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For other uses, see Netherlands (disambiguation).
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The Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland , IPA: [ˈne:dərlɑnt]) is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba in the Caribbean. The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy, located 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 Netherlands is often called Holland. This is formally incorrect as North and South Holland in the western Netherlands are only two of the country\'s twelve provinces. As a matter of fact, also many Dutch people colloquially call their country Holland, being well aware of the widespread use of this name. For more on this and other naming issues see terminology of the Netherlands.
The Netherlands is a geographically low-lying and densely populated country. It is popularly known for its traditional windmills, tulips, cheese, clogs (wooden shoes), delftware and gouda pottery, for its bicycles, its dikes and surge barriers, and, on the other hand, traditional values and civil virtues such as its classic social tolerance. But primarily, the Netherlands is a modern, advanced and open society. An old parliamentary democracy, the country is more recently known for its rather liberal policies toward recreational drugs, prostitution, LGBT rights, abortion, and euthanasia. The Netherlands is also one of the most densely cabled countries in the world; its internet connection rate is 87.8%, the 2nd highest in the world.Top 44 countries with the highest internet penetration rate. InternetWorldStats.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
The Netherlands has an international outlook; among other affiliations the country is a founding member of the European Union (EU), NATO, the OECD, and has signed the Kyoto protocol. Along with Belgium and Luxembourg, the Netherlands is one of three member nations of the Benelux economic union. The country is host to five international(ised) courts: the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Court and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. All of these courts (except the Special Tribunal for Lebanon), as well as the EU\'s criminal intelligence agency (Europol), are situated in The Hague, which has led to the city being referred to as "the world\'s legal capital."van Krieken, Peter J.; David McKay (2005). The Hague: Legal Capital of the World. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9067041858. , specifically, "In the 1990s, during his term as United Nations Secretary-General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali started calling The Hague the world\'s legal capital"
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A remarkable aspect of the Netherlands is its flatness. Hilly landscapes can be found only in the south-eastern tip of the country on the foothills of the Ardennes, the central part and where the glaciers pushed up several hilly ridges such as the Hondsrug in Drenthe, the stuwwallen (push moraines) near Arnhem and Nijmegen, Salland, Twente and the Utrechtse Heuvelrug.
In years past, the Dutch coastline has changed considerably as a result of human intervention and natural disasters. Most notable in terms of land loss is the 1134 storm, which created the archipelago of Zeeland in the south west. 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 when 1,836 people were killed, after which the Delta Plan was executed.
Map of the Netherlands.
Satellite image of the Netherlands (ca. May 2000).
The disasters were partially increased in severity through human influence. People had drained relatively high lying swampland to reclaim it 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 problem remains unsolvable to this day. Also, up until the 19th century peat was mined, dried, and used for fuel, further adding to the problem.
To guard against floods, a series of defences against the water were contrived. In the first millennium AD, villages and farmhouses were built on man-made hills called terps. Later, these terps were connected by dykes. 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. (These agencies exist to this day, performing the same function.) As the ground level dropped, the dykes by necessity grew and merged into an integrated system. By the 13th century, windmills had come into use in order to pump water out of areas below sea level. The windmills were later used to drain lakes, creating the famous polders. In 1932, the Afsluitdijk (English "Closure Dyke") was completed, blocking the former Zuiderzee (Southern Sea) from the North Sea and thus creating the IJsselmeer (IJssel Lake). It became part of the larger Zuiderzee Works in which four polders totalling 2,500 km2 (965 mi2) were reclaimed from the sea.Kerngegevens gemeente Wieringermeer. www.sdu.nl. Retrieved on 2008-01-21.Kerngegevens procincie Flevoland. www.sdu.nl. Retrieved on 2008-01-21.
