1.
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
2.
Flevoland
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Flevoland is the twelfth province of the Netherlands. It is located in the centre of the country, where the former Zuiderzee was, Flevoland was established on 1 January 1986, when the southern and eastern Flevopolders were merged into one province. Almost all of the land belonging to the province was reclaimed in the 1950s and 60s. The province has about 407,905 inhabitants and consists of 6 municipalities, after a flood in 1916, it was decided that the Zuiderzee, an inland sea within the Netherlands, would be enclosed and reclaimed, the Zuiderzee Works started. Other sources indicate other times and reasons, but also agree that in 1932, the Afsluitdijk was completed, the Zuiderzee was subsequently called IJsselmeer. The first part of the new lake that was reclaimed was the Noordoostpolder in 1939 and this new land included the former islands of Urk and Schokland and it was included in the province of Overijssel. After this, other parts were reclaimed, the Southeastern part in 1957, thus Flevopolder became an artificial island joined to the mainland by bridges. The municipalities on the three parts voted to become a province, which happened in 1986. Flevoland was named after Lacus Flevo, a name recorded in Roman sources for an inland lake at the southern end of the later-formed Zuiderzee. Draining the Flevoland polders revealed many wrecks of aircraft that had crashed into the IJsselmeer during World War II, in February 2011, Flevoland, together with the provinces of Utrecht and North Holland, showed a desire to investigate the feasibility of a merger between the three provinces. This has been received by the Dutch cabinet, for the desire to create one Randstad province has already been mentioned in the coalition agreement. The province of South Holland, part of the Randstad urban area, visioned to be part of the Randstad province, with or without South Holland, if created, the new province would be the largest in the Netherlands in both area and population. They are two polders with a joint hydrological infrastructure, with a dike in the middle, the Knardijk. The two main drainage canals that traverse the dike can be closed by floodgates in such an event, the pumping stations are the Wortman at Lelystad-Haven, the Lovink near Harderwijk on the mainland and the Colijn along the northern dike beside the Ketelmeer. A new element in the design of Eastern Flevoland is the larger city Lelystad, named after Cornelis Lely, the man who had played a crucial role in designing and realising the Zuiderzee Works. Other more conventional settlements already existed by then, Dronten, the local town, was founded in 1962. These three were incorporated in the new municipality of Dronten on 1 January 1972, southern Flevoland has only one pumping station, the diesel powered De Blocq van Kuffeler. Because of the union of the two Flevolands it simply joins the other three in maintaining the water-level of both polders
3.
Christian Democratic Appeal
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The Christian Democratic Appeal is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. Sybrand van Haersma Buma has been the party leader since 18 May 2012, the party suffered severe losses in the 2010 general election, losing half of its seats and falling to fourth place in the House of Representatives. Subsequently, the CDA again lost a number of seats in the 2012 general election. Since 1880 the sizeable Catholic and Protestant parties had worked together in the so-called Coalitie and they shared a common interest in public funding of religious schools. In 1888 they formed the first Christian-democratic government, led by the Anti-Revolutionary Æneas Baron Mackay, the cooperation was not without problems and in 1894 the more anti-papist and aristocratic conservatives left the Protestant Anti Revolutionary Party, to found the Christian Historical Union. The main issues dividing Protestants and Catholics was the position of the Dutch Representation at the Holy See, the General League evolved into the Roman Catholic State Party by 1926, and the Catholic Peoples Party in 1945. From 1918 to 1967, the three Christian Democratic parties had a majority in both houses of the States General, and at least two of them were included in every cabinet, the KVP and its antecedents had been in government without interruption since 1918. In the sixties, the Dutch society became more secularized and the pillars faded, in 1963 general election the three parties held 51% of the vote, whilst in 1972 general election they held only 32%. This decline forced the three parties to work closer together, in 1967 the Group of Eighteen was formed, it was a think-tank of six prominent politicians per party that planned the future cooperation of the three parties. In 1968 the three leaders of the parties (Norbert Schmelzer, Barend Biesheuvel and Jur Mellema made a public appearance. This caused progressive forces within the three parties, especially the ARP and KVP, to regret their political affiliation, in 1968 they founded the Political Party of Radicals, a left-wing party that sought cooperation with the Labour Party. Locally and provincially however the three parties had long cooperated well, in areas they formed one Christian-democratic parliamentary party. In the 1971 general election, the three presented a common political program, which lay the foundation for the first Biesheuvel cabinet. After the disastrous elections of 1972 the cooperation was given new momentum, in 1973 this federation was officially formed, with Steenkamp as chairperson. The cooperation was frustrated by the formation of the Den Uyl cabinet, established by the leader of the social-democratic PvdA, Den Uyl refused to allow members of the CHU in the cabinet that he would lead. This led to a situation where the CHU, ARP and KVP sat as a faction in both houses of parliament, but only the KVP and ARP supplied ministers and junior ministers. The cabinet Den Uyl was riddled with political and personal conflicts, another issue that split the three parties was the place that the Bible would take in the new party. In 1976, the three announced that they would field a single list at the 1977 general election under the name Christian Democratic Appeal
4.
