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The Netherlands is the European part of the kingdom of the Netherlands, which is established by the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. The Netherlands is situated in northwestern Europe, which is a constitutional monaurally. It is surrounded by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south and Germany to the east. The Northlands current borders were formed in 1839.
The Netherlands is a densely populated and geographically low-lying country and is popularly known for its windmills, cheese, clogs, dikes, tulips, bicycles and social tolerance. Amsterdam is a capital as well as the largest city of the Netherlands.
| Country Name : | Netherlands |
| Capital : | Amsterdam |
| Largest City : | Amsterdam |
| Official Language : | Dutch |
| Government : | Parliamentary democracy |
| President : | (Queen) Beatrix |
| Prime Minister : | Jan Peter Balkenende |
| Area : | 41,526 kmē |
| Area Rank : | 135th |
| Population : | 16,299,000 |
| Population Rank : | 59th |
| Density : | 395/kmē |
| Density Rank : | 23rd |
| GDP Total : | 625.271 billion |
| GDP Total Rank : | 23rd |
| GDP per Capita : | $ 30,500 |
| GDP per Capita Rank : | 15th |
| Currency : | Euro |
| Time Zone : | CET (UTC+1) |
| Internet TLD : | .nl |
| Calling Code : | +31 |
| Geographic Coordinates : | 52 30 N, 5 45 E |
| Railways : | 2,808 km |
| Highways : | 116,500 km |
| Waterways : | 5,046 km |
| Internet Users : | 10,806,328 |
| Radio Users : | 15.3 million |
| Mobile Users : | 14.8 million |
| Telephone Users : | 7.861 million |
| Population Growth : | 0.49% |
| Birth Rate : | 10.9 births/1,000 |
| Death Rate : | 8.68 deaths/1,000 |
| Airport : | 27 |
Description :
Three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and blue.
Under Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and king of Spain, the territory was part of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands, which included Belgium, Luxembourg and some territories of France and Germany. In 1568, the Eighty Years war had been occurred between the provinces and Spain. In 1579, the northern half of the Seventeen Provinces declared itself independent from Spain and established the Union of Utrecht, which is the foundation of the modern Netherlands. The son of Charles V Philip II became the ruler, he was not agreed to let them go that easily so war continued until 1648, when Spain recognized Dutch independence.
Republic: - The Dutch became one of the major seafaring and economic powers of the 17th century, during the period of the republic of the Seven United Netherlands, after achieving formal independence.
According to many economic historians, the Netherlands was the first capitalist country in the world. It has the wealthiest trading city and the first full-time stock exchange.
Kingdom: - After briefly being incorporated in the First French Empire under Napoleon, was established in 1815, consisting of the present day Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Moreover the king of the Netherlands became Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Belgium achieved independence in 1830, while Luxembourg and the Netherlands made the personal union.
The Netherlands occupied some colonies like the Dutch East Indies and Suriname. The Dutch first managed these colonies were first managed by the Dutch East India Co. and the Dutch West India Co. three countries later, these companies got into financial crisis and they were taken over by the Dutch government. After that they became official colonies.
19th Century: - the Netherlands slowed in industrial trade comparatively its neighboring countries, during the 19th century. The Netherlands remained neutral in the first and second World Wars. But in 1940, Nazi Germany attacked on the Netherlands in the Second World War. So the Netherlands joined the Anglo -French alliance and after sometime surrendered. In this occupation more than 1,00,000 Dutch Jews were killed, some Dutch members of Henneicke Column collaborated with Nazi occupiers in hutting down and arresting hiding Jews. Dutch civilians were treated very cruelly.
So the Allied 21st Army Group was given the task to conduct military operations to liberate the Netherlands. British, Canadian, Polish and American soldiers fought on Dutch soil started from September 1944. German forces held out until the German surrender of May 8, 1945.
Membership of Benelux to EU: - After the war, the Dutch economy leaved behind comparatively its neighbors. The Netherlands became member of the Benelux cooperation and after that it also became a founding member of NATO and the European cool and steel community.
Education: - From the 16th century, the Netherlands has enjoyed a high level of basic education and comparatively high literacy rates. In Netherlands, the state became more deeply involved in education. Today, about one-third of the elementary and secondary schools in the Netherlands are public and about two-thirds are nonpublic. School attendance is compulsory for children until the age of 16. Students have to attend primary schools for eight years and then they enter secondary schools, which provide various training for entering a university or other advanced education institution.
The Netherlands has 13 university level institutions, which including 3 technical university and one agricultural university.
Literature: - The 17th century is often called the Netherlands's Golden Age. The influential Dutch figures of that time were jurist Hugo Grotius, Scientists Christian Huygens and antoni van Leeauwenhoek, cartographers Willem Janszoon Blaeu and Jodocus Hondius, writers Pieter Cornelisezoon Hooft and Joost van den Vondel, philosopher baruch spinoza and many theologians. Moreover, foreigners lived in Holland to enjoy its tolerant atmosphere, the most famous being French philosopher and mathematician Rone Descartes and English philosopher John Locke.
Art: - The Netherlands has had many well-known artists and painters. Famous figures of the Golden age include the great 17th century Dutch artists, like Rembrandt, Jan Vermeer, Frans Hals and Jan Steen.
Cuisine: - Dutch cuisine is not considered between the most interesting in the world. Chinese restaurants have strong Indonesian components to them. The traditional Dutch foods include meat, potatoes, cheese and cabbage, Indonesian spices such as sambal are popular, as well as foods such as loempias (egg rolls) bami (noodles) and nasi goring, sate (meat on a stick) with peanut sauce. Guests are generally invited to coffee, with biscuits or cookies.
