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Entry Year in EU: |
1957 |
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Seats: |
27 |
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Seats Percentage of EU: |
3.7 |
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Votes: |
13 |
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Votes Percentage
of EU: |
4 |
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Population: |
16.3 |
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Population Percentage of EU: |
3.6 |
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Area: |
41526 |
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Area Percentage
of EU: |
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Density: |
395 |
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Budget Contribution: |
5552933781 |
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Budget Contribution of EU: |
5.28 |
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GDP: |
522853 |
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GDP Capita: |
31990 |
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GDP Nominal: |
38321 |
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Netherlands
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The Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland; IPA pronunciation: /"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 borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east. The current borders were formed in 1839.
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History
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Under Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, leader of the Burgundian empire 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 declared itself independent from Spain, and they formed the Union of Utrecht, which is seen as the foundation of the modern Netherlands. Philip II, the son of Charles V, was not prepared to let them go that easily and war continued until 1648 when Spain finally recognised Dutch independence.
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Naming conventions
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Various terms have been used in English to refer to the Netherlands and its inhabitants.
'(The) Netherlands' is the official name of the European part of the 'Kingdom of the Netherlands'. The term 'Holland' is commonly used as a synonym for the Netherlands, but the word Holland derives from a district in the west of the country that currently makes up two of the twelve provinces, namely North Holland and South Holland. The country's people and language are called 'Dutch'. The term 'Low Countries' is used sometimes to refer to the Netherlands, but technically it refers to a bigger region in Western Europe, including Belgium and Luxembourg.
To adress this confusion some solutions have been proposed, for instance, in linguistics, the term Netherlandic has been coined
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Politics
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The Netherlands has been a parliamentary democracy since 1848 and a constitutional monarchy since 1815; 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 head of state is the monarch (at present Queen Beatrix). The monarch has today in practice a mainly ceremonial function but the constitution allows for the exertion of real power, should the responsible ministers subordinate themselves; an open conflict between them and the monarch whose signature is needed for any law or warrant to come into effect would lead to a constitutional crisis |
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Provinces
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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.
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Geography
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A remarkable aspect of the Netherlands is the flatness 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 (see map showing these areas). 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. A substantial part of the Netherlands, for example, all of Flevoland (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."
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Economy
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The Netherlands has a prosperous and open economy in which the government has reduced its role since the 1980s. Industrial activity is predominantly in food-processing (for example Unilever and Heineken), chemicals (for example DSM), petroleum refining (for example Royal Dutch Shell), and electrical machinery (for example Philips). Slochteren has one of the largest natural gas fields in the world, which has so far (2006) resulted in a total revenue of 159 billion since the mid 1970's. With just over half of the reserves used up and an expected continued rise in oil prices, the revenues over the next few decades are expected to be at least that much [1]. A highly mechanised agricultural sector employs no more than 4% of the labour force but provides large surpluses for the food-processing industry and for exports. |
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Demographics
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The Netherlands is the 15th most densely populated country in the world, with 395 inhabitants per square kilometer (1,023 sq mi)or 484 people per square kilometer (1,254/sq mi) if only the land area is counted, since 18.4% is water. Partly because of this it is also one of the most densely cabled countries in the world. Internet penetration [2] is at 66.2% the 7th highest in the world.
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Culture
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The Netherlands has had many well-known painters. The 17th century, when the Dutch republic was prosperous, was the age of the "Dutch Masters" such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Jan Steen and many others. Famous Dutch painters of the 19th and 20th century are Vincent van Gogh and Piet Mondriaan. M. C. Escher is a well-known graphics artist. Willem de Kooning was born and trained in Rotterdam, although he is considered to have reached acclaim as an American artist. A (in)famous Dutch master art forger is Han van Meegeren
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Languages
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The official language is Dutch, which is spoken by practically all inhabitants. Another official language is Frisian, which is spoken in the northern province of Friesland and has a strong resemblance to Dutch, German and especially English. Frisian is co-official only in the province of Friesland, although with a few restrictions. Several dialects of Low German are spoken in much of the north and are recognised by the Netherlands as regional languages according to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. To the south, the Dutch language shifts into other varieties of Low Franconian and German, which may or may not be best classified as Dutch, most notably West Flemish. One of these, Limburgish, which is spoken in the south-eastern province of Limburg has been recognised as a minority language since 1997. There is a tradition of speaking foreign languages in the Netherlands: about 75% of the total population speaks English, 55-60% speaks German and about 17% speaks French. |
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Religion
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According to the governmental statistics agency (CBS) 30% of the population consider themselves to be Roman Catholic, 20% Protestant (predominantly Dutch Reformed) and 8% 'other denominations'. 42% consider themselves unaffiliated. Church attendance however is much lower than these figures may suggest: some 70% of the population 'rarely or never' visit a house of worship (be it a church, mosque, synagogue or temple), and even then it is mostly for occasions like weddings and baptisms. Most Protestants live in the northern provinces while the southern provinces, Noord-Brabant and Limburg, are mainly Roman Catholic.
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