Urk
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Urk is a municipality and a town in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. In 1939, a dike from the mainland to Urk ended the island status. Later in the 20th century, seabed areas surrounding Urk were reclaimed from the sea and became the Noordoostpolder. Around the IJsselmeer is an arc of boulder clay high areas of land, which formed during the Ice Age glaciations of the Pleistocene epoch, Texel, Wieringen, Urk, de Voorst, and Gaasterland. To south of that arc, as a result of meltwater, a lake formed, North of the boulder clay highland of Urk, the Vecht river flowed into the Almere, while the river IJssel with tributaries flowed into the south of Urk. As the climate became warmer during the Middle Ages, the sea level rose, during the 13th century the Zuiderzee formed, and the water round Urk suddenly became tidal sea. Because there was no sea defence, in the course of large pieces of the island were eroded away. The southwest side of Urk, which rose out of the sea, was called het Hoge Klif. Around 1700 the municipality of Amsterdam gave sea defences to Urk, the text reads, cuiisdam insulae medietatem in Almere, que Urch vocatur. Until 1475 the High and Low Lordship of Urk and Emmeloord was in the hands of the Van Kuinre family, from 1475 to 1614, the Zoudenbalch family of Utrecht were Lords of Urk and Emmeloord. From 1614 to 1660, Urk and Emmeloord were ruled by Jonkheer van der Werve, from 1660 to 1792 Urk and Emmeloord belonged to the municipality of Amsterdam, and ruled from 1660 to 1672/1678 by Andries de Graeff. From 1792 to 1950 Urk belonged to the province of Noordholland, from 1950 to 1986 Urk belonged to the province of Overijssel. Since 1986, Urk has belonged to the province of Flevoland, after WWII, Urks town spread into the polder. Many Urkers who had to leave the town because of overcrowding before the reclamation was completed were able to return to Urk. The Noordoostpolder in its early years had an alternative name Urker Land, from which Urks newspaper, Het Urkerland, the important economic pillar of the village is the fishery. After the IJsselmeer was formed, the Urkers fished on the North Sea, due to rising prices of fish, at present Urk is a very prosperous village. In the past, many lives were lost in storms on the Zuiderzee, there is a memorial to lost fishermen on Urk, popularly known as the Urker vrouw, a statue of a woman looking out to sea, vainly awaiting the return of her husband and sons. Unie Gemeentebelangen and Hart voor Urk are local parties, Hart voor Urk was founded by former SGP-counciller Jan Koffeman with a largely identical party policy as SGPs
5.