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 the province of Zeeland 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 miles) of outer sea-dykes and 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) of inner, canal, and river dikes to "delta" height, and by closing off the sea estuaries of the Zeeland province. New risk assessments occasionally show problems requiring additional Delta project dyke reinforcements. The Delta project is one of the largest construction efforts in human history and is considered by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
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.Nickerson, Colin. "Netherlands relinquishes some of itself to the waters", Boston Globe, 2005-12-05. Retrieved on 2007-10-10. Olsthoorn, A.A.; Richard S.J Tol (February 2001). "Floods, flood management and climate change in The Netherlands". Institute for Environmental Studies. Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije Universiteit. Retrieved on 2007-10-10. Tol, Richard S. J.; Nicolien van der Grijp, Alexander A. Olsthoorn, Peter E. van der Werff (2003). "Adapting to Climate: A Case Study on Riverine Flood Risks in the Netherlands". Risk Analysis 23 (3): 575–583. Blackwell-Synergy. doi:10.1111/1539-6924.00338. Retrieved on 2007-10-10.
The country is divided into two main parts by three large rivers, the Rhine (Rijn) and its main distributary Waal, as well as the Meuse (Maas). These rivers function as a natural barrier between earlier fiefdoms, and hence created traditionally a cultural divide, as is evident in some phonetic traits that are recognisable north and south of these "Large Rivers" (de Grote Rivieren). In addition to this, there was, until quite recently, a clear religious dominance of Catholics in the south and of Protestants in the north.
The south-western part of the Netherlands is actually a massive river delta of these rivers and two tributaries of the Scheldt (Westerschelde and Oosterschelde). Only one significant branch of the Rhine flows northeastward, the IJssel river, discharging into the IJsselmeer, the former Zuiderzee (\'southern sea\'). This river also happens to form a linguistic divide. People to the east of this river speak Low Saxon dialects (except for the province of Friesland that has its own language). Welschen, Ad: Course Dutch Society and Culture, International School for Humanities and Social Studies ISHSS, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 2000-2005.
The predominant wind direction in the Netherlands is south-west, which causes a moderate maritime climate, with cool summers and mild winters.
Mean measurements by the KNMI weather station in De Bilt between 1971 and 2000:
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. highest temp. (°C) | 5.2 | 6.1 | 9.6 | 12.9 | 17.6 | 19.8 | 22.1 | 22.3 | 18.7 | 14.2 | 9.1 | 6.4 | 13.7 |
| Avg. lowest temp. (°C) | 0.0 | -0.1 | 2.0 | 3.5 | 7.5 | 10.2 | 12.5 | 12.0 | 9.6 | 6.5 | 3.2 | 1.3 | 5.7 |
| Avg. temp. (°C) | 2.8 | 3.0 | 5.8 | 8.3 | 12.7 | 15.2 | 17.4 | 17.2 | 14.2 | 10.3 | 6.2 | 4.0 | 9.8 |
Panoramic view of windmills at Kinderdijk.
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg. precipitation (mm) | 67 | 48 | 65 | 45 | 62 | 72 | 70 | 58 | 72 | 77 | 81 | 77 | 793 |
| Avg. hours sunshine | 52 | 79 | 114 | 158 | 204 | 187 | 196 | 192 | 133 | 106 | 60 | 44 | 1524 |
The Netherlands has 20 national parks and hundreds of other nature reserves. Most are owned by Staatsbosbeheer and Natuurmonumenten and include lakes, heathland, woods, dunes and other habitats.
In 1871 the last old original natural woods (Beekbergerwoud) were cut down and most woods today are planted monocultures of trees like Scots Pine and trees that are not native to the Netherlands. These woods were planted on anthropogenic heaths and sand-drifts (overgrazed heaths) (Veluwe).
Under Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and king of Spain, the region was part of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands, which also included most of present-day Belgium, Luxembourg, and some land of France and Germany. 1568 saw the start of the Eighty Years\' War between the provinces and Spain. In 1579, the northern half of the Seventeen Provinces formed the Union of Utrecht, a treaty in which they promised to support each other in their defense against the Spanish army. The Union of Utrecht is seen as the foundation of the modern Netherlands. In 1581 the northern provinces adopted the Oath of Abjuration, the declaration of independence in which the provinces officially deposed Philip II. Philip II the son of Charles V, was not prepared to let them go easily and war continued until 1648 when Spain under King Philip IV finally recognised Dutch independence in the Treaty of Münster.
