More info on Wikipedia
Quick Facts
- The Netherlands is sometimes called Holland
- The people are called the Dutch and the language is also Dutch
- It is a low-lying country with 27 % of the land area below sea level
- Popular for its windmills, tulips, cheese, and clogs
- Famous for its liberal policies towards drugs, prostitution, etc.
Expert summary
The Netherlands is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy in Western Europe. It is bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east. The country contains the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba on the Caribbean. The Dutch Republic was established as early as the 1580s. The Dutch became one of the major seafaring and economic powers in the seventeenth century. In that Dutch Golden Age, colonies and trading posts were established all over the world. Many economists call the Netherlands the first thoroughly capitalist country in the world. Its capital Amsterdam had been the wealthiest trading city in early modern Europe. Amsterdam had the first full-time stock exchange.
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The Netherlands manages to be radical, sensible and quaintly staid. The Dutch aren't bogged in their clichés, even though bikes, dykes, windmills and blazing flower fields are pretty much the norm outside the major cities. Do as the locals do - grab a bike and explore. It's a very big small country, and full of salutary surprises. One of the chief pleasures of the place is its lively contrast between pragmatic liberalism and the buttoned-up just-so primness of a culture founded on Calvinist principles. In Dutch society, ostentation is anathema and fuss of any kind is regarded as undignified.
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de Valk Windmill
Historic windmills are synonymous with the Netherlands. The De Valk Windmill now houses a museum with bird's-eye views of scenic Leiden.
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Lonely planet: the Netherlands
I traveled all over the world for two years, using mostly Lonely Planet books. That was about 11 years ago. Back then I found Lonely Planet books to be very well written - especially the ones for Asia. This was my second time in the Netherlands, and this book missed a lot -- hardly any mention of Zeeland (beach country in the South); disappointing coverage of small towns. I can't comment on the Amsterdam coverage because we skipped that town. -
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Netherland: A novel
Reading this novel gave me great pleasure. In contrast to its plain cover, this marvelous novel, written in mellifluous and elegant prose, is complex; its world sprawling and vast, with mind-boggling depth. After reading only two pages, I found myself charmed by its narrator's voice, and my mind glued to its world. On the surface it is the story of its narrator, a banker named Hans van den Broek , born and raised in Netherlands, and working in London. While working in London in a bank, he meets an Englishwoman named Rachel and marries her. They have a son named Jake. In 1990's, they relocate to New York and live in TriBeCa. After the terrorist attack on the Word Trade Center on 9/11, however, they relocate again, and decide to live in the Chelsea Hotel. But Rachel's fear of another terrorist attack and the toxic political atmosphere in the United States create stress in their marriage, and the stress in turn compels Rachel to move with her son, once again, back to London.
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