1.
Nederland
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
2.
Stichting
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A foundation is a legal category of nonprofit organization that will typically either donate funds and support to other organizations, or provide the source of funding for its own charitable purposes. Foundations incorporate private foundations and public foundations and this type of non-profit organization differs from a private foundation which is typically endowed by an individual or family. One of the characteristics of the legal entities existing under the status of Foundations, is a diversity of structures and purposes. Nevertheless, there are common structural elements that are the first observed under legal scrutiny or classification. Others may be provided by the authority at each particular jurisdiction. There is no commonly accepted legal definition in Europe for a foundation, there is a proposal for a European Foundation, a legal form that would be recognised throughout Europe, see European Foundation Project. The term foundation, in general, is used to describe a legal entity. Foundations as legal structures and/or legal persons, may have a diversity of forms, unlike a company, foundations have no shareholders, though they may have a board, an assembly and voting members. The foundation has a distinct patrimony independent of its founder, Foundations are often set up for charitable purposes, family patrimony and collective purposes. Foundations in Finland must have state approval and register at the National Board of Patents, a minimum capital of €25,000 is obligatory. A foundation can be created with any purpose and may have economic activity if this is specified in its Bylaws. There are not many Foundations in comparison to the rest of Europe, in practice public administration requires at least €1 million is considered necessary. States representatives have a seat in the Board. German regulations allow the creation of any foundation for public or private purposes in keeping with the concept of a gemeinwohlkonforme Allzweckstiftung, a foundation should not have commercial activities as its main purpose, but they are permitted if they serve the main purpose of the foundation. There is no minimum starting capital, although in practice at least is considered necessary, a German foundation can either be charitable or serve a private interest. If they engage in activities, only the commercially active part of the entity is taxed. A family foundation serving private interests is taxed like any other legal entity, there is no central register for German foundations. Only charitable foundations are subject to supervision by state authorities, family foundations are not supervised after establishment
3.
Oranjewoud
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Oranjewoud is a small village in Heerenveen in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. It had a population of around 162 in 2006 and it is known for Oranjewoud Palace. The village had one museum called Belvédère, the village is known for Oranjewoud Palace. It was built for the royal family, in 1676 Countess Albertine Agnes of Nassau bought a country seat in the woods as a buitenplaats or summer residence. She was a Princess of Orange, and a widow of the Frisian Stadtholder Willem Frederik of Nassau-Dietz, after her death, her daughter Princess Henriëtte Amalia of Anhalt-Dessau owned the palace. Her architect Daniel Marot, known for Het Loo Palace, designed a new palace, after that, two wings were built, but the central building was never built. After her death, John William Friso, Prince of Orange lived in the palace, but he died very early, and his wife, Landgravine Marie Louise of Hesse-Kassel stayed at Oranjewoud. Until 1747 the palace was visited by the stadhouders. In that time William IV, Prince of Orange lived in oranjewoud, but William V, Prince of Orange also visited the palace one last time in 1777. Beside Oranjewoud Palace the royal family had another residence called Carolineburg, probably it was named after Princess Carolina of Orange-Nassau, who lived there. During the French Revolution the palace was demolished and the estate was sold to the Frisian nobility, one of them was Hans Willem de Blocq van Scheltinga. In 1834 he built a new buitenplaats on the royal estate called Oranjewoud. This new buitenplaats was not longer owned by the royal family, King William I of the Netherlands, King William III of the Netherlands and Queen Juliana of the Netherlands all stayed at Oranjewoud. But Prince Henry of the Netherlands, Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, today, the buitenplaats is owned by the Friesland Bank. Another buitenplaats in oranjewoud is called Oranjestein and this one was the former home of the royal steward. The millionaire Pieter Cats bought it and expanded it, some other existing estates in Oranjewoud are, Klein Jagtlust, Oranjehoeve, Princenhof and Klemburg. Destroyed estates are, Ontwijk, Brouwershave, Veenzigt and Paauwenburg, in 1953 the estate was sold in two parts by the family De Blocq van Scheltinga. One part, was bought by the government, the Park was designed in French Baroque style
4.