William the Silent, leader of the Netherlands during the Dutch Revolt.
Since their independence from Phillip II in 1581 the provinces formed the Dutch Republic. The republic was a confederation of the provinces Holland, Zeeland, Groningen, Friesland, Utrecht, Overijssel and Gelre. All these provinces were autonomous and had their own governments, the "States of the Province". The States-General, the confederal government, were seated in The Hague and consisted of representatives of each of the seven provinces. The very thinly populated region of Drenthe, mainly consisting of poor peatland, was part of the Republic too, although Drenthe was not considered one of the provinces. Drenthe had its own States but the landdrost of Drenthe was appointed by the States-General.
The Republic occupied a number of so-called Generality Lands (Generaliteitslanden in Dutch). These territories were governed directly by the States-General, so they did not have a government of their own and they did not have representatives in the States-General. Most of these territories were occupied during the Eighty Years\' War. They were mainly Roman Catholic and they were used as a buffer zone between the Republic and the Southern Netherlands.
The Dutch grew to become one of the major seafaring and economic powers of the 17th century during the period of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. In the so-called Dutch Golden Age, colonies and trading posts were established all over the globe. (See Dutch colonial empire)
Many economic historians regard the Netherlands as the first thoroughly capitalist country in the world. In early modern Europe it featured the wealthiest trading city (Amsterdam) and the first full-time stock exchange. The inventiveness of the traders led to insurance and retirement funds as well as such less benign phenomena as the boom-bust cycle, the world\'s first asset-inflation bubble, the tulip mania of 1636–1637, and according to Murray Sayle, the world\'s first bear raider - Isaac le Maire, who forced prices down by dumping stock and then buying it back at a discount."Japan Goes Dutch", London Review of Books (2001-04-01). 3-7. The republic went into a state of general decline in the later 18th century, with economic competition from England and long standing rivalries between the two main factions in Dutch society, the Staatsgezinden (Republicans) and the Prinsgezinden (Royalists or Orangists) as main factors.
On January 19, 1795, a day after stadtholder William V of Orange fled to England, the Batavian Republic (Bataafse Republiek in Dutch) was proclaimed. The proclamation of the Batavian Republic introduced the concept of the unitary state in the Netherlands. From 1795 to 1806, the Batavian Republic designated the Netherlands as a republic modelled after the French Republic.
The Kingdom of Holland 1806 – 1810 (Dutch: Koninkrijk Holland, French: Royaume de Hollande) was set up by Napoleon Bonaparte as a puppet kingdom for his third brother, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, in order to control the Netherlands more effectively. The name of the leading province, Holland, was now taken for the whole country. The kingdom of Holland covered the area of present day Netherlands, with the exception of Limburg, and parts of Zeeland, which were French territory. In 1807 Prussian East Frisia and Jever were added to the kingdom. In 1809 however, after an English invasion, Holland had to give over all territories south of the river Rhine to France.
King Louis Napoleon did not meet Napoleon\'s expectations — he tried to serve Dutch interests instead of his brother\'s — and the King had to abdicate on July 1, 1810. He was succeeded by his five year old son Napoleon Louis Bonaparte. Napoleon Louis reigned as Louis II for just ten days as Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte ignored his young nephew’s accession to the throne. The Emperor sent in an army to invade the country and dissolved the Kingdom of Holland. The Netherlands then became part of the French Empire.
From 1810 to 1813, when Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated in the battle of Leipzig, the Netherlands were part of the French Empire.
In 1795 the last stadtholder William V of Orange fled to England. His son returned to the Netherlands in 1813 to become William I of the Netherlands, Sovereign Prince of the Netherlands. On March 16, 1815 the Sovereign Prince became King of the Netherlands.
Map of the Netherlands in 1843 after independence of Belgium.
