1.
Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
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Wilhelmina was Queen of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. Wilhelmina was the child of King William III and his second wife Emma of Waldeck. She became heir presumptive to the Dutch throne, after her brother and great uncle had died. She became queen when her died, when she was 10 years old. As she was still a minor, her mother served as regent until Wilhelmina became 18 years old, in 1901, she married Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin with whom she had a daughter Juliana. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World War I and World War II, the crisis of 1933. Outside the Netherlands she is remembered for her role in World War II. Princess Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, was born on 31 August 1880 in The Hague and she was the only child of King William III and his second wife, Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont. Her childhood was characterised by a relationship with her parents, especially with her father. King William III had three sons with his first wife, Sophie of Württemberg, when Prince Frederick died a year later in 1881, she became second in line. When Wilhelmina was four, Alexander died and the girl became heir presumptive. King William III died on 23 November 1890, although 10-year-old Wilhelmina became queen of the Netherlands instantly, her mother, Emma, was named regent. In 1895, Queen Wilhelmina visited Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, still has her hair hanging loose. She is slender and graceful, and makes an impression as a very intelligent and she speaks good English and knows how to behave with charming manners. Wilhelmina was enthroned on 6 September 1898, on 7 February 1901 in The Hague, she married Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Nine months later, on 9 November, Wilhelmina suffered a miscarriage and her next pregnancy ended in another miscarriage on 23 July 1906. The birth of Juliana, on 30 April 1909, was met with great relief after eight years of childless marriage, Wilhelmina suffered two further miscarriages on 23 January and 20 October 1912
2.
Harderwijk
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Harderwijk is a municipality and a city almost at the exact geographical center of the Netherlands. Harderwijk Hierden Harderwijk received city rights from Count Otto II of Guelders in 1231, a defensive wall surrounding the city was completed by the end of that century. The oldest part of the city is near where the streets Hoogstraat, around 1315 the city was expanded southwards, which included the construction of what is now called the Grote Kerk. A second, northward expansion took place around 1425, particularly along the west side of town much of the wall still exists, although often not in entirely original form. This also goes for the remaining city gate, the Vischpoort. Between 1648 and 1811 the University of Harderwijk operated in the city, the Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist, Carl Linnaeus graduated at this university. The university, together with the universities of Zutphen and Franeker, was abolished by Napoleon, Harderwijk was a member of the Hanseatic League. It lies on what used to be the Zuiderzee shore and consequently its economy was based on fishing and seafaring in general. This dramatically changed after 1932, when the Zuiderzee was cut off from the North Sea for safety reasons, because of this, few fishing boats remain in the harbour these days, which is now mainly home to yachts. An annual event illustrating the former importantance of the industry to Harderwijk is Aaltjesdag. Fish can still be bought at stands and restaurants on the boulevard throughout the year except for the winter months, tourists are common customers, while local people no longer make their living from the fisheries. Today, Harderwijk is probably known best for the Dolfinarium Harderwijk, Harderwijk is on the western boundary of the Veluwe region and the southeastern half of the municipality consists largely of forests. Media related to Harderwijk at Wikimedia Commons Official website
3.
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
4.
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
5.
Zwolle
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Zwolle is the capital city and municipality of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. It has a population around 125,000, archaeological findings indicate that the area surrounding Zwolle has been inhabited for a long time. A woodhenge that was found in the Zwolle-Zuid suburb in 1993 was dated to the Bronze Age period, during the Roman era, the area was inhabited by Salian Franks. The modern city was founded around 800 CE by Frisian merchants, the name Zwolle is derived from the word Suolle, which means hill. This refers to an incline in the landscape between the four rivers surrounding the city, IJssel, Vecht, Aa and Zwarte Water, the hill was the only piece of land that would remain dry during the frequent floodings of the rivers. Zwolle was established on that incline, a document mentions the existence of a parish church dedicated to St Michael. That church, the Grote or Sint Michaëlskerk, was renovated in the first half of the 15th century, the church contains a richly carved pulpit, the work of Adam Straes van Weilborch, some good carving and an exquisite organ. On August 31,1230, the bishop of Utrecht granted Zwolle city rights, Zwolle became a member of the Hanseatic league in 1294, and in 1361 joined the war between the Hanseatic League and Valdemar IV