1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Netherlands
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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
3.
South Holland
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South Holland is a province in the midwestern Netherlands. It has a population of just over 3.6 million, situated on the North Sea in the west of the Netherlands, South Holland covers an area of 3,403 km2, of which 585 km2 is water. It borders North Holland to the north, Utrecht and Gelderland to the east, the provincial capital is The Hague, while its largest city is Rotterdam. Archaeological discoveries in Hardinxveld-Giessendam indicate that the area of South Holland has been inhabited since at least ca.7,500 years before present, agriculture and permanent settlements probably originated around 2,000 years later, based on excavations near Vlaardingen. In the classical antiquity, South Holland was part of the Roman Province of Germania Inferior, the Romans built fortresses along the border, such as Praetorium Agrippinae near modern-day Valkenburg, Matilo near modern-day Leiden, and Albaniana near modern-day Alphen aan den Rijn. A city was founded near modern-day Voorburg, Forum Hadriani and it was built according to the grid plan, and facilitated a square, a court, a bathhouse and several temples. After the departure of the Romans, the area belonged to the Frisian Kingdom, in 690, the Anglo-Saxon monk Willibrord arrived near Katwijk and was granted permission to spread Roman Catholicism by the Frankish king Pepin II. He accordingly founded a church in Oegstgeest, after which the area was gradually Christianised. The area was appointed to East Francia in the Treaty of Verdun in 843, after which the king granted lands to Gerolf and this was the birth of the County of Holland. Gerolf was later succeeded by Dirk I, who continued to rule Holland under the Frankish king, in 1248, count William II ordered the construction of the Ridderzaal, which was later finished by his son and successor Floris V. The first city in South Holland to receive city rights was Dordrecht, the city retained a dominant position in the area until it was struck by a series of floods in the late 14th century. The same century saw a series of civil wars, the Hook and Cod wars. Both his daughter Jaqueline and his brother John, the supported by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. The conflict ended in 1490, with John victorious, overall, the area of South Holland remained largely agrarian throughout the late Middle Ages. This changed around 1500, when Holland became Europes most urbanised area, during the Eighty Years War, the area of South Holland was the scene of the Capture of Brielle, the Siege of Leiden and the assassination of William the Silent. The United Netherlands declared their independence in 1581, and Holland quickly emerged as the dominant province, with important trading cities such as Leiden, Delft, Gouda. In 1575, the Netherlands first university was founded in Leiden by William the Silent, the Hague, which had originated around the castle of the counts of Holland, became its new political centre. Both the States of Holland and the States General seated in the Binnenhof, the Dutch Golden Age blossomed in the 17th century
4.
Westland (municipality), Netherlands
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Westland is a municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It covers an area of 90.58 km2 of which 11.05 km2 is covered by water and had a population of 103,716 in 2014. Towns and other settlements, De Lier, s-Gravenzande, Monster, Naaldwijk, Wateringen, Heenweg, Honselersdijk, Kwintsheul, Maasdijk, Poeldijk, Westland was created on 1 January 2004 by a merger of the municipalities De Lier, s-Gravenzande, Monster, Naaldwijk and Wateringen. These are also the names of five of the settlements, the others are Heenweg, Honselersdijk, Kwintsheul, Maasdijk, Poeldijk, and Ter Heijde. Westland itself is not the name of a settlement or town, the City hall is located in the middle of Westland, in Naaldwijk, the second largest settlement in Westland. The town of Honselersdijk also possesses the largest Flower Auction, FloraHolland and this is a very important sector of the Westland economy. Flowers produced in Westland are sold all over the world, coastal towns are Ter Heijde, Monster itself and s-Gravenzande. These towns are popular with Germans and people from the Eastern Netherlands and it is not unknown for every holiday campsite to be fully booked with tourists. This is because of their proximity to the more popular Scheveningen Westland is part of the Haaglanden conurbation. Westland is most known for its horticulture in greenhouses, growing flowers and vegetables
5.