Emmeloord
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Emmeloord is the administrative center of the municipality of Noordoostpolder, Flevoland, Netherlands. At the heart of the Noordoostpolder, where the three main drainage canals intersect, is the city of Emmeloord, Emmeloord is in a polder, land reclaimed from the IJsselmeer, which earlier was part of the sea. Planned from the outset to be the first and the major town of the polder, it is the local governmental. Ten smaller villages, conceived more as agricultural communities, were planned in a circle around Emmeloord. The first settlements were Ens, Marknesse and Kraggenburg, then Bant, then Creil and Rutten, there is another village called Luttelgeest. From Emmeloord three canals take their water to three pumping stations, the Buma near Lemmer, the Smeenge at Vollenhove and the Vissering on Urk, Emmeloord was named after an abandoned village on the island of Schokland. In the center of Emmeloord there is a called the Poldertoren. The tower is the point of the Noordoostpolder and could be seen from almost every location in the early years of the Noordoostpolder. In Japan there is a replica of this watertower, there is no railway station in Emmeloord, but the following are a few suggestions also showing possible major destination. Bus Times can be found at this link, Emmeloord lies at the intersection of the A6 motorway and the N50 highway, providing a rapid connection to Amsterdam, Zwolle and Friesland
6.
Terschelling
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Terschelling is a municipality and an island in the northern Netherlands, one of the West Frisian Islands. It is situated between the islands of Vlieland and Ameland, Wadden Islanders are known for their resourcefulness in using anything and everything that washes ashore. With few trees to use for timber, most of the farms, the islands are surrounded by shipwrecks, and even today many containers wash ashore that are blown off the decks of container ships in the North Sea. The main source of income on Terschelling is tourism, there is some agriculture, but a large part of the island has become a nature reserve. Terschelling is well known for the yearly Oerol Festival during which performances are played throughout the island, making use of its landscape. Terschelling can be reached by ferry from the mainland Frisian town Harlingen, the island in its current shape was formed in the Middle Ages from a sandy area called De Schelling in the west and the original island Wexalia in the east. The name Wexalia, Wuxalia, or Wecsile is the name of eastern Terschelling. However, this disappeared at the end of the Middle Ages. The last appearance of the name Wexalia is in a treaty between Folkerus Reijner Popma, then ruler of Terschelling, with king Edward IV of England in 1482. The oldest traces of civilisation on Terschelling date from around 850 and this hill was later used as a burial ground and is known as the Striperkerkhof. Historically, tensions existed between the inhabitants of West-Terschelling, with its orientation towards the sea, and the more agriculturally oriented inhabitants of East-Terschelling. In 1612 this led to the division of the island into independent political entities, only after the French occupation at the start of the 19th century was Terschelling again united as one entity. The Dutch navigator Willem Barentsz was born on Terschelling around 1550, in 1666 West-Terschelling was ransacked by the English. The English fleet had originally planned to attack the Dutch merchant fleet which was moored before the coast of Vlieland, when the Dutch vessels retreated towards Terschelling, the English followed, destroyed 150 Dutch vessels, and landed in the harbour of West-Terschelling. The town was burnt to the ground by the English on this occasion which would become known as Holmess Bonfire after the English admiral Sir Robert Holmes, the Great Fire of London in the very same year was considered by some to have been Gods retribution. On the island of Terschelling both Dutch, the language of the Netherlands, and Frisian are spoken. However, the use of the three dialects is on the decline, and all three are slowly being replaced by the standard Dutch language, the island is known for being one of only two Wadden islands where cranberries grow, the other being the island of Vlieland. In 1840, a barrel of cranberries, apparently packed by sailors as an antiscorbutic, washed ashore on the islands coast, the cranberries, finding the environment favourable, established themselves on the island
7.
Zuiderzee Works
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The project involved the damming of the Zuiderzee, a large, shallow inlet of the North Sea, and the reclamation of land in the newly enclosed water using polders. Its main purposes are to improve protection and create additional land for agriculture. The American Society of Civil Engineers declared these works, together with the Delta Works in the South-West of the Netherlands, as among the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. The Netherlands has low flat topography, with half its area less than one metre above sea level. The seventeenth century saw proposals to tame and enclose the Zuiderzee. Plans were developed during the half of the nineteenth century to protect areas from the force of the open sea. Cornelis Lely was an ardent supporter, an engineer and later government minister and his 1891 plan was the basis for the development of what were to become the Zuiderzee Works. Two major lanes of water were defined for shipping and drainage. The initial body of water affected by the project was 3,500 square kilometres, opposition came from fishermen along the Zuiderzee who would lose their livelihood, and from others in coastal areas along the more northerly Wadden Sea. They feared higher water levels as a result of the closure, other critics doubted whether the project was feasible financially. When Lely became Minister of Transport and Public Works in 1913, he used his position to promote the Zuiderzee Works, the government started developing official plans to enclose the Zuiderzee. On January 13 and 14,1916 the dikes at several places along the Zuiderzee broke under the stress of a storm. This flooding provided the impetus to implement the existing plans to tame the Zuiderzee. In addition, a food shortage during the other stresses of World War I added to widespread support for the project. On June 14,1918 the Zuiderzee Act was passed, the Dienst der Zuiderzeewerken, the government body responsible for overseeing the construction and initial management, was set up in May 1919. It decided against building the dam first, proceeding to construct a smaller dam. This was the first step in rejoining the island of Wieringen to the North Holland mainland, the dike, with a length of 2.5 km, was built between 1920 and 1924. As with dike building, polder construction was tested on a scale at the experimental polder at Andijk
8.
