BASIC
INFORMATION
Full
Name: NETHERLANDS
Capital
Amsterdam
Largest city Amsterdam
Official language
Dutch
Government
Parliamentary democracy
Constitutional monarchy
Area 41,526 km²
Population
16,299,000
Currency Euro (€
EUR)
Time
zone (UTC +1)
Internet
TLD .nl
Calling
code +31
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GEOGRAPHY
& BACKGROUND
The
Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland (IPA: 'ne:d?rl?nt))
is the European part of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands (Dutch: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden),
which is formed by the Netherlands, the
Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. The Netherlands
is a constitutional monarchy, located in
northwestern Europe. It is bordered by the
North Sea to the north and west, Belgium
to the south, and Germany to the east. The
current borders were established in 1839.
The
Netherlands is often referred to by the
name Holland. This is not terminologically
precise, since the provinces of North and
South Holland in the western Netherlands
are only two of the country's twelve provinces.
(For more on this and other naming issues
see Netherlands (terminology).)
The
Netherlands is a densely populated and geographically
low-lying country (its name literally means
"low countries" or "low lands")
and is popularly known for its windmills,
clogs (wooden shoes), dikes, tulips, bicycles,
and social tolerance. Its policies are liberal
towards drugs, prostitution, same-sex marriage,
abortion and euthanasia. The country is
host to the International Court of Justice
and the International Criminal Court at
The Hague.
A
remarkable aspect of the Netherlands is
the flatness of the country. Hilly landscapes
can be found only in the central part and
the south-eastern tip of the country.
About
half of its surface area is less than 1
metre (3.3 ft) above sea level, and large
parts of it are actually below sea level.
An extensive range of dykes and dunes protects
these areas from flooding. Numerous massive
pumping stations keep the ground water level
in check. The highest point, the Vaalserberg,
in the south-eastern most point of the country,
is 321 metres (1,053 ft) above sea level.
The Vaalserberg is a foothill of the Ardennesmountains.
A substantial part of the Netherlands, for
example, all of the province of Flevoland
(contains the largest man-made island in
the world) and large parts of Holland, has
been reclaimed from the sea. These areas
are known as polders. This has led to the
saying "God created the world, but
the Dutch created the Netherlands."
In
years past, the Dutch coastline has changed
considerably due to human intervention and
natural disasters. Most notable in terms
of land loss are the 1134 storm, which created
the archipelago of Zeeland in the south
west, and the 1287 storm, which killed 50,000
people and created the Zuyderzee (now dammed
in and renamed the IJsselmeer — see
below) in the northwest, giving Amsterdam
direct access to the sea. The St. Elizabeth
flood of 1421 and the mismanagement in its
aftermath destroyed a newly reclaimed polder,
replacing it with the 72 square kilometres
(28 sq mi) Biesbosch tidal floodplains in
the south-centre. The most recent parts
of Zeeland were flooded during the North
Sea Flood of 1953 and 1,836 people were
killed, after which the Delta Plan was executed.
Satellite
image of the Netherlands (ca. May 2000)The
disasters were partially man-made; the people
drained relatively high lying swampland
for use as farmland. This drainage caused
the fertile peat to compress and the ground
level to drop, locking the land users in
a vicious circle whereby they would lower
the water level to compensate for the drop
in ground level, causing the underlying
peat to compress even more. The vicious
circle is unsolvable and remains to this
day. Up until the 19th century peat was
dug up, dried, and used for fuel, further
adding to the problem.
To
guard against floods, a series of defenses
against the water were contrived. In the
first millennium, villages and farmhouses
were built on man-made hills called terps.
Later, these terps were connected by dikes.
In the 12th century, local government agencies
called "waterschappen" (English
"water bodies") or "hoogheemraadschappen"
("high home councils") started
to appear, whose job it was to maintain
the water level and to protect a region
from floods. (The water bodies are still
around today performing the exact same function.)
As the ground level dropped, the dikes by
necessity grew and merged into an integrated
system. In the 13th century, windmills came
into use to pump water out of the areas
by now below sea level. The windmills were
later used to drain lakes, creating the
famous polders. In 1932, the Afsluitdijk
(English "Closure Dike") was completed,
blocking the former Zuyderzee (Southern
Sea) off from the North Sea and thus creating
the IJsselmeer (IJssel Lake). It became
part of the larger Zuiderzee Works in which
four polders totalling 1,650 square kilometres
(637 sq mi) were reclaimed from the sea.
After
the 1953 disaster, the Delta project, a
vast construction effort designed to end
the threat from the sea once and for all,
was launched in 1958 and largely completed
in 2002. The official goal of the Delta
project was to reduce the risk of flooding
in Holland to once per 10,000 years. (For
the rest of the country, the protection-level
is once per 4,000 years.) This was achieved
by raising 3,000 kilometres (1,864 mi) of
outer sea-dikes and 10,000 kilometres (6,200
mi) of inner, canal, and river dikes to
"delta" height, and by closing
off the sea estuaries of the Zeeland province.
New risk assessments occasionally incur
additional Delta project work in the form
of dike reinforcements. The Delta project
is the single largest construction effort
in human history and is considered by the
American Society of Civil Engineers as one
of the seven wonders of the modern world.
Because
of the high cost of maintaining the polders
some have argued that maybe some of the
deepest polders should be given up. Additionally,
the Netherlands is one of the countries
that may suffer most from climatic change.
Not only is the rising sea a problem, but
also erratic weather patterns may cause
the rivers to overflow. These flooded polders
might then be used as water catchments to
take part of the blow.
The
country is divided into two main parts by
three rivers Rhine (Rijn), Waal, and Meuse
(Maas). The south-western part of the Netherlands
is actually one big river delta of these
rivers. These rivers not only function as
a natural barrier, but also as a cultural
divide, as is evident in the different dialects
spoken north and south of these great rivers
and the (previous) religious dominance of
Catholics in the south and Calvinists in
the north.
