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.
Provinces of the Netherlands
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The most populous province is South Holland, with over 3.5 million inhabitants in 2009. With approximately 381,000 inhabitants, Zeeland has the smallest population, in terms of area, Friesland is the largest province with a total area of 5,749 km2. If water is excluded, Gelderland is the largest province in terms of area at 4,972 km2, Utrecht is the smallest at 1,449 km2. In total about 13,000 people were employed by the administrations in 2009. The provinces of the Netherlands are joined in the Association of Provinces of the Netherlands and this organisation promotes the common interests of the provinces in the national government of the Netherlands in The Hague and within the EU in Brussels. The government of each province consists of three parts, The States-Provincial is the provincial parliament elected every four years. The number of members varies between 39 and 55, depending on the number of inhabitants of the province, being a member is a part-time job. The main task of the States-Provincial is to scrutinise the work of the provincial government, the Provincial Executive is a college elected from among the members of the States-Provincial and charged with most executive tasks. Each province has three and seven deputies, each having their own portfolio. The task of the Provincial Executive is the management of the province. The Kings Commissioner is a person appointed by the Crown who presides over the States-Provincial as well as over the Provincial Executive. The Commissioner is appointed for a term of six years, after which reappointment for another term is possible, the members of the States-Provincial are elected every four years in direct elections. To a large extent, the political parties are enlisted in these elections in the national elections. The chosen provincial legislators elect the members of the national Senate within three months after the provincial elections, the elections for the water boards take place on the same date as the provincial elections. The last three elections were held in 2007,2011 and in 2015. The provinces of the Netherlands have 7 core tasks, Sustainable spatial development, also, provinces have income from a part of the Vehicle Excise Duty. Several provinces have made a profit in the past from privatising utility companies originally owned or partly owned by the provinces. An example is Essent, which was owned by six provinces
4.
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
5.
Municipal council (Netherlands)
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In the Netherlands the municipal council is the elected assembly of the municipality. Its main role is laying down the guidelines for the policy of the council of mayor and aldermen and exercising control over its execution by the council of mayor and aldermen. The municipal councils range in size from nine to 45 seats, depending on the municipalitys population, in many municipalities all major political parties contest in the election in addition to local parties. All citizens and foreigners who live in the Netherlands for at least four years in a municipality have the right to vote, ministers and state secretaries in the national government are barred from standing in elections as well as mayors and civil servants employed by the municipality. After the elections the parties in the elect the aldermen. The municipal council is supported by its own civil service headed by the raadsgriffier, members of the council are not paid as full-time politicians, instead, most of them have day job. As in most legislatures, the members of municipal council work in political groups and policy area related committees. The mayor chairs the meetings of the council, some municipalities allow parties to have dual councillors, politicians who are not elected into the city council but are allowed to speak in committees
6.
Burgemeester
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In the Netherlands and Belgium, the mayor is an appointed government position, whose main responsibility is chairing the executive and legislative councils of a municipality. The title is translated in English as burgomaster. In the Netherlands, mayors chair both the council of mayor and aldermen and the municipal council and they are members of the council of mayor and aldermen and have their own portfolios, always including safety and public order. They also have a role for the municipal government, both to its civilians and to other authorities on the local, regional and national level. A large majority of mayors are members of a political party and this can be the majority party in the municipal council, but there are many exceptions on this. However, the mayors are expected to exercise their office in a non-partisan way, the mayor is appointed by the national government for a renewable six-year term. In the past, mayors for important cities were chosen after negotiations between the national parties. This appointment procedure has been criticised because it was seen by some as undemocratic, especially the party D66 had a direct election of the mayor as one of the main objectives in its platform. In the early 2000s, proposals for change were discussed in the national parliament, however, opponents of the status quo were divided between two alternatives, direct election of the mayor by the people or appointment by the municipal council. A constitutional change to direct election gained a majority in both chambers but failed to pass the vote in the Senate in March 2005. In the meantime, although the law remained the same, the practice changed, nowadays, when a vacancy occurs, a special committee of the municipal council interviews candidates, which are pre-selected by the provincial governor. After advice by the committee, the council express its preferences to the Minister of the Interior, who almost always follows this recommendation
7.
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
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The Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party, supports private enterprise, Mark Rutte has been the partys leader since 31 May 2006 and the Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 14 October 2010. Therefore, an election was held in September 2012. The VVD remained the largest party, with 41 seats, from November 2012 until March 2017, the VVD was the senior partner in the Second Rutte cabinet, a purple coalition government with the Labour Party. The VVD was founded in 1948 as a continuation of the Freedom Party, which was a continuation of the interbellum Liberal State Party and they were joined by the Comité-Oud, a group of liberal members of the Labour Party, led by Pieter Oud. The liberals within the Labour Party were primarily members of the pre-war social-liberal Free-thinking Democratic League and they were unhappy with the social-democratic orientation of the Labour Party. Between 1948 and 1952 the VVD took part in the cabinets led by the Labour Party Prime Minister Willem Drees. The party was a partner with only eight seats to the Catholic Peoples Party and Labour Party. The partys leadership was in the hands of the respected former Labour Party member Oud, the Drees cabinet laid the foundation for the welfare state and decolonization of the Dutch East Indies. In the Dutch general election of 1952 the VVD gained one seat and this time they gained nineteen seats and the party entered government alongside the Protestant Anti Revolutionary Party, Christian Historical Union CHU and the Roman Catholic KVP. In 1963, Oud left politics, and was succeeded by the minister of Home Affairs Edzo Toxopeus, with the lead of Toxopeus VVD lost three seats in the 1963 elections, but remained in government. In 1966, frustrated with their hopeless efforts, LDC-members departed the VVD altogether, in 1965, there also occurred a conflict between VVD-ministers and their counterparts from KVP and ARP in Cabinet Marijnen. The cabinet fell and without elections it was replaced by the KVP-ARP-Labour Party cabinet under Cals, in the following 1967 elections the VVD remained relatively stable and entered yet again the cabinet under Prime Minister Piet de Jong. During this period the VVD had loose ties with other liberal organisations and this included the liberal papers Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant and the Algemeen Handelsblad, the broadcaster AVRO and the employers organisation VNO. In the Dutch general election of 1971 the VVD lost one seat, a cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic parties, the VVD and the Labour Party offshoot Democratic Socialists 70. This cabinet fell after a few months, meanwhile, the charismatic young MP Hans Wiegel had attracted considerable attention. He became the new leader of the VVD, in 1971 he became the new Parliamentary group leader, with Wiegel the VVD oriented towards a new political course, reforming the welfare state, cutting taxes etc. Wiegel did not shrink from conflict with the Labour Party and the trade unions, with this new course came a new electorate, working class and middle-class voters, who because of individualization and depillarization were more easy to attract
8.
Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
9.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
10.
Central European Summer Time
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It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
11.
Sion, Netherlands
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Sion is a hamlet in the Dutch municipality of Rijswijk. It is located on the border with Delft, and has a population of about 210, in 1345, the monastery Sancta Maria in Monte Sion was built in this area. It was demolished on the orders of the city of Delft in 1572, when Spanish troops approached the city, and was never rebuilt. In the 17th century, an estate was built on the grounds of the former monastery, there are now plans to build a new residential area in Sion
12.
Huis ter Nieuwburg
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Huis ter Nieuwburg or Huis ter Nieuburch was a palace in Rijswijk, Holland, Dutch Republic. The symmetrical French Classicist building was designed by the Dutch architect Jacob van Campen together with Constantin Huygens. According to Slothouwer the designs were carried out by Arent vans Gravesande who was replaced by the French architect Simon de la Vallée in 1634, the palace was built between 1630 and 1636 for stadtholder Prince Frederick Henry. The palace with gardens was the house of the Princes of Orange for years. After the death of Prince William III in 1702, the palace was inherited by the Kings of Prussia, the gardens of the palace were formal French Renaissance gardens constructed in 1636. In front of the palace were trees and parterres enclosed by walls, behind the palace was a larger garden with four rectangular ponds. The building was demolished in 1790 after years of neglect, at present, the area is woodland known as the Rijswijkse Bos. The only reminders of the palace are two of the ponds and an obelisk, the Needle of Rijswijk, commemorating the peace treaty, in 1630, stadtholder Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange bought the old Huis ter Nieuwburg from Philibert Vernatti for ƒ30,000. The house was located in the Plaspolder, a polder in the village Rijswijk, between 1630 and 1632, the Prince of Orange bought more land and two houses in the area surrounding the house in order to build a new country house on the location of Vernattis old house. The project of the new Huis ter Nieuwburg was tendered in 1630, the first pavilions of the palace were finished in 1632 and its roof was completed in 1636. During his life, Prince Frederick Henry had built houses in the latest styles in architecture. It is probable that the French architect Simon de la Vallée had helped to carry out designs of this palace, the symmetrical building was designed in the architectural style of French Classicism. The plan of the building also reflects the new ideas from the villa buildings of Andrea Palladio who influenced architects like van Jacob van Campen, Pieter Post. The corps de logis with the chambers of the palace was positioned on the axis of symmetry. At the back of the corps de logis was a lodge looking out on the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft through a corridor along the axis in the garden. In this church is the mausoleum of his father William the Silent and the crypt where Prince Frederick Henrys parents, brother, both on the east and the west side of the corps de logis is a wing, perpendicular to the axis, with a pavilion at the end. The geometric Late Renaissance gardens and ponds were constructed by 1636 and they were carried out by André Mollet, son of the famous French garden architect Claude Mollet who served the French kings Henry IV and Louis XIII. In the four corners of the grounds that were articulated by these shady sections were four rectangular ponds
13.
Treaty of Ryswick
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The Treaty of Ryswick, or Ryswyck, was signed on 20 September 1697 and named after Ryswick in the Dutch Republic. The treaty settled the War of the League of Augsburg, which pitted France against the Grand Alliance of England, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the United Provinces. Under the terms of the treaty, France renounced some recent territorial gains, the French representatives had their headquarters at The Hague, and the allies were based in Delft, the conference taking place in between the two towns in the Huis ter Nieuwburg, Ryswick. Soon, Spain gave way, and on 20 September a treaty of peace was signed between France and the three powers, England, Spain and the United Provinces. William then persuaded Leopold to make peace, and a treaty between France and the Holy Roman Empire was signed on the following 30 October, the basis of the peace was that all towns and districts seized since the Treaty of Nijmegen should be restored. France surrendered Freiburg, Breisach, and Philippsburg to the Holy Roman Empire, on the other hand, France regained Pondichéry, as well as Acadia, and Spain recovered Catalonia and the barrier fortresses of Mons, Luxembourg, and Kortrijk. The War of the Grand Alliance also played out in North America, the French colonies of Acadia and Canada, along with their Native allies, fought the northern English colonies and their Native allies. Still, the Treaty of Ryswick returned the territorial borders to where they had been before the war, the Iroquois nation, deserted by the English allies, continued to make war on the French colonies until the Great Peace of Montreal of 1701. Needle of Rijswijk Peace of Basel 1795 — Hispaniola Barrier Treaty Treaty of Utrecht Treaty of Ryswick and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Treaty Of Ryswick. History of European Diplomacy, 1451–1789324 pages online pp 141-54, eccles, W. J. Canada Under Louis XIV
14.
