Tuesday 19 October 2010

N is for...

Netherlands

A small country that is bordered by Germany on the East, Belgium on the South and the North Sea on both the North and West. The country as it is now known has existed from 1839 onwards, when what is now Belgium became its own country.

The capital of the Netherlands is Amsterdam. Governmental seat is in the Hague. Radio and television are based in Hilversum (if you live in Europe and you have a really old-fashioned radio, you will find it on there). The Netherlands are sometimes called Holland but that is very very very wrong, since it's only part of the country. Only one sixth in fact. So, don't do it again!

People in the Netherlands don't live in windmills (well, a few do, but only a few). We don't wear clogs on a daily basis (well, a few do, but only a few). We don't all smoke dope (I never have). We don't all live of prostitution. We don't all wear the Dutch 'national' dress, since it's not. It's the dress of Volendam, a tiny village just north of Amsterdam.

We have given rise to the word Apartheid. Were one of the first to establish slavery (and one of the last to abolish). Invented the cookie (Dutch word is koekje), introduced the ginger cat to the United States (apparently they all stem from one ginger cat that hitched a ride on one of the boats) and have an ongoing battle with water.

Our head of state is Queen Beatrix. There are over 16 million people living here, which makes it quite crowded. We used to own New Amsterdam (now New York, big mistake in selling it, everybody might otherwise have been speaking Dutch), Surinam and Indonesia. We were for a long time the only country that was allowed to trade with Japan.

We have Vincent van Gogh, Rembrandt van Rijn, Karel Appel (all painters); Jan de Bont and Paul Verhoeven (directors); Rutger Hauer and Jeroen Krabbé (actors); Famke Janssen (actress); Dick Bruna, Harry Mulish and Xaviera Hollander (writers); Willem Barentsz and Abel Tasman (explorers); Desiderius Erasmus and Baruch de Spinoza (philosophers); Raymond van Barneveld (darts player); Pieter van den Hoogeband (swimmer); Johan Cruijff (football player); Anton Geesink (judoka); Richard Krajicek (tennis player).

Oh, and there's me!

For more N-words from around the world, please check out ABC Wednesday and join in the fun!

Dutch Flag and detail of windmill: July 2009 in Open Air Museum Arnhem; Wuppie: January 2010; Tulips and clogs: It's a small world attraction in Eurodisney: May 2010; Nijntje/Miffy by Dick Bruna; me in May 2010

22 comments:

  1. Oh, good, there's you, too. We can't very well take any other famous citizens of the Netherlands to lunch, so you can tell us all about them.
    Or, wait, no... tell us all about yourself. That might be more fun than Rembrandt. We can find him on Wikipedia if we want to. ;~)
    -- Kay and Dick

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  2. That was a nice tour of The Netherlands with you as the guide. Enjoyed it as you explained just the things we wanted to know. :)

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  3. Albany has an affiliation with the Netherlands. Our tulip festival. Our South Mall, built because Gov. Rockefeller thought the city was too dowdy when a Dutch princess came by.



    ROG, ABC Wednesday team

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  4. What an excellent piece about your country. There is humour but also a lot of information. I'd still love to call it Holland, however. :)

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  5. Fabulous - what a wonderfully informative N word Mara. Those ginger cats have a lot to answer for too! A

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  6. My goodness, what a vast amount of fascinating information.
    My appologies for calling your wonderful place Holland. I promise to Never do it again! (:0)
    Loved the humor infused information.

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  7. beautiful land to live on.
    Happy ABC Wednesday.

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  8. I'm happy that they invented my favorite food - cookies! I remember the tulips and other bulb flowers when we visited the Netherlands in the spring. A fun post.

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  9. Very good post and tour. Love the picture of the cat by the window... Guess that's what's called "cat nap"

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  10. Very nice resumé, my DIL is Dutch and my son lives in Amsterdam, there is a new Dutch boy coming in November and I will be the Grandma, lol ! Not the Oma, there is already the Dutch Oma I will be Nonna which is Oma in Italian.

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  11. Great snapshot of The Netherlands. Our area of Western Arkansas was developed by Dutch investors in the 1890's. My town of Mena was started in 1896 because of the new railroad funded by the Dutch investors. A resort was built on Rich Mountain neat Mena and named after Queen Wilhelmina in hopes that she wouold visit. She never did.

    An Arkies Musings

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  12. OOOOOO.... Our Jackson is dutch?!
    I didn't know that... and he is even related to your orange tabby!

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  13. And we are all happy about YOU! Thank you for the history lesson, very interesting.

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  14. Whew....Ten smacks with a wet noodle for calling the Netherlands Holland.

    I learnt that a while back, but tend to forget it. I think now I will remember... ; )

    Great choice for the N day.

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  15. A nifty guided tour of the Netherlands - Thank you!!

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  16. I have Dutch ancestory, - Empire Loyalists who came to Canada at the time of the American Revolution, - it is such a pleasure to learn all these little details about a country all Veterans have such great gratitude to for the care they give their loved ones graves. Charles has a brother buried near Njimagen.

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  17. What a lot of famous people are from the Netherlands. I would really like to know how the name of the country was chosen and why. You know you are directly across the North Sea from my beloved Flamborough and a lot of smuggling went on between the two countries.

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  18. Great post, I will never ever say Holland to mean the country again!!
    :)

    My ABC

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  19. thanks for the short tour of the Netherlands. I never realised that Holland was just a small bit of it.

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  20. I will never call the Netherlands Holland again - at least, not until I forget;-)

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  21. You forgot to mention that you all seem to speak perfect English.
    By coincidence I was reading of someone who was wanting to send a postcard to the Netherlands from Peru, you get a sticker with the name of the country on. Not on the list, she said, try H, no, so the post person looked back at the N list and said I could use New Zealand. Was she thinking of Abel Tasman or just had hazy geography?

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  22. I've been to the Netherlands twice, and both times I was mistaken by thinking I was in Holland. Nevermind, I'll have to visit again and get it right.

    Great post :-)

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Any weighty (and not so weighty) comments are welcome!