Sport: - The national sports of the Dutch are outdoors skating, along the canals and creeks. Football is also popular game of the Dutch.
Location: - Netherlands is located in northwestern Europe. It is the European part of the kingdom of the Netherlands, which is formed by the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. It is surrounded by the North Sea to the north, and west, Belgium to the south and Germany to the east.
Area: - The total area of the Netherlands is about 41,526 sq. km.
Landscape: - Aremarkable aspects of the Netherlands are the flatness of the country. Hilly landscapes can be found only in the central part, the southeastern tip of the country and where the glaciers pushed up several hilly ridges.
Below sea level: - Approximately half of its surface area is less than 1 meter above sea level. An extensive range of dykes and dunes protects these areas from flooding. All of the province of Flevoland and large parts of Holland has been reclaimed from the sea. These areas are called polders. This has led to the saying "God created the world, but the Dutch created the Netherlands."
Highest Point: - The Vaalserberg is the highest point, which is in the southeastern most point of the Netherlands. It is about 321 meters above sea level. It is a foothill of the Ardennes Mountains.
Natural calamities: -
Storm: - Due to its geographical situated the Netherlands has to face many natural calamities such as storm, flood etc. most notable in terms of land loss are the 1,134 storm, which created the archipelago of Zeeland in the south west and the 1,287 storm, which killed 50,000 people and created the Zuiderzee in the northwest.
Flood: - The St. Elizabeth flood of 1421 and the mismanagement in its afternmath destroyed a newly reclaimed polder, replacing it with the 72 sq. km. Biesbosch tidal floodplains in the south-center. The parts of Zeeland were flooded during the North Sea Flood of 1953 and about 1836 people were killed.
Rivers: - The Netherlands is divided in to two main parts by three rivers: Rhine, Waal and Meuse. The southwestern part of the country is big river delta.
Population: - According to 206 estimates the total population of the Netherlands was about 1,63,36,346 and its population density was about 395 persons per sq. km., which was very high. It is the 23rd most densely populated country in the world.
Climate: - The climate of the Netherlands is a moderate maritime climate, with cool summers and mild winters.
Capital: - Amsterdam is the capital as well as largest city of the Netherlands.
| 1.00 - (Netherlands ) | = | USD - (United States Dollars) |
| 1.00 USD - (United States Dollars) | = | - (Netherlands ) |
| Unit | Currency Name | EUR/Unit | Unit/EUR |
The Netherlands has a prosperous and open economy. Food- processing, chemicals, petroleum refining and electrical machinery are main economic activities of the Northlands.
Agricultural products: - The Netherlands can be called and agricultural country, because its agricultural sector provides large surpluses for the food-processing industry with only uses less than 4% employs. The Dutch rank third in worldwide agricultural exports, after the United States and France, with exports earning $46 billion annually. Dutch agricultural exports are fresh-cut plants, flowers and bulbs. The Netherlands exporting two-thirds of the world's total. The country also exports a quarter of all world tomatoes and one-third of the world's exports of peppers and cucumbers. The Netherlands location gives it prime access to markets in the UK and Germany, with the part of Rotterdam being the largest port in Europe. Other important parts of the economy are international trade, banking and transport.
The world's 16th largest economy: - The Netherlands is the 16th largest economy of the world. According to the 2006 estimate, the total GDP of the Netherlands was about $503.394 billion and its per capita GDP was about $30,876. Its economic growth was about 4% during 1998 to 2000. Growth slowed in 2001-05, but the first quarter of 206showed a promising 2.6%.
Inflation: - Inflation is 1.3% in the Netherlands. It is also expected to stay low at around 1.5% in the future.
Unemployment: - Unemployment rate is about 5.5% in the Netherlands.
Population: - According to the 2006 estimate, the total population of Netherlands was about 1,63,36,346, and its population density was about 395 persons per square km. So it is the 23rd most densely populated country in the world.
Moreover the population of the Netherlands is physically the tallest in the world.
Ethnic Groups: - According to CBS Stateline, the official statistics bureau of the Netherlands, the ethnic groups of the inhabitants are very different. The great majority of inhabitants of the Netherlands are Dutch. They were about 80.8% of the total population. Germans were about 2.4% of the total population. Indonesians were 2.4%. Turks were 2.0%, Surinamese 2.0%, and Moroccan 1.9%. Indians 1.5%, Anti Mean and Arubans 0.8% and other 6% of the total population of Netherlands.
Religion: - In Netherlands, about 31% of the total population are followers of the Roman Catholic religion, 20% Protestant and 8% other denominations, while 42% consider themselves unaffiliated.
The largest part of other denomi nations of at 9,20,000 are Muslims, 2,22,222 are Hindus 30,000 to 40,000 are Dutch Jews.
Dutch is the official language of the Netherlands, which is spoken throughout the country.
Country's another official language is Frisian, which is spoken in the northern province of Fryslan. Several dialects of Low Saxon are spoken in much of the north and east and are recognized by the Netherlands as regional languages according to the European Charter for Regional or Minority language. To the south, the Dutch language shifts into other Varieties of Low Franconia and German, which may or may not be best classified as Dutch, most notably West Flemish. Among them Limburgers, which is spoken in the southeastern province of Limburg. In Netherlands, some foreign languages like English, German and French are also studied. About 85% of the total population has basic knowledge of English, 55-60% of German and 35% of French.
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