r/europe • u/MarktpLatz Lower Saxony (Germany) • Oct 09 '17
What do you know about... The Netherlands?
This is the thirty-eighth part of our ongoing series about the countries of Europe. You can find an overview here.
Today's country:
The Netherlands
The Netherlands have the sixth largest economy in the EU, despite being the sixth smallest country in terms of territory. It houses the ICJ in Den Haag. The Netherlands were the first country worldwide to legalize gay marriage, in 2001. It became independent from Spain after a war that lasted 80 years.
So, what do you know about the Netherlands?
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u/PandaTickler Oct 10 '17
Germanic peoples whose language is closely related to English
Speaking of which, they have very high fluency in that language
Cars outnumber bicycles by three-to-one
Used to be part of the Duchy of Burgundy till its ruler died at some point and the Habsburgs inherited it (the northern part where the Netherlands are, the rest of the Duchy went to France).
Revolted against the Habsburgs and after several decades of warfare secured its independence (although the Habsburgs kept nearby Flanders for a century and a half longer). It went on to become a great naval power, founding a trading network that controlled a lot of the Spice trade for example (conquering Indonesia helped, naturally).
Founded a colony in South Africa where a local tongue now called Afrikaans developed out of the settlers' dialects with some input from indigenous languages. That language now has several million speakers in South Africa. They later lost this colony, and also New York (originally called New Amsterdam) to the British.
Went through a sort of Renaissance in the 16-17th centuries, complete with weird art.
One of the American Presidents, Martin Van Buren, was Dutch.
Netherlands were conquered and lost by the French in the revolutionary wars (which also ended the Habsburg rule over Flanders)
The Congress of Vienna restored Netherlands and attached Flanders and Wallonia to it. The latter two broke away a few decades later as a result of religious conflicts.
They tried to be neutral in both World Wars but still ended up occupied by the Germans for strategic reasons
Was one of the founding states of the EEC, predecessor to the EU.