Nine Years' War
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It was fought on the European continent and the surrounding seas, Ireland, and in North America. Louis XIV of France had emerged from the Franco-Dutch War in 1678 as the most powerful monarch in Europe, Louis XIVs decision to cross the Rhine in September 1688 was designed to extend his influence and pressure the Holy Roman Empire into accepting his territorial and dynastic claims. The main fighting took place around Frances borders, in the Spanish Netherlands, the Rhineland, Duchy of Savoy, the fighting generally favoured Louis XIVs armies, but by 1696 his country was in the grip of an economic crisis. The Maritime Powers were also exhausted, and when Savoy defected from the Alliance all parties were keen for a negotiated settlement. By the terms of the Treaty of Ryswick Louis XIV retained the whole of Alsace, Louis XIV also accepted William III as the rightful King of England, while the Dutch acquired their Barrier fortress system in the Spanish Netherlands to help secure their own borders. In the years following the Franco-Dutch War Louis XIV of France – now at the height of his powers – sought to impose religious unity in France, and to solidify and expand his frontiers. Louis XIV, along with his chief advisor Louvois, his foreign minister Colbert de Croissy, Vauban had advocated a system of impregnable fortresses along the frontier that would keep Frances enemies out. To construct a system, however, the King needed to acquire more land from his neighbours to form a solid forward line. The King grabbed the necessary territory through what is known as the Réunions, a strategy that combined legalism, arrogance, the Treaty of Nijmegen and the earlier Treaty of Westphalia provided Louis XIV with the justification for the Reunions. These treaties had awarded France territorial gains, but because of the vagaries of the language they were notoriously imprecise and self-contradictory, unsurprisingly, these courts usually found in Louis XIVs favour. By 1680 the disputed County of Montbéliard had been separated from the Duchy of Württemberg, the Chamber of Reunion of Metz soon laid claims to land around the Three Bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and most of the Spanish Duchy of Luxembourg. The fortress of Luxembourg itself was blockaded with the intention of it becoming part of Louis XIVs defensible frontier. By forcibly taking the Imperial city the French now controlled two of the three bridgeheads over the Rhine, on the same day that Strasbourg fell French forces marched into Casale in northern Italy. Thus, the Reunions were carving territory from the frontiers of Germany, since Leopold Is intervention in the Franco-Dutch War Louis XIV had considered the Emperor his most dangerous enemy, yet the French king had little reason to fear him. Leopold I was weak in Germany, and was in danger along his Hungarian borders where the Ottoman Turks were threatening to overrun all central Europe from the south. Louis had encouraged and assisted the Ottoman drive against Leopold Is Habsburg lands, when the Turks besieged Vienna in the spring of 1683 Louis did nothing to help the defenders. Taking advantage of the Ottoman threat in the east Louis XIV invaded the Spanish Netherlands on 1 September 1683 and renewed the siege of Luxembourg, spains military options were highly limited, yet the Ottoman defeat before Vienna on 12 September had emboldened them. In the hope that Leopold I would now make peace in the east and come to their assistance, however, the Emperor had decided to continue the Turkish war in the Balkans and, for the time being, compromise in the west
15.
Needle of Rijswijk
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The Needle of Ryswick or Rijswijk is an obelisk in Rijswijk, the Netherlands, commemorating the Treaty of Ryswick. The monument is at the location of the Huis ter Nieuwburg and it was built of materials from Huis ter Nieuwburg in 1792 to 1794. The palace was demolished in 1790 due to neglect, the Needle of Rijswijk at the municipal website
16.
Leidschenveen-Ypenburg
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Leidschenveen-Ypenburg is a Vinex-location in and district of The Hague, located in the southeast. It is geographically connected to the body of the city by only a narrow corridor. It consists of four quarters, Hoornwijk and Ypenburg on the southwest of the A12 motorway and parallel railway to Utrecht, since 2005 the district has its own railway station, Den Haag Ypenburg, situated on the Gouda–Den Haag railway. Two highway nodes are located in the district, Knooppunt Ypenburg, until 1992 Ypenburg was a military airfield known as Ypenburg Airport. It was the site of the Battle for The Hague on 10 May 1940, german forces attempted to capture the airfield via an airborne landing. This failed however and Dutch forces recaptured the airfield, after the Netherlands eventually surrendered to Germany, the Luftwaffe made no use of the airfield during the remainder of the war. Very little remains of the airport today, the air traffic control tower being a notable exception. After the war the field remained a civilian airport until 1955, after 1968, operations decreased significantly, the Air Base was used mainly as a VIP airport for politicians and the royal family. In 1982 it was decided to close the Air Base, in 1997 the new residential area was constructed on the site of the airport. Initially, Leidschenveen belonged to the municipality Leidschendam, whereas Ypenburg fell under Nootdorp and these parts were annexed by The Hague in 2002. Webportal Webportal for Ypenburg Webportal for Leidschenveen
17.
Haaglanden
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Parts of this article have been translated from the Dutch version of this page Haaglanden is the conurbation surrounding The Hague in the Netherlands. The citys position as the seat of government makes the region prominent in the Netherlands. Located on the west coast of the province of South Holland, the region has a population of 1,050,543 as of September 2013, Haaglanden is an official term referring to an urban region literally called Haaglanden Urban Region. The official website of Haaglanden uses the English translation The Hague Region, another translation would be the Greater Hague Area. The term is sometimes used to refer to the conurbation of The Hague in a general, informal sense. This area is treated as a single unit for organisational or statistical purposes. Haaglanden is part of the larger Rotterdam The Hague Metropolitan Area, Haaglanden consists of the nine municipalities of The Hague, Zoetermeer, Westland, Delft, Leidschendam-Voorburg, Pijnacker-Nootdorp, Rijswijk, Wassenaar and Midden-Delfland. The Hague conurbation and the Rotterdam conurbation to the east have grown to the point where they are almost contiguous and they are effectively a single urban area, even though they have separate governments, transport systems, etc. The Hague and Rotterdam share the Rotterdam The Hague Airport and a rail system called RandstadRail. Consideration is being given to creating an official Metropolitan region Rotterdam The Hague, Haaglanden is bordered to the north by the Leiden conurbation, which has a population of about a quarter million. These two areas, much like The Hague and Rotterdam, have grown together to the point where they are virtually contiguous. Haaglanden is part of the wing of the Randstad, which also includes the conurbations surrounding Amsterdam. This conurbation is one of the most important economic and densely populated areas in the north-west of Europe, the Hague List of tallest buildings in Haaglanden Stadsgewest Haaglanden
18.