In 1815 the Congress of Vienna formed the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, by expanding the Netherlands with Belgium in order to create a strong country on the northern border of France. In addition, William became hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg. The Congress of Vienna gave Luxembourg to William personally in exchange for his German possessions, Nassau-Dillenburg, Siegen, Hadamar and Diez.
Belgium rebelled and gained independence in 1830, while the personal union between Luxembourg and the Netherlands was severed in 1890, when King William III of the Netherlands died with no surviving male heirs. Ascendancy laws prevented his daughter Queen Wilhelmina from becoming the next Grand Duchess. Therefore the throne of Luxembourg passed over from the House of Orange-Nassau to the House of Nassau-Weilburg, another branch of the House of Nassau.
The largest Dutch settlement abroad was the Cape Colony. It was established by Jan van Riebeeck on behalf of the Dutch East India Company at Capetown (Dutch: Kaapstad) in 1652. The Prince of Orange acquiesced to British occupation and control of the Cape Colony in 1788. The Netherlands also possessed several other colonies, but Dutch settlement in these lands was limited. Most notable were the vast Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and Suriname (the latter was traded with the British for New Amsterdam, now known as New York). These \'colonies\' were first administered by the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company, both collective private enterprises. Three centuries later these companies got into financial trouble and the territories in which they operated were taken over by the Dutch government (in 1815 and 1791 respectively). Only then did they become official colonies.
During the 19th century, the Netherlands was slow to industrialize compared to neighbouring countries, mainly due to the great complexity involved in the modernizing of the infrastructure consisting largely of waterways and the great reliance its industry had on windpower.
The Netherlands remained neutral in World War I and intended to do so in World War II. However, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940 in the Western European campaign of the Second World War. The country was quickly overrun and the army main force surrendered on May 14 after the bombing of Rotterdam, although a Dutch and French allied force held the province of Zeeland for a short time after the Dutch surrender. The Kingdom as such continued the war from the colonial empire; the government in exile resided in London.
The Netherlands lost control of its major colonial stronghold Indonesia to the Japanese in March 1942. The Japanese enslaved many Dutch during their occupation, sending women as sex slaves to troops and using men as forced labour[citation needed]. Japanese also set up concentration camps known as the "Jappenkampen", in which Dutch were treated horribly and were forced to work under inhumane circumstances[citation needed].
During the occupation over 100,000 Dutch Jews[citation needed] were rounded up to be transported to Nazi concentration camps in Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia where they were murdered in the Holocaust. Dutch workers were conscripted for labour in German factories, civilians were killed in reprisal for attacks on German soldiers, and the countryside was plundered for food for German soldiers in the Netherlands and for shipment to Germany. Although there are many stories of Dutch people risking their lives by hiding Jews from the Germans, like in the diary of Anne Frank, there were also Dutch people who collaborated with Nazi occupiers in hunting down and arresting hiding Jews, and some joined the Waffen-SS to form the 4th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Brigade Netherlands, fighting on the Eastern Front.
After a first liberation attempt by the Allied 21st Army Group stalled, much of the northern Netherlands was subject to the Dutch famine of 1944, caused by the disrupted transportation system, caused by German destruction of dikes to slow allied advances, and German confiscation of much food and livestock and above that all a very severe winter made the "Hunger Winter" of 1944-1945 one in which malnutrition and starvation were rife among the Dutch population. German forces held out until the surrender of May 5, 1945, in Wageningen at Hotel De Wereld.
After the war, the Dutch economy prospered by leaving behind an era of neutrality and gaining closer ties with neighbouring states. The Netherlands became a member of the Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) cooperation. Furthermore, the Netherlands was among the twelve founding members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and among the six founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community, which would later evolve into the European Union.
Thorbecke reformed the Dutch government to a parliamentary monarchy.
The Netherlands has been a constitutional monarchy since 1815 and a parliamentary democracy since 1848; before that it had been a republic from 1581 to 1806 and a kingdom between 1806 and 1810 (it was part of France between 1810 and 1813). The Netherlands is described as a consociational state. Dutch politics and governance are characterised by an effort to achieve broad consensus on important issues, within both the political community and society as a whole. In 2007, The Economist ranked The Netherlands as the third most democratic country in the world.