Leeuwarder Courant
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The Leeuwarder Courant is the oldest daily newspaper in the Netherlands. Founded by Abraham Ferwerda, it first appeared in 1752, the Leeuwarder Courant was the first paper in the Dutch province Friesland and its capital Leeuwarden. It is considered a popular newspaper, Abraham Ferwerda was a printer and publisher in Leeuwarden, who first published the Leeuwarder Courant on 29 July 1752, and reportedly made a fortune publishing his paper. A conscious choice was also to focus on mercantile and international news, in fact, during the latter part of the eighteenth century the paper was criticized its lack of patriotism. For a long time it was the medium for advertisements in the region, which helped ensure its commercial success. After Ferwerdas death, his son-in-law, Doeke Ritske Smeding, took over, Smeding died in 1814, Pieter Koumans Smeding, his cousin, ran the paper until 1854. His heirs owned the newspaper until 1947, in 2013 Leeuwarder Courant was awarded the European Newspaper of the Year in the category of regional newspapers. While initially publishing mainly business and international news, in the century the paper improved in quality and layout. Most of these anecdotes were written in Dutch, though the occasional Frisian entry was printed, in the early to mid nineteenth century, the Leeuwarder Courant began to publish literary reviews. Jacob van Leeuwen and Wopke Eekhoff wrote most of the reviews, in most cases without a byline, additionally, tt is the only source of theoretical observations about contemporary Frisian literature. Only some of the content of Mengelwerk was in Frisian, and today still the paper publishes articles written in Dutch. Beschaafde vooruitgang, De wereld van de Leeuwarder Courant, 1752-2002
5.
Dagblad van het Noorden
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The Dagblad van het Noorden, abbreviated as DvhN, is a Dutch regional daily newspaper that is published and circulated in the provinces of Groningen and Drenthe in the northeastern Netherlands. The newspaper is owned by NDC Mediagroep, pieter Sijpersma has been editor-in-chief since 2004. It had a circulation of 96,515 copies in 2015, the Dagblad van het Noorden is a merger of the Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, the Groninger Dagblad, and the Drentse Courant. Its first edition was published on 2 April 2002, jan Bonjer, who had been the editor-in-chief of the Drentse Courant, was the first editor-in-chief from 2002 to 2003. Pieter Sijpersma has been editor-in-chief since 2004, the newspaper circulation started around 180,000 subscribers in 2002 and diminished to less than 100,000 subscribers in 2015. Dagblad van het Noorden, official website De krant van toen, digital archive
6.
Rabobank
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Rabobank is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is a leader in food and agriculture financing and sustainability-oriented banking. The group comprises 129 independent local Dutch Rabobanks, an organisation. Food and agribusiness constitute the primary focus of the Rabobank Group. Rabobank is the second-largest bank in the Netherlands in terms of total assets, a 2013 scandal resulted in a $1 billion fine for unscrupulous trading practices, which included the manipulation of LIBOR currency rates worldwide. Chief Executive Piet Moerland resigned immediately as a result, in terms of Tier 1 capital, the organisation is among the 30 largest financial institutions in the world. As of December 2014, total amount to €681 billion with a net profit of €1.8 billion. Global Finance ranks Rabobank 25th in its survey of the worlds safest banks, rooted in agriculture, Rabobank is set up as a federation of local credit unions, which offer services to the local markets. The central organisation is a subsidiary of local branches—not the parent, the bank is rooted in the ideas of Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen, the founder of the cooperative movement of credit unions, who in 1864 created the first farmers bank in Germany. Being a countryside mayor he was confronted with the poverty of the farmers. He tried to alleviate this need through charitable aid, but realised that self-reliance had more potential in the long run, in doing so he created the Darlehnskassen-Verein, which collected the savings of countryside dwellers and provided enterprising farmers with loans. This model found a lot of interest in the Netherlands at the end of the 19th century, one of the first of Raiffeisens followers was father Gerlacus van den Elsen, who stood at the basis of a number of local farmers banks in the south of the Netherlands. The model caught on being championed by the clergy and the countryside elites, the mission of the farmers lending banks was an idealistic one, but they always operated using strict business principles. Controversially, a principle of Rabobanks cooperative style was to cooperate in the interest of warding off the Shylock. The cooperative bank model assured a tight bond between invested capital and the community, the banks traditional headquarters are Utrecht and Eindhoven. These two existed side by side for three-quarters of a century despite their obvious similarities, the reasons for this owed in part to legal disagreements. The most important difference, however, was cultural, the Eindhoven-based Boerenleenbank had a decidedly Catholic signature while the Raiffeisen-Bank had a Protestant background. By 1940 the two organisations cooperated with other, albeit on a limited scale