The Hague University of Applied Sciences
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The city is the Dutch seat of government and home to many major international legal, security and peace institutions. Since the university was founded in 1987 it has expanded to four campuses in the cities of The Hague, Delft. The main campus in The Hague is located behind The Hague Hollands Spoor railway station by the Laakhaven Canal, the institution is made up of 14 academies. Bachelor’s degrees are the core business with 42 full-time undergraduate degrees,21 part-time and 10 dual bachelors courses. The university also offers nine masters degrees and currently teaches around 23,400 students, the Hague University of Applied Sciences is known for the international characteristic of its student population with around 146 nationalities represented on campus. It operates partnerships with companies, public bodies and other organisations in the Haaglanden region, the university also offers English proficiency training through its English Language Preparatory School, work placements and international exchanges as part of its international remit. Research activity is high with a range of postgraduate and continuing education courses. The Hague University of Applied Sciences was formed as the result of a merger of 14 smaller institutions of higher education on 1 September 1987. Technische Hogeschool Rijswijk later merged with the institution in 2003 and was relocated to the Delft campus in 2009, the main campus in The Hague was finished in 1996. The 82,000 square metre site was designed by architects Atelier Pro, the campus is designed with several teaching wings with classrooms and laboratories spanning out from an oval shape atrium. The Hague University of Applied Sciences is divided into four campuses, the main campus is located in The Hague with satellite campuses in Delft, Laan van Poot and Zoetermeer. A new sports orientated campus, Zuiderpark Sports Campus, is scheduled to open in 2016 on the site of ADO Den Haag football stadium in The Hague. The main campus building was completed in 1996 and is located on Johanna Westerdijkplein in The Hague next to Hollands Spoor railway station, the design includes the central glass atrium main hall, offices, laboratories and classrooms. The Central Library stores magazines, dissertations and electronic resources and has 400 study areas, many with PCs. The Hague University of Applied Sciences’ building on the Delft University of Technology campus opened in 2009, the Laan van Poot Campus, home of the Sport Studies Academy, is located in the Vogelwijk district of The Hague known for its access to North Sea beaches and sand dunes. Two bachelors degrees are taught here including the Physical Education Teacher Training Programme, a new sports and education complex, the Zuiderpark Sports Campus, is scheduled to open in 2016 at Zuiderpark on the site of the old ADO Den Haag football stadium. The complex is a joint venture between The Hague University of Applied Sciences, the municipality of The Hague and Vestia housing association, the complex will also include a sports hall, gymnasia, a ballroom and beach volleyball facilities. In 2013 the faculty moved to the Dutch Innovation Factory, which is part of the Dutch Tech Campus, three bachelors degrees are taught here in Dutch, Computer Science, Business IT and Management and Information Security Management
19.
Delft
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Delft is a city and a municipality in the Netherlands. It is located in the province of South Holland, to the north of Rotterdam, the city of Delft came into being aside a canal, the Delf, which comes from the word delven, meaning delving or digging, and led to the name Delft. It presumably started around the 11th century as a landlord court, from a rural village in the early Middle Ages, Delft developed to a city, that in the 13th century received its charter. The towns association with the House of Orange started when William of Orange, nicknamed William the Silent, at the time he was the leader of growing national Dutch resistance against Spanish occupation, known as the Eighty Years War. By then Delft was one of the cities of Holland. An attack by Spanish forces in October of that year was repelled, after the Act of Abjuration was proclaimed in 1581, Delft became the de facto capital of the newly independent Netherlands, as the seat of the Prince of Orange. When William was shot dead in 1584, by Balthazar Gerards in the hall of the Prinsenhof, therefore, he was buried in the Delft Nieuwe Kerk, starting a tradition for the House of Orange that has continued to the present day. The Delft Explosion, also known in history as the Delft Thunderclap, occurred on 12 October 1654 when a gunpowder store exploded, over a hundred people were killed and thousands were wounded. About 30 tonnes of gunpowder were stored in barrels in a magazine in a former Clarissen convent in the Doelenkwartier district, cornelis Soetens, the keeper of the magazine, opened the store to check a sample of the powder and a huge explosion followed. Luckily, many citizens were away, visiting a market in Schiedam or a fair in The Hague, Delft artist Egbert van der Poel painted several pictures of Delft showing the devastation. Historical buildings and other sights of interest include, Oude Kerk, buried here, Piet Hein, Johannes Vermeer, Anthony van Leeuwenhoek. Nieuwe Kerk, constructed between 1381 and 1496 and it contains the Dutch royal familys burial vault, which between funerals is sealed with a 5,000 kg cover stone. A statue of Hugo Grotius made by Franciscus Leonardus Stracké in 1886 and this is the only remaining gate of the old city walls. The Gemeenlandshuis Delfland, or Huyterhuis, built in 1505, which has housed the Delfland regional water authority since 1645, the Vermeer Centre in the rebuilt Guild house of St. Luke. Windmill De Roos, a mill built c.1760. Restored to working order in 2013, another windmill that formerly stood in Delft, Het Fortuyn, was dismantled in 1917 and re-erected at the Netherlands Open Air Museum, Arnhem, Gelderland in 1920. Delft is well known for the Delft pottery ceramic products which were styled on the imported Chinese porcelain of the 17th century, the city had an early start in this area since it was a home port of the Dutch East India Company. It can still be seen at the pottery factories De Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles, the painter Johannes Vermeer was born in Delft
20.