The head of state is the monarch, at present Queen Beatrix. Constitutionally the monarch still has considerable powers, but in practice it has become a ceremonial function. The monarch can exert most influence during the formation of a new cabinet, where he/she serves as neutral arbiter between the political parties.
In practice the executive power is formed by Dutch cabinet. Because of the multi-party system no party has ever held a majority in parliament since the 19th century, therefore coalition cabinets have to be formed. The cabinet consists usually of around thirteen to sixteen ministers of which between one and three ministers without portfolio, and a varying number of state secretaries. The head of government is the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, who is often, but not always, the leader of the largest party in the coalition. In practice the Prime Minister has been the leader of the largest coalition party since 1973. He is a primus inter pares, meaning he has no explicit powers that go beyond those of the other ministers.
The cabinet is responsible to the bicameral parliament, the States-General which also has legislative powers. The 150 members of the Second Chamber, the Lower House, are elected in direct elections, which are held every four years or after a cabinet crisis. The provincial assemblies are directly elected every four years as well. The members of the provincial assemblies elect the 75 members of the First Chamber, the upper house, which has less legislative powers, as it can merely reject laws, not propose or amend them.
Both trade unions and employers organisations are consulted beforehand in policymaking in the financial, economic and social areas. They meet regularly with government in the Social-Economic Council. This body advises government and its advice cannot be put aside easily.
While historically the Dutch foreign policy was characterised by neutrality, since the Second World War the Netherlands became a member of a large number of international organisations, most prominently the UN, NATO and the EU. The Dutch economy is very open and relies on international trade.
The Netherlands has a long tradition of social tolerance. In the 18th century, while the Dutch Reformed Church was the state religion, Catholicism and Judaism were tolerated. In the late 19th century this Dutch tradition of religious tolerance transformed into a system of pillarisation, in which religious groups coexisted separately and only interacted at the level of government. This tradition of tolerance is linked to the Dutch policies on recreational drugs, prostitution, LGBT rights, euthanasia, and abortion which are among the most liberal in the world.
The Binnenhof is the centre of Dutch politics.
Since suffrage became universal in 1919 the Dutch political system has been dominated by three families of political parties: the strongest family were the Christian democrats currently represented by the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), second were the social democrats, of which the Labour Party (PvdA) is currently the largest party and third were the liberals of which the People\'s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) is the main representative. These cooperated in coalition cabinets in which the Christian democrats had always been partner: so either a centre left coalition of the Christian democrats and social democrats or a centre right coalition of Christian democrats and liberals. In the 1970s the party system became more volatile: the Christian democratic parties lost seats, while new parties, like the radical democrat and progressive liberal D66, became successful.
In the 1994 election the CDA lost its dominant position. A "purple" cabinet was formed by the VVD, D66 and PvdA. In 2002 elections this cabinet lost its majority, due to the rise of LPF, a new political party around the flamboyant populist Pim Fortuyn, who was shot to death a week before the elections took place. The elections also saw increased support for the CDA. A short lived cabinet was formed by CDA, VVD and LPF, led by the leader of the Christian democrats, Jan Peter Balkenende. After the 2003 elections in which the LPF lost almost all its seats, a cabinet was formed by the CDA, the VVD and D66. The cabinet initiated an ambitious program of reforming the welfare state, the health care system and immigration policies.
In June 2006 the cabinet fell, as D66 voted in favour of a motion of no confidence against minister of immigration and integration Rita Verdonk in the aftermath of the upheaval about the asylum procedure of Ayaan Hirsi Ali instigated by the Dutch immigration minister Verdonk. A care taker cabinet was formed by CDA and VVD, and the general elections were held on 22 November 2006. In these elections the Christian Democratic Appeal remained the largest party and the Socialist Party made the largest gains. The formation of a new cabinet started two days after the elections. Initial investigations toward a CDA-SP-PvdA coalition failed, after which a coalition of CDA, PvdA and ChristianUnion was formed.
