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    Netherlands - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
    Netherlands - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
    Netherlands - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
    Ebook239 pages2 hours

    Netherlands - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture

    By Sheryl Buckland and Culture Smart

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    About this ebook

    Taking readers beyond the stereotypical images of windmills, clogs, and tulips, this pocket-sized guide helps visitors understand the complex layers of identity in this small, densely populated country on Europe's northwestern seaboard. With roots as a maritime nation that built a network for transportation, defense, and trade, the Netherlands of today is still a prime economic hub of Europe. The Netherlands is also famous for its liberal attitudes, recently challenged by high levels of immigration, and is home to an intelligent, cosmopolitan, enterprising, tolerant, and modest people. The visitor or business traveler will find that the predominant attitude continues to be one of "live and let live," and that many different communities live alongside each other in harmony.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKuperard
    Release dateJun 21, 2018
    ISBN9781787029361

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      Book preview

      Netherlands - Culture Smart! - Sheryl Buckland

      chapter one

      LAND & PEOPLE

      The Netherlands is often referred to as Holland, which is actually the name of two of its twelve provinces. This small country on the northwestern seaboard of Europe occupies an area of 16,033 square miles (41,526 sq. km) and is densely populated. The majority of the 17.1 million people who live there are concentrated in the west, especially within the Randstad—Rim Town, or urban conglomeration—the irregularly shaped area lying between Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, and Utrecht. The areas of thinnest population are in the north of the country.

      The Dutch have spent centuries battling against the sea, to keep it from flowing into and over lowlying parts of the land. This constant fight against the elements is said to have been a key influence in forming their general character, as well as particular aspects of Dutch society. While the water has been an enemy in some respects, it has been harnessed as an ally in others. A maritime nation, the Dutch set to sea early in their history to trade with other countries. The network of rivers and canals within the country has been used for transportation and as part of their defenses, and more recently for leisure activities.

      The Netherlands has a mixed reputation abroad. Some believe it to be a country where anything goes because of its liberal attitude toward soft drugs, prostitution, homosexuality, and matters such as euthanasia. While it is true that many Dutch laws are very liberal, this gives only a partial picture of attitudes in the country as a whole. Other people abroad focus on the Dutch reputation for tolerance, concern for justice, and respect for human rights. This, too, is an important element of Dutch culture, but again it belies the complexities of life in the Netherlands today.

      GEOGRAPHICAL OVERVIEW

      The Netherlands is bounded to the north and west by the North Sea, to the east by Germany, and to the south by Belgium. It is about the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut together, or the area of the south of England. Situated at the mouths of three major European rivers, the Rhine, the Meuse or Maas, and the Scheldt, its name Nederland (low land) refers to its low-lying nature. Holland, similarly, means land in a hollow. Just over a quarter of the country is below sea level, and much of the rest is at or just above it, which makes flooding along its 280-mile (425-km) coastline the greatest natural hazard. The lowest point is at Zuidplaspolder—22 feet (6.7 m) below sea level. There is a constant battle to keep nature under control and the sea at bay. Because of this the Dutch have excelled at hydraulic engineering. Dikes are used extensively to prevent flooding. The largest of these is the 20-mile (32-km) long Afsluitdijk (the Closing Dike), which was constructed in the early 1930s, joining the provinces of North Holland and Friesland via the road that runs along the top of it. The dike closed off the North Sea and turned part of the Zuiderzee into what is now a freshwater lake—the Ijsselmeer. The Afsluitdijk made it possible to drain parts of the Ijsselmeer and turn them into polders (land reclaimed from under the water). This reclaimed land now forms the province of Flevoland. The main delta area of the Netherlands forms the southwestern province of Zeeland. It is protected from flooding by an enormous complex of dams and bridges called the Delta Works, built during the 1980s and 1990s, that combine to control the water level.

      The landscape of the Netherlands is not totally flat and featureless, as many people expect it to be. There are distinct regional variations: sand dunes and lowland start by the sea in the west and north, leading to the wooded Utrecht heuvelrug (hilly ridge) in the center, and the sandy areas in the east of the country. North Brabant and the province of Gelderland contain most of the wooded countryside. There are also areas of heather-filled heath in Gelderland and in the province of Drenthe. Finally, there are the slightly higher hills in the southeastern province of Limburg, near the borders of Germany and Belgium. The highest point of the Netherlands is in this province, at Vaalserberg Hill, which is 1,053 feet (321 m) above sea level. Each area has its own fauna and flora and there are nature reserves across the country.