Rijswijk railway station
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Rijswijk is a railway station located in Rijswijk in the suburbs of The Hague, Netherlands. The station was opened on 3 June 1847 and is located on the Amsterdam–Rotterdam railway and it was later enlarged, and then closed in 1938. In 1965 it opened in a different location, the station has been in a tunnel since 1996, with four tracks and four platforms
21.
Biomedical Primate Research Centre
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The Biomedical Primate Research Centre is Europes largest primate animal testing research centre. It is a research institute that performs research that contributes to the identification. It is located in Rijswijk, and employs about 110 people, the BPRC is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Before it became an independent foundation on December 7,1994, the main research areas are Immunobiology, Parasitology, Virology, Ethology and Alternatives for Animal Research. The BPRC houses rhesus macaques and marmosets to be used in research involving AIDS, malaria, hepatitis, tuberculosis. In 2002 the Dutch government forbade any further testing on chimpanzees, in 2015, BPRC was reported to use about 200 monkeys a year for experiments. Protestors gather regularly in front of the BPRC gates and there are calls in the Dutch parliament to close the centre
22.
European Patent Office
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The European Patent Office is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation, the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the Organisation while the Administrative Council acts as its body as well as, to a limited extent. The actual legislative power to revise the European Patent Convention lies with the Contracting States themselves when meeting at a Conference of the Contracting States. Within the European Patent Office, examiners are in charge of studying European patent applications, filed by applicants, the patents granted by the European Patent Office are called European patents. The European Patent Office grants European patents for the Contracting States to the European Patent Convention, the EPO provides a single patent grant procedure, but not a single patent from the point of view of enforcement. Hence the patents granted are not European Union patents or even Europe-wide patents, the European Patent Office is not a legal entity as such, but an organ of the European Patent Organisation, which has a legal personality. The EPO headquarters are located in Munich, Germany, the EPO also has a branch in The Hague, Netherlands, sub-offices in Berlin, Germany, and Vienna, Austria, and a liaison bureau in Brussels, Belgium. At the end of 2009, the European Patent Office had a staff of 6818, the predecessor of the European Patent Office was the Institut International des Brevets or IIB. The premises of the European Patent Office enjoy a form of extraterritoriality, the authorities of the States in which the Organisation has its premises are not authorized to enter those premises, except with the consent of the President of the European Patent Office. Such consent is assumed in case of fire or other disaster requiring prompt protective action. The European Patent Office is directed by a president, who is responsible for its activities to the Administrative Council, the president also represents the European Patent Organisation. The president has therefore a dual role, representative of the European Patent Organisation, the President of the European Patent Office is appointed by the Administrative Council. A majority of three-quarters of the votes of the Contracting States represented, Patent applications may be filed in any language provided that a translation into one of the official languages is submitted within two months. The official language that the application is filed in or translated into is taken to be the language of the proceedings, documentary evidence may also be submitted in any language, although the EPO may require a translation. Many EPO fees are reduced by 20% for people who file patent application or other documents in an admissible non-EPO language, the European Patent Office does not make decisions on infringement matters. National courts have jurisdiction over infringement matters regarding European patents, according to Sir Robin Jacob, the members of the EPO Boards of Appeal are judges in all but name. The European Patent Office does not grant international patents, as such patents do not exist, after 30 months an international application must be converted into national or regional patent applications, and then are subject to national/regional grant procedures. As Supplementary International Searching Authority, the European Patent Office has announced that it will no more than 700 supplementary international searches per year
23.
Royal Dutch Shell
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Royal Dutch Shell plc, commonly known as Shell, is a British–Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in the Netherlands and incorporated in the United Kingdom. It is one of the six oil and gas supermajors and the sixth-largest company in the world measured by 2016 revenues. Shell was first in the 2013 Fortune Global 500 list of the worlds largest companies and it also has renewable energy activities in the form of biofuels and wind. Shell has operations in over 70 countries, produces around 3.7 million barrels of oil equivalent per day and has 44,000 service stations worldwide, as of 31 December 2014, Shell had total proved reserves of 13.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Shell Oil Company, its subsidiary in the United States, is one of its largest businesses. Shell holds 50% of Raízen, a joint venture with Cosan, which is the third-largest Brazil-based energy company by revenues, Shell was formed in 1907 through the amalgamation of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company of the Netherlands and the Shell Transport and Trading Company of the United Kingdom. Shell first entered the industry in 1929. In 1970 Shell acquired the mining company Billiton, which it sold in 1994. In recent decades gas exploration and production has become an important part of Shells business. Shell acquired BG Group in 2016, making it the worlds largest producer of liquefied natural gas, Shell has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE100 Index. It has secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New York Stock Exchange, as of January 2013, Shells largest shareholder was Capital Research Global Investors with 9. 85% ahead of BlackRock in second with 6. 89%. Shells logo, known as the pecten, is one of the most familiar commercial symbols in the world and it was a move largely driven by the need to compete globally with Standard Oil. The Shell Transport and Trading Company was a British company, founded in 1897 by Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted, and his brother Samuel Samuel. Their father had owned a company in Houndsditch, London. For various reasons, the new firm operated as a company, whereby the merging companies maintained their legal existence. The terms of the merger gave 60 percent ownership of the new group to the Dutch arm and 40 percent to the British, national patriotic sensibilities would not permit a full-scale merger or takeover of either of the two companies. The Dutch company, Koninklijke Nederlandsche Petroleum Maatschappij at The Hague, was in charge of production, the British Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company was based in London, to direct the transport and storage of the products. During the First World War, Shell was the supplier of fuel to the British Expeditionary Force
24.