| PvdD (2) D66 (3) GL (7) SP (25) PvdA (33) | CU (6) CDA (41) VVD (22) SGP (2) PVV (9) |
Summary of the 22 November 2006 Netherlands Second Chamber election results:
The Netherlands is divided into twelve administrative regions, called provinces, each under a Governor, who is called Commissaris van de Koningin (Commissioner of the Queen), except for the province Limburg where the commissioner is called Gouverneur (Governor) which underlines the more "non-Dutch" mentality. All provinces are divided into municipalities (gemeenten), 458 in total (1 January 2006). The country is also subdivided in water districts, governed by a water board (waterschap or hoogheemraadschap), each having authority in matters concerning water management. As of 1 January 2005 there are 27. The creation of water boards actually pre-dates that of the nation itself, the first appearing in 1196. In fact, the Dutch water boards are one of the oldest democratic entities in the world still in existence.
Density of population in the Netherlands, 2006
The Netherlands is the 23rd most densely populated country in the world, with 395 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,023 sq mi)—or 484 people per square kilometre (1,254/sq mi) if only the land area is counted, since 18.4% is water.Fertility rate
The fertility rate in the Netherlands is 1.72 children per woman, well below the 2.1 rate required for population replacement.
Life expectancy
Life expectancy is high in the Netherlands: 82 years for newborn girls and 77 for boys (2007).
.svg/58px-Demographics of the Netherlands (1961-2006).svg)
Population of Netherlands, Data of FAO, 2006
Body length
The people of the Netherlands are amongst the tallest in the world, with an average height of about 1.85 m (6 ft 0.8 in) for adult males and 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) for adult females.Dataset \'Nederlandse volwassenen\', Populatie \'DINED 2004 (20-30 jaar)\' (Dutch). TU Delft. Retrieved on 2008-02-04. People in the south are on average about 2 cm shorter than those in the north.Reported health and lifestyle. Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek. Retrieved on 2007-08-28.
Ethnic origins
The ethnic origins of the citizens of the Netherlands are diverse. A majority of the population, however, still remains indigenous Dutch (although the latter notion is also to be relativised strongly). They were:Garssen, Joop, Han Nicolaas and Arno Sprangers (2005). Demografie van de allochtonen in Nederland (Dutch). Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek.
However, this does not include the whole Kingdom of the Netherlands (such as the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, which have a non-Dutch majority community), and only includes the population in the Netherlands itself.
The Netherlands is a very densily populated country, and indeedt the Netherlands is very urbanised, although the cities are modest in size compared to international standards. The capital and largest city is Amsterdam, although the government is located in The Hague. While the word capital is usually defined as the city of the government seat, no Dutchman would ever call The Hague the capital of The Netherlands.
The Randstad (Rim City, i.e. a city at the rim of a circle, with empty space in the centre) is a conurbation in the western part of the Netherlands. It consists of the four largest Dutch cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht), plus their surrounding areas. With its 7.5 million inhabitants (almost half of the population of the Netherlands; when other conurbations connected to this area are also taken into consideration, it would have a population a little over 10 million, almost two-thirds of the entire Dutch population) it is one of the largest conurbations in Europe. There is discussion to what extent the Randstad may form a single more integrated metropolis in the future. At this moment, urban structures between these cities are not yet developed to a such a level that the Randstad could be considered a kind of distributed super-agglomeration.
Conurbation is not restricted to the Randstad alone, although the centre of gravity lies there. Quite typically, in the Netherlands there are many medium sized cities, but no truly large ones. Its largest city, Amsterdam with about 750,000 inhabitants in its own municipality, belongs to the smaller European capitals.
Urbanisation in the Netherlands.
List of the largest cities, by population, within the borders of one municipality with their provinces in 2006: Sources are CBS based
However, this picture has to be completed. Municipality sizes alone do not reflect the degree of urbanisation in the Netherlands comprehensively. Many of the larger Dutch cities are the cores of a significantly larger urban agglomeration. The largest ones are listed below:
Agglomerations consisting of only one municipality are not included.