The Hague
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The Hague is a city on the western coast of the Netherlands, and the capital city of the province of South Holland. With a population of 520,704 inhabitants and more than one million including the suburbs, it is the third-largest city of the Netherlands. The Rotterdam The Hague Metropolitan Area, with a population of approximately 2.7 million, is the 12th-largest in the European Union and the most populous in the country. Located in the west of the Netherlands, The Hague is in the centre of the Haaglanden conurbation and lies at the southwest corner of the larger Randstad conurbation. The Hague is the seat of the Dutch government, parliament, the Supreme Court, and the Council of State, but the city is not the capital of the Netherlands, which constitutionally is Amsterdam. King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands plans to live at Huis ten Bosch and works at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, the Hague is also home to the world headquarters of Royal Dutch Shell and numerous other major Dutch companies. The Hague originated around 1230, when Count Floris IV of Holland purchased land alongside a pond, in 1248, his son and successor William II, King of the Romans, decided to extend the residence to a palace, which would later be called the Binnenhof. He died in 1256 before this palace was completed but parts of it were finished by his son Floris V, of which the Ridderzaal and it is still used for political events, such as the annual speech from the throne by the Dutch monarch. From the 13th century onwards, the counts of Holland used The Hague as their administrative centre, the village that originated around the Binnenhof was first mentioned as Haga in a charter dating from 1242. In the 15th century, the smarter des Graven hage came into use, literally The Counts Wood, with connotations like The Counts Hedge, s-Gravenhage was officially used for the city from the 17th century onwards. Today, this name is used in some official documents like birth. The city itself uses Den Haag in all its communication and their seat was located in The Hague. At the beginning of the Eighty Years War, the absence of city walls proved disastrous, in 1575, the States of Holland even considered demolishing the city but this proposal was abandoned, after mediation by William of Orange. From 1588, The Hague also became the seat of the government of the Dutch Republic, in order for the administration to maintain control over city matters, The Hague never received official city status, although it did have many of the privileges normally granted only to cities. In modern administrative law, city rights have no place anymore, only in 1806, when the Kingdom of Holland was a puppet state of the First French Empire, was the settlement granted city rights by Louis Bonaparte. After the Napoleonic Wars, modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands were combined in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands to form a buffer against France, as a compromise, Brussels and Amsterdam alternated as capital every two years, with the government remaining in The Hague. After the separation of Belgium in 1830, Amsterdam remained the capital of the Netherlands, when the government started to play a more prominent role in Dutch society after 1850, The Hague quickly expanded. The growing city annexed the rural municipality of Loosduinen partly in 1903, the city sustained heavy damage during World War II
6.
Heenweg
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Heenweg is a town in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Westland, and lies about 7 km northwest of Maassluis, in 2001, the town of Heenweg had 601 inhabitants. The built-up area of the town was 0.076 km², the statistical area Heenweg, which also can include the peripheral parts of the village, as well as the surrounding countryside, has a population of around 690
7.
Count of Holland
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The Counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century. The first count of Holland, Dirk I, was the son or foster-son of Gerolf and he received land around Egmond from Charles the Fat at a place called Bladella in 922. This is seen as the beginning of the county of Holland, however, until about 1100, the usual names for the county were West-Friesland, Frisia or Kennemerland, in spite of this the counts from Dirk I onwards are named of Holland. Note that the chronology of the first few counts is uncertain and this third Count Dirk is placed between Dirk I and II and numbered as Dirk I bis to avoid confusion with the already established numbering referring to the other counts of Holland named Dirk. John of Avesnes was a son of Adelaide of Holland, sister of William II of Holland, during the rule of Margaret, her son William V had the real power in the county. He became ruler in his own right as a result of the Hook and he was also Duke of Bavaria-Straubing as William I. This war was won by Philip of Burgundy in 1432. Philip was a nephew of William VI, who had married a daughter of Philip the Bold of Burgundy, in 1432 he forced Jacqueline to abdicate from Hainaut and Holland on his behalf. In 1581, the Estates General of the United Provinces declared themselves independent from the Spanish rule of Philip II. Until the Treaty of Münster in 1648, the kings of Spain still used the title Count of Holland, but they had lost the actual power over the county to the States of Holland. Philip IV, King Philip III of Spain Philip V, King Philip IV of Spain The County remained in existence as a constituent member state of the Dutch Republic until 1795. There were no more Counts however since the Estates of Holland, the Stadtholders, who were servants of the Estates were the de facto Chief-Executives during this period. Counts of Holland family tree A book of 32 plates of the counts of Holland published in Amsterdam in 1663, engraved by Adriaen Matham B. K. S. Dijkstra, Een stamboom in been, Amsterdam 1991
8.
William II of Holland
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William II of Holland was a Count of Holland and Zeeland. He was elected as German anti-king in 1247 and remained king until his death and he was the son of Floris IV and Matilda of Brabant. When his father was killed at a tournament at Corbie, William was only seven years old and his uncles, William and Otto, were his guardians until 1239. With the help of Henry II, Duke of Brabant and the archbishop of Cologne, the next year, he decided to extend his fathers hunting residence to a palace which met his new status. This would later be called the Binnenhof and was the beginning of the city of The Hague, meanwhile, after a siege of five months, William took Aachen from Fredericks followers. Only then could he be crowned as king and his power never extended beyond the Rhineland. In his home county, William fought with Flanders for control of Zeeland and he made himself count of Zeeland. In July 1253, he defeated the Flemish army at Westkapelle and his anti-Flemish policy worsened his relationship with France. From 1254, he fought a number of wars against the West Frisians and he built some strong castles in Heemskerk and Haarlem and created roads for the war against the Frisians. William gave city rights to Haarlem, Delft, s-Gravenzande and Alkmaar, William married Elizabeth, daughter of Otto the Child, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, in 1252. They had, Floris V, Count of Holland, in battle near Hoogwoud on 28 January 1256, William tried to traverse a frozen lake by himself, because he was lost, but his horse fell through the ice. In this vulnerable position, William was killed by the Frisians and his body was recovered 26 years later by his son Floris V, who took terrible vengeance on the West-Frisians. William was then buried in Middelburg, contemporary sources, including the chronicle of Melis Stoke, portray William as an Arthurian hero. A golden statue of William can be found on the Binnenhof in The Hague, the inner court of the parliamentary complex of the Netherlands
