherlands of skyscrapers and office blocks.
Smoking chimneys have given way to high-tech research.
Dutch banks and insurers are strong and internationally active.
Nearly half of their turnover is generated on the international markets.
An economy as highly developed as this calls for an extremely strong knowledge economy.
High-quality universities and technical colleges can be found in nearly every Dutch town,
such as Leiden, which has the oldest university in the Netherlands.
And there are university medical centres in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Groeningen and five other Dutch cities.
The knowledge society that is the Netherlands today is also an information society,
where nine out of ten households have an internet connection
and television production companies in Hilversum, Alsmer and Amsterdam play a key role in the international media world.
But enough of work, it's time to relax.
The Netherlands has water aplenty for swimming and sailing, and it's close to where everyone lives.
However densely populated the country may be, there is still lots of space for recreation.
Along the coast, in the green heart of the densely populated provinces of the western Netherlands,
and in every other corner of the country.
The fairytale and amusement park Efteling in Katzhovel in Brabant is the most popular attraction in the country.
Whole new holiday villages, built in a nostalgic retro style, are springing up.
1.lots of allemaal
If it can move, it will move.
move, it will move. Well into old age, nearly everyone in the Netherlands has a
bike.
They even put their bikes on the back of their caravans, which they then hitched
to the rear of their cars, because the Dutch like to be unconfined in
everything they do, including family recreation. For centuries, the Dutch have
traveled far beyond their borders. And the Netherlands has also attracted
migrants, a development that comes in waves, and sometimes shockwaves. In less
than half a century, the makeup of the population has drastically changed,
through hundreds of thousands of Dutch people with roots in the former colonies,
through the families and descendants of Turkish and Moroccan immigrant workers,
through refugees from countries ravaged by war and want.
This rapid change in the makeup of the population has not happened without
creating tensions within society and concern about national identity. At the
same time, there is an increasingly strong orange spirit that not only
reflects the royal family, but finds expression above all in top-level sport
and especially in and around football. The Netherlands' colorful football teams
occupy fourth place in the world rankings, drawn up by FIFA.
The Hague, the city behind the dunes, with its own seaside resort of Skaveningen
along the coast, is home to the national political arena. The Queen, the government
of the Netherlands, the ministries, the parliament, the most important courts,
advisory bodies and think tanks, are all to be found cheek by jowl in just a few
square kilometers. The government and the parliament meet at the Binnenhof, or
inner court. This century's old castle complex is located in the center of the
Hague, not only the seat of the Netherlands government, but also a holder
of the title Capital of International Law. The UN's International Court of
Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia are
both located in the city.
Land borders are seldom fixed in perpetuity. National politics and
economics are increasingly a question of international cooperation. The boundaries
between land and water too are far from permanent, given the other worldwide
trend, the Earth's climate, which is getting steadily warmer. The residents of
the low countries already have enough reason to stay alert. Dutch history
teaches that water is at once friend and foe, that living and working in a land
of water is good, but requires constant vigilance. The voice of the water made
itself heard with massive impact during the last great floods of 1953. In the wake
of this catastrophe, the Dutch constructed a new wonder of the world,
building hundreds of kilometers of new dykes and dams to hold back the sea.
All of this, and so much more, is what has shaped the Netherlands into the country
it is today, a country where everything and everyone has evolved over the
centuries, and will continue to evolve. The water, the land, the land, the water.
But not the clouds, which will always chase across these low lands, filtering
the heavenly Dutch light, and not the prehistoric Dutch landscape, which will
always be there for anyone who wants to see it. A country that lets itself be
shaped and molded to repulse those who would be seized.
A country reflected in water and sky.
A country that turns water into land.
That is the Netherlands. Or just call it Holland. Go on. Why not?