Forensic science
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Forensic scientists collect, preserve, and analyze scientific evidence during the course of an investigation. In addition to their role, forensic scientists testify as expert witnesses in both criminal and civil cases and can work for either the prosecution or the defense. While any field could technically be forensic, certain sections have developed over time to encompass the majority of forensically related cases, the word forensic comes from the Latin term forensis, meaning of or before the forum. The history of the term originates from Roman times, during which a charge meant presenting the case before a group of public individuals in the forum. Both the person accused of the crime and the accuser would give speeches based on their sides of the story, the case would be decided in favor of the individual with the best argument and delivery. This origin is the source of the two usages of the word forensic – as a form of legal evidence and as a category of public presentation. In modern use, the term forensics in the place of science can be considered correct. However, the term is now so closely associated with the field that many dictionaries include the meaning that equates the word forensics with forensic science. The ancient world lacked standardized forensic practices, which aided criminals in escaping punishment, Criminal investigations and trials heavily relied on forced confessions and witness testimony. However, ancient sources do contain several accounts of techniques that foreshadow concepts in science that were developed centuries later. The first written account of using medicine and entomology to solve criminal cases is attributed to the book of Xi Yuan Lu, written in China by Song Ci in 1248, during the Song Dynasty. In one of the accounts, the case of a person murdered with a sickle was solved by an investigator who instructed everyone to bring his sickle to one location, flies, attracted by the smell of blood, eventually gathered on a single sickle. In light of this, the murderer confessed, methods from around the world involved saliva and examination of the mouth and tongue to determine innocence or guilt, as a precursor to the Polygraph test. In ancient India, some suspects were made to fill their mouths with dried rice, similarly, in Ancient China, those accused of a crime would have rice powder placed in their mouths. In ancient middle-eastern cultures, the accused were made to lick hot metal rods briefly, in 16th-century Europe, medical practitioners in army and university settings began to gather information on the cause and manner of death. Ambroise Paré, a French army surgeon, systematically studied the effects of violent death on internal organs, two Italian surgeons, Fortunato Fidelis and Paolo Zacchia, laid the foundation of modern pathology by studying changes that occurred in the structure of the body as the result of disease. In the late 18th century, writings on these began to appear. Two examples of English forensic science in individual legal proceedings demonstrate the use of logic
25.
Park
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A park is an area of natural, semi-natural, or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of areas, rocks, soil, and trees. In North America, many parks have fields for playing such as soccer, baseball and football. Many parks have trails for walking, biking and other activities, some parks are built adjacent to bodies of water or watercourses and may comprise a beach or boat dock area. Often, the smallest parks are in areas, where a park may take up only a city block or less. Urban parks often have benches for sitting and may contain picnic tables, the largest parks can be vast natural areas of hundreds of thousands of square kilometres, with abundant wildlife and natural features such as mountains and rivers. In many large parks, camping in tents is allowed with a permit, many natural parks are protected by law, and users may have to follow restrictions. Large national and sub-national parks are typically overseen by a ranger or a park warden. Large parks may have areas for canoeing and hiking in the months and, in some northern hemisphere countries. The first parks were English deer parks, land set aside for hunting by royalty and they had walls or thick hedges around them to keep game animals in and people out. It was strictly forbidden for commoners to hunt animals in these deer parks and these game preserves evolved into landscaped parks set around mansions and country houses from the sixteenth century onwards. These may have served as hunting grounds but they also proclaimed the owners wealth, an aesthetic of landscape design began in these stately home parks where the natural landscape was enhanced by landscape architects such as Capability Brown. As cities became crowded, the hunting grounds became places for the public. With the Industrial revolution parks took on a new meaning as areas set aside to preserve a sense of nature in the cities, sporting activity came to be a major use for these urban parks. Areas of outstanding natural beauty were also set aside as national parks to prevent their being spoiled by uncontrolled development, in some parks or time periods with high pollen counts, parks tend to be avoided. Park design is influenced by the purpose and audience, as well as by the available land features. A park intended to provide recreation for children may include a playground, a park primarily intended for adults may feature walking paths and decorative landscaping. Specific features, such as riding trails, may be included to support specific activities, the design of a park may determine who is willing to use it
26.
De Broodfabriek
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De Broodfabriek is an exhibition and convention center in the Dutch city of Rijswijk. In later years it become known as a venue for many such as the Gothic & Fantasy Beurs which is held there since 2003. The exhibition part of the later became known as Expo Rijswijk. The current name refers to the previous use as a bread factory of Meneba. The Darling Market was discontinued in 2010
27.
Adriaen van der Cabel
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Adriaen van der Cabel or Ary van der Touw, was a Dutch Golden Age landscape painter active in France and Italy. He was born and grew up in the town of Rijswijk. Cabel was also known as Ary, according to Houbraken, he was a student of Jan van Goyen, and his real name was van der Touw, but that wasnt grand enough according to Van Goyen, so he changed it to mean of Cable. Houbraken wrote that his brother Engel was also a painter, Cabel moved to Lyon as a young man and spent the rest of his life there. According to the RKD, he lived in Lyon from 1655-1658, then Rome from 1659–1666 and his work is sometimes confused with that of his brother Engel van der Cabel, also known as Ange or Angelo. Engel accompanied his brother on his travels and they married on the same day. Cabel at Artnet Cabel at RKD This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Wood, James. London and New York, Frederick Warne
28.
Teddy Scholten
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Dorothea Margaretha Teddy Scholten was a Dutch singer from Rijswijk, close to The Hague, Netherlands. In 1950, she was invited by the Coca-Cola company to perform at a show in the United States and she was one of the first Dutch popular music artists to perform in the United States. In 1959, she won the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 for the Netherlands singing n Beetje, with music composed by Dick Schallies, with her husband, Henk Scholten, she recorded several albums, many of them containing songs for children. In the 1950s and 1960s she appeared in television shows in The Netherlands. In 1965 and 1966, she presented the National Song Festival, Teddy Scholten died on 8 April 2010, aged 83
29.