      To the north of the country are the Wadden Sea Islands (Waddeneilanden). The sea in this area is very shallow, and at low tide at certain times of the year it is possible to take a guided walk across the mudflats from the mainland to the islands at particular points (see page 128).

      If you are flying over the Netherlands, the two things that strike you are the amount of water and the regularity of the landscape. The Dutch like things to be neat, and this is evident in the regular patchwork of fields, crisscrossed by waterways. When you are at ground level, the changing quality of the light is impressive. No wonder there have been so many famous Dutch landscape painters.

      Windmills were used to harness the energy of the wind in order to pump out water from the lowlands. Many can still be seen, but the vast majority are now simply a charming tourist attraction.

      CLIMATE

      The climate is temperate. Generally the summers are cool and the winters are mild, but cold snaps can occur in January and February. When the temperatures drop and the canals and lakes freeze over, the Dutch get out their skates and take to the ice. At these times, the skies are a brilliant periwinkle blue, the sun shines, and everybody has a great time in the open air. People take hot-air balloon rides to enjoy the marvelous views.

      When you come to the Netherlands, bring an umbrella and waterproof clothes. It can be spring, summer, fall, or winter, but rain is a part of every season. The Dutch make the best of circumstances. At the slightest hint of sunshine, tables and chairs will be out on the café terraces.

      A BRIEF HISTORY

      In order to understand modern Dutch society, some knowledge of the past is necessary. What follows is a rough sketch of the major periods in the country’s history, highlighting some of the individuals who have influenced Dutch thinking.

      The Early Years

      The earliest inhabitants of the Netherlands were hunter-gatherers who lived on the hills in the center of the country around 150,000 years ago. The last Ice Age drove them away and people did not return until around 9000 BCE. During the Iron Age (from 750 BCE) people began to settle in the lower, more fertile areas. The threat of flooding was very high, so they constructed artificial hills (terpen) upon which to build their homes and farms.

      The Romans

      When Julius Caesar began his conquest of the Netherlands, the northern territories were inhabited by Germanic tribes, who had pushed the earlier Celtic population further south. The Romans controlled the Celtic lands south of the Rhine from 57 BCE to 406 CE, and exerted influence on the Germanic north through trade.

      In spite of Roman efforts to control flooding with dams, the sea continually flooded the western part of the Netherlands. Gradually the area turned into a peat bog unfit for people to live in. At the same time, the northern borders were coming under attack. Unrest at the center of the Roman Empire meant that troops were needed closer to home, and in 406 the Romans pulled back, abandoning their forts along the Rhine.

      With the departure of the Romans, Germanic culture took hold. The Frisians extended southward, Saxon invaders settled in the east, and Franks overran the area south of the Rhine and the Maas. By the early sixth century the Franks controlled Gaul (present-day France) and northern Italy. The Frankish king, Clovis I, converted to Christianity, and by the eighth century the Franks had imposed Christianity on almost all of the country.

      Charlemagne

      In 800 Charlemagne, King of the Franks, was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III in Rome. In the Netherlands he installed his counts or princes to administer justice and to organize the collection of taxes. They were also charged with the control of military matters.

      In return, they were given land and certain privileges. Gradually the power of these nobles increased. When Charlemagne died in 814 the central authority of the Frankish Empire declined and many of the wealthiest regional nobles ruled practically independently.

      From the ninth to the twelfth centuries the Netherlands was repeatedly partitioned in the divisions of the Holy Roman Empire, not falling clearly into either the French or the German kingdoms. From 850 onward, Viking raiders from Scandinavia took advantage of the situation, but Viking raids had ceased entirely by the beginning of the eleventh century.

      The Middle Ages

      In 925, all of present-day Netherlands was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire. Larger principalities were formed by consolidating some of the smaller counties. The feudal lords grew stronger and the territories that would later become the Dutch provinces began to be established.

      By the fifteenth century a number of towns had become prosperous trading centers. Usually ruled by small groups of merchants, they effectively became self-governing republics. Some joined the Hanseatic League, an organization that protected the trading interests of leading North Sea and Baltic port cities. Citizens within the towns began to exert a strong influence over politics and economic affairs.

      In the fifteenth century, all the Low Countries (today’s Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg) came under the rule of the dukes of Burgundy. In 1464 some of the regional assemblies tried to resist the centralization imposed upon them by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy (1396–1467). They met in Bruges, and the "States-General’ (Staten-Generaal), as the assembly was known, thereafter became a part of joint government in the regions.

      Religion and Revolt

      The discovery of the New World shifted economic power from the Mediterranean to the countries on Europe’s western seaboard, and during the sixteenth century the Netherlands grew in

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