Creil, Netherlands
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Creil is one of the ten so-called green villages in the Dutch province of Flevoland. It is a part of the municipality of Noordoostpolder, and lies about 6 km northwest of Emmeloord, in 2004, a building formerly belinging to the Catholic church in the centre of Creil was restructured into a service centre called The Saalicon. It houses a pharmacy, clinic, hair salon, centre for the elderly, Creil is home to three elementary schools, the Catholic Jan Roothaan-school, the public elementary school De Springplank and the Christian elementary school De Regenboog. These schools share the building and share many public facilities such as the schoolyard. The land surrounding Creil is home to large amounts of bulb cultivation, and every spring the village organises the Bloembollen Vakdagen Flevoland, Creil is home to a football club, SC Creil, and houses a Protestant church. Creil has a bus connection, Line 77, which connects Creil with other villages in the Noordoostpolder, Line 77, Lemmer - Rutten - Creil - Espel - Emmeloord vv. The line makes three stops on three bus stations in Creil, namely the Klutenpad, Creil and Wrakkenpad stations, despite being close in proximity, there is no direct bus line to Bant. Creil is connected by road via the provincial roads N712, which runs through the town and these provincial roads form the main road connection with other towns in the area and subsequently with the larger motorway and highway network. The N712 runs through Creil from the southwest to the northeast, connecting to Espel in the southwest, the N715 branches off just to the northeast of Creil and connects Bant to the east. Creil has no connection, the nearest train stations are in Kampen, Meppel, Zwolle, Dronten
9.
Schokland
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Schokland is a former island in the Dutch Zuiderzee, in the municipality of Noordoostpolder. Schokland was a strip of peat land which ceased to be an island when the Noordoostpolder was reclaimed from the sea in 1942. It is now just a slightly elevated part of the polder, on 1 April 2014, it had 8 inhabitants, but according to Statistics Netherlands there are five people living on the former island. Schokland was a settlement area in the Middle Ages when it was much larger. By then the Schoklanders had retreated to the three most elevated parts, Emmeloord, Molenbuurt, and Middelbuurt, a major flood in 1825 brought massive destruction, and in 1859 the government decided to end permanent settlement on Schokland. The former municipality of Schokland was joined to Kampen on the mainland, today Schokland is a popular archeological site and host to the Schokland Museum. Schokland was the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Netherlands, the nearest railway stations are in Kampen and Lelystad. Bus service 682 operates from Kampen and serves Schokland, Schokland Schokland travel guide from Wikivoyage Visit site in 360° panophotography
10.