Eurovision Song Contest 1959
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1959 was the fourth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on Wednesday 11 March 1959 in Cannes, France, the contest was won by the Netherlands with the song Een beetje, performed by Teddy Scholten. This was their second and the first time a country had won the contest twice, willy van Hemert was also the lyricist of Net als toen, which won the Eurovision Song Contest 1957. Van Hemert was the first person to win the Eurovision Song Contest twice, the original building was built in 1949 and was located on the boulevard of Promenade de la Croisette, on the present site of the JW Marriott Cannes. A new rule was created for this Eurovision, ensuring that no professional publishers or composers were allowed in the national juries, Italy gave one point to France, no points to the UK and seven points to the Netherlands placing them just three points ahead of the UK. Something that occurred this year, but never again, was more than the winning entry was performed once again. The second and third placed songs, United Kingdom and France, were allowed to sing again at the end of the show, together with eventual winner, luxembourg withdrew from the contest for the first time. The United Kingdom returned after missing the previous contest and finished second for the first time, the UK would have 15 second-place finishes in the countrys history in the contest. Monaco made its debut in the contest, but came last, each performance had a conductor who maestro the orchestra. Birthe Wilke for Denmark, and Domenico Modugno for Italy, the table above shows the order in which votes were cast during the 1959 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country. Each national broadcaster sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. Details of the commentators and the station for which they represented are also included in the table below
30.
Felix Thijssen
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Felix Thijssen is a Dutch author of crime novels, science fiction novels and books for children. In 1999 he won the Gouden Strop, prize for the best Dutch crime novel, in 2006 he won the Diamanten Kogel, Belgian prize for the best crime novel, for Het diepe water. Felixthijssen. com Site dedicated to Felix Thijssen
31.
Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer
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Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer is a Dutch poet, novelist, polemicist and classical scholar. He was born in Rijswijk, Netherlands, and studied, lived and worked in Leiden, ilja Leonard Pfeijffer was born on 17 January 1968 in Rijswijk in the Netherlands. He made his début in 1998 with a collection entitled Of the Square Man and this debut won him the 1999 C. As well as a poet, Pfeijffer was for some time a Greek scholar on the staff of Leiden University and he wrote a dissertation on the poetry of Pindar and published a history of classical literature for the general reader. Pfeijffers poetic polemics leave no room for doubt as to what kind of poetry he prefers and he feels akin to Lucebert, and he abhors the paper verse of introverted hermetics and meek-hearted dreamers. Poetry should have life, and preferably, in Lucebert’s words and he not only writes about the political martyr Ken Saro Wiwa, but also about C&A sweaters and Fiat Croma, barcodes, canned beer, butt-tight and garamond ten-point italic. Elegieën,2002 In de naam van de hond, De grote gedichten,2005 De man van vele manieren. Verzamelde gedichten 1998–2008 Idyllen,2015 Giro Giro Tondo, een obsessie,2015 De antieken, Een bekentenis,2002 Het geheim van het vermoorde geneuzel,2003 Het grote baggerboek,2004 Het ware leven. Een roman,2006 De eeuw van mijn dochter,2007 Second Life, verhalen en reportages uit een tweede leven,2007 Malpensa,2008 De filosofie van de heuvel. Op de fiets naar Rome,2009 Harde feiten. L, Pfeijffer at the Koninklijke Bibliotheek en wat het dan betekent/and what it means Een Corinthische ode/A Corinthian ode
32.
Anish Giri
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Anish Kumar Giri is a Russian-born Dutch Grandmaster and former chess prodigy. He achieved the title at the age of 14 years and 7 months. Giri is a four-time Dutch Chess Champion and won the Corus Chess B Group in 2010 and he has represented the Netherlands at four Chess Olympiads. He also won at the 2012 Reggio Emilia tournament, Giri was born in St Petersburg on 28 June 1994 to Nepalese father and a Russian mother. In 2002, he moved to Sapporo, Japan, with his parents, since February 2008, Giri and his family have been living in Rijswijk, Netherlands, where his father works at a research and consulting foundation. He has two sisters, Natasha and Ayusha, in June 2013, Giri finished high school at Grotius College in Delft. His favorite subjects included physics, mathematics, geography and history and he married Sopiko Guramishvili on 18 July 2015. On October 3,2016, while Anish was playing the Tal Memorial, giris first club was a local youth sport club DYUSH-2 in St. Petersburg, Russia. His trainers in this club were Asya Kovalyova and Andrei Praslov and he was a member of the Japan Chess Association and the Sapporo Chess Club during his stay in Japan. Giri developed quickly as a junior, his rating increasing rapidly between April 2006 and July 2010 from 2114 to 2672. Giri shared first place in the Russian Higher League Under-14s Boys Championship scoring 6. 5/9, winning the St Petersburg Boys Under 16s, the next year saw him share first at the Blokadny St Petersburg Open and win the Petrograd Winter Open scoring 8. 5/9. 5/9. Giris first appearance at a tournament came in his shared second place at Corus Chess Group C in January 2009 giving him his third GM norm. He also shared second at the Dutch Open, won the Dutch Championship and his performance in the previous years Corus Chess Group C earned him a spot in Group B in 2010. He won the tournament with a score of 9/13, half a point ahead of Arkadij Naiditsch, despite a disappointing result in the European Individual Championships, he drew a match with Nigel Short and won the Sigeman & Co tournament scoring 4. It was revealed in May 2010 that Giri had aided Viswanathan Anand in preparation for the World Chess Championship 2010 against challenger Veselin Topalov, Anand won the match 6. 5-5.5 to retain the title. At his debut appearance at Tata Steel in 2011 he scored 6. 5/13 and he also became Dutch champion for the second time and shared first place at Sigeman & Co with Wesley So and Hans Tikkanen. Despite being the lowest ranked player, Giri won the 2012 Reggio Emilia chess tournament, claimed his third Dutch championship and his solid improvement continued with fourth place at the Reykjavik Open and a match victory against Vassily Ivanchuk at Leon in 2013. Giri took part in both the 2012/13 and 2014/15 FIDE Grand Prix cycles, but failed to qualify to the Candidates Tournament on both occasions, giris current coach is Vladimir Tukmakov
33.
