1.
Netherlands
–
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.
South Holland
–
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
3.
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
–
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
4.
Nine Years' War
–
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
5.
The Hague University of Applied Sciences
–
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
6.
Delft
–
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
.svg)
.svg)
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