Friesland
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Friesland or Frisia is a province in the northwest of the Netherlands. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of Flevoland, northeast of North Holland, in 2010, the province had a population of 646,000 and a total area of 5,749 km2. The capital and seat of the government is the city of Leeuwarden. Since 2017, Arno Brok is the Kings Commissioner in the province, a coalition of the Labour Party, the Christian Democratic Appeal, and the Frisian National Party forms the executive branch. The province is divided into 24 municipalities, the area of the province was once part of the ancient, larger region of Frisia. The official languages of Friesland are West Lauwers Frisian and Dutch, a proto-Frisian culture slowly began to emerge around 400–200 BC known for its artificial dwelling hills as a defence against the sea. The Roman claim on Frisia began in 12 BC with the campaign of Nero Claudius Drusus in Germania, after a series of costly battles against the Frisians, the Romans were suddenly sworn fealty. The de facto independence they later enjoyed as a Roman vassal shows that this might have been a mostly diplomatic decision based on the temporary favourable bargaining position. Together with other Germanic tribes such as the Salians and the Batavii they managed to keep the north of the Lower Rhine mostly free from Roman influence. The early eighth-century AD is known for the Frisian Kingdom, king Redbad, after incorporation into the Frankish empire, Friesland was divided into three parts. The westernmost part developed at the start of the second millennium into the County of Holland, while the remainder of Frisia had no feudal overlord and that ended when Charles V added Frisia to the Habsburg Netherlands as Lordship of Frisia. Under Napoleon, the department was named Frise, after Napoleon was defeated in 1813, the department became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands as the province of Friesland. Friesland is the largest province of the Netherlands if one includes areas of water, in terms of land area only, the provinces highest point is at 45 metres above sea level, on the island of Vlieland. There are four parks, Schiermonnikoog, De Alde Feanen, Lauwersmeer. The ten urban areas in Friesland with the largest population are, The province is divided into 24 municipalities, the province of Friesland has an oceanic climate. In 2010, Friesland had a population of 646,305, the years 1880–1900 show slower population growth due to a farm crisis in which 20,000 Frisians emigrated to the United States of America. Since the late Middle Ages, Friesland has been renowned for the height of its inhabitants. Friesland is mainly an agricultural province, the black and white Frisian cattle, black and white Stabyhoun and the black Frisian horse originated here
11.
Kampen, Overijssel
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Kampen is a municipality, a city and an old Hanseatic city at the lower reaches of the river IJssel in the Dutch province of Overijssel. The municipality of Kampen had a population of 51,278 in 2014, Kampen is located in the North West of Overijssel and is the largest city in this region. The city of Kampen itself has around 35,000 inhabitants, Kampen has one of the best preserved old town centres of the Netherlands, including remains of the ancient city wall and numerous churches. Also notable are the three bridges over the IJssel which connect Kampen with IJsselmuiden and Kampereiland, the area between the branches which form the IJssel delta, and a windmill. Traditionally people in Kampen speak a variation of the Sallands dialect, by 1150, there were already wooden buildings on the site where Kampen is currently located. The name Kampen, however, is not mentioned until 1277, the city has had city rights since 1236. In the 14th century, Kampen exchanged with the bishop of Utrecht, Jan van Arkel, the silting up of the IJssel brought a gradual end to the prosperity of Kampen from 1430 on. For a long time Kampen did not want to sign a union and make economic and political concessions to other cities, as was usual in the Hanseatic League. When the County of Holland went to war with the Hanseatic League this situation came to an end, Kampen was originally more oriented toward the Baltic trade and commerce with the hinterland of the Rhine, and therefore in 1441 formally joined the Hanseatic League. This project was accomplished in just five months, with this bridge Kampen hoped to be able to develop closer relationships with the hinterland. On 11 August 1572 Kampen was conquered from the Spaniards by Willem van den Bergh, after the massacre of Zutphen on 15 November, the city voluntarily surrendered to the Spanish. In 1578, the city changed again after the Siege of Kampen. Due to its right to increase the IJsseldelta, Kampen was owner of the growing Kampereiland, from 1500 the islands were leased. The rents were so large that the city did not need to raise taxes, Kampen only became well known again in the 19th century. The city was difficult to reach from the sea, because the wetlands became silted up. During the preceding centuries, the watercourse of the river IJssel was dredged several times, but the costs were high and within a few years. As the IJssel had several delta-like mouths here, the route of the river shifted several times. In the 19th century, a new strategy was put in place to counter this problem and this had the advantage that less sand and silt were deposited and resulted in a river course that swept itself clean
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listen), English: North-East Polder) is a municipality in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. Formerly, it was also called Urker Land. Emmeloord is the administrative center, located in the heart of the Noordoostpolder. The municipality has the largest land area in the Netherlands. (Lelystad and Terschelling both technically have more total area, but in both cases it is mostly water area.)
Noordoostpolder