Statistics Netherlands
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Statistics Netherlands, founded in 1899, is a Dutch governmental institution that gathers statistical information about the Netherlands. In Dutch it is known as the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek and it is a department of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and is located in The Hague and Heerlen. Since 3 January 2004, Statistics Netherlands has been a self-standing organisation and this independent commission must guard the impartiality, independence, quality, relevance, and continuity of the CBS, according to the Law on the CBS of 1996. The CBS has offices in Den Haag and Heerlen, the main office is located in Den Haag. The office in Heerlen was located there by the government in 1973 to compensate the area for the loss of ten of thousands of jobs because of closing the coalmines, the office in The Hague with the name Double U was designed by Branimir Medić and Pero Puljiz. It has a surface of 33,191 m2 and the total cost was €41,000,000, the office in Heerlen was designed by Meyer en Van Schooten Architects in 2009. The office has a surface of 22,000 m2 and parking spaces for 296 cars, glass was used everywhere in the building. The main hall has a roof and the outside walls are fully glass. The several straight staircases in the hall have glass balustrades with a RVS handrail and were manufactured by EeStairs. Queen Beatrix from The Netherlands officially opened the building the 30th of September 2009
34.
Leidschendam-Voorburg
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Leidschendam-Voorburg is a municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality had a population of 73,543 in 2014, the municipality of Leidschendam-Voorburg is the result of merging the municipalities Leidschendam and Voorburg in 2002. It consists of the twin cities Leidschendam and Voorburg, the village Stompwijk, Leidschendam-Voorburg abuts the city of The Hague and is often regarded as its suburb, even though it is an independent municipality. It is part of the Haaglanden conurbation, Stompwijk is still a rural village, located a few kilometres northeast of Leidschendam. Leidschendam-Voorburg is twinned with, Hranice, Czech Republic, Konstancin-Jeziorna, Poland Temecula, California, several railway stations are located within the municipality, providing links with all major cities in the Randstad. The main trainstation is Voorburg on The Hague - Utrecht line, there are a number of stations on the Rotterdam-Amsterdam line on the border of The Hague and Voorburg, including Den Haag Mariahoeve and Den Haag Laan van NOI. Leidschendam-Voorburg has several stations on the RandstadRail lines, RandstadRail is a light rail project connecting the cities of The Hague, Rotterdam and Zoetermeer. These lines use the train routes, which are now converted for use by light rail vehicles. Main RandstadRail stations in Leidschendam-Voorburg are Voorburg t Loo and Leidschendam-Voorburg, there are two major bus services running through this municipality. Several tram trajectories through Leidschendam-Voorburg - run by HTM - connect various parts of the city with each other, Leidschendam-Voorburg is connected to the A4 and A12 motorways. The N14 road, which connects the A4 at Leidschendam to the N44 road at Wassenaar runs through a series of tunnels in the city
35.
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
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Midden-Delfland
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Midden-Delfland is a municipality in the Westland region in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. It had a population of 18,514 in 2014, and it was formed on January 1,2004, through the merger of the former municipalities, Maasland, covered an area of 24.42 km2 of which 0.6 km2 water. Schipluiden, covered an area of 30.00 km2 of which 0.39 km2 water, the municipality comprises the population centres Hodenpijl, Den Hoorn, Gaag, Maasland, Negenhuizen, Schipluiden, t Woudt, Zouteveen, and Zweth. Now, Midden-Delfland is designated as an area for people from the surrounding cities
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Alblasserdam
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Alblasserdam is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It covers an area of 10.06 km2, of which 1.27 km2 is water, Alblasserdam is officially a part of the Drechtsteden region. A portion of the village of Kinderdijk, which boasts the largest and most famous concentration of windmills in the Netherlands, is part of Alblasserdam. The name Alblasserdam is derived from its location near the creek Alblas where a dam was built, inhabitants of Alblasserdam are called Alblasserdammers. The town of Alblasserdam was first mentioned in the chronicles of Melis Stoke in 1299, before that, it was part of Oud-Alblas. Because of its location on the Noord river, one of the busiest waterways in Western Europe, the river was important for its development and makes it an advantageous location for industry. Alblasserdams strategic location also brought it negative consequences, for example, between 1350 and 1821, the Alblasserwaard polder flooded 32 times. During World War I, mayor Simon Berman and the government of Alblasserdam kept busy with 60 Belgian refugees within the municipal boundaries. An ad-hoc municipal fund for the unemployed was established, Alblasserdam suffered during the German raid on Rotterdam on May 11,1940, when its town centre was severely damaged. The historic Kerkstraat and the characteristic dike construction along the river, however, were spared, the North Sea flood of 1953 also affected a portion of Alblasserdam. The Delta Works program included reinforcements to the dikes and improvement of the locks, therefore, water no longer poses a direct danger to Alblasserdam. In 1999 the town celebrated its 700th anniversary, bert Blase served as mayor from 1999 to 2014, when he was appointed as mayor of Vlaardingen. Subsequently, the mayor of Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, Jan Heijkoop, also acted as mayor Alblasserdam, on July 1,2015 Jaap Paas became mayor of Alblasserdam. Waterbus route 1, Rotterdam Willemskade - Krimpen aan den IJssel Stormpolder - Ridderkerk De Schans - Alblasserdam Kade - Dordrecht Merwekade, sereď, Slovak Republic Media related to Alblasserdam at Wikimedia Commons Official website
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listen) (formerly known as Ryswick in English) is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Its population was 51,742} in 2017), and it has an area of 14.49 km2 (5.59 sq mi), 0.44 km2 (0.17 sq mi) of which is water.
Rijswijk