Sources are CBS based
see [1] and {{2006bevolkingskerneninnederlandart.pdf
- 2005grootstedelijkeagglomeratiesstadsgewestenafgebakendart.pdf
- 2004k4v4p037art.pdf}}
- Rotterdam (Rotterdam, Barendrecht, Capelle aan den IJssel, Krimpen aan den IJssel, Spijkenisse, Schiedam, Vlaardingen, Maasland, Maassluis, Rozenburg)
The Keizersgracht in Amsterdam, which is the largest city and capital of the Netherlands.
- The Hague (\'s-Gravenhage, Rijswijk, Wateringen, Voorburg, Leidschendam, Wassenaar, Westland, Zoetermeer, Delft)
- Utrecht (Utrecht, Nieuwegein, IJsselstein, Maarssen)
- Eindhoven (Eindhoven, Veldhoven, Geldrop, Son en Breugel, Waalre)
- Tilburg (Tilburg, Goirle)
- Groningen (Groningen, Haren)
- Haarlem (Haarlem, Heemstede, Bloemendaal)
- Arnhem (Arnhem, Rozendaal)
- Leiden (Leiden, Katwijk, Voorschoten, Leiderdorp, Oegstgeest, Rijnsburg, Valkenburg, Warmond)
- Dordrecht (Dordrecht, \'s-Gravendeel, Hardinxveld-Giessendam, Papendrecht, Sliedrecht, Zwijndrecht)
- Heerlen (Heerlen, Kerkrade, Landgraaf, Brunssum)
- \'s-Hertogenbosch (\'s-Hertogenbosch, Vught)
- Sittard-Geleen (Sittard-Geleen, Beek, Stein)
- Amersfoort (Amersfoort, Leusden)
The official language is Dutch, which is spoken by a majority of the inhabitants, the exception being some groups of immigrants.
Another official language is West Frisian, which is spoken in the northern province of Friesland, called Fryslân in that language.CIA World Factbook: Official languages per country West Frisian is co-official only in the province of Friesland, although with a few restrictions. Several dialects of Low Saxon (Nedersaksisch in Dutch) are spoken in much of the north and east and are recognised by the Netherlands as regional languages according to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, as well as the Meuse-Rhenish Franconian varieties Welschen, Ad: Course Dutch Society and Culture, International School for Humanities and Social Studies ISHSS, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 2000-2005. in the southeastern province of Limburg, here called Limburgish language.
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There is a tradition of learning foreign languages in the Netherlands: about 70% of the total population have good knowledge of English, 55– 59% of German and 19% of French.Ginsburgh, Victor; Ignacio Ortuño-Ortin, Shlomo Weber (February 2005). Why Do People Learn Foreign Languages? (pdf). Université libre de Bruxelles. Retrieved on 2007-10-10. - specifically, see Table 2.
The Netherlands is one of the more secular countries in the Western Europe, with only 39% being religiously affiliated (31% for those aged under 35), although 62% are believers (but 40% of those not in the traditional sense). Fewer than 20% visit church regularly .Becker, Jos and Joep de Hart (2006). Godsdienstige veranderingen in Nederland (in Dutch). Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau. ISBN 9037702597. OCLC 84601762.
According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll 2005,Eurobarometer on Social Values, Science and technology 2005 - page 11. Retrieved on 2007-05-05. 34% of Dutch citizens responded that "they believe there is a god", whereas 37% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 27% that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force".
In 1950, before the secularisation of Europe, and the large settlement of non-Europeans in the Netherlands, most Dutch citizens identified themselves as Christians. In 1950, out of a total population of almost 13 million, a total of 7,261,000 belonged to Protestant denominations, 3,703,000 belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, and 1,641,000 had no acknowledged religion.
However, Christian schools are still funded by the government, but the same applies for schools founded on other religions, nowadays Islam in particular. While all schools must meet strict quality criteria, from 1917 the freedom of schools is a basic principle in The Netherlands.
Three political parties in the Dutch parliament (CDA, ChristianUnion and SGP) base their policy on the Christian belief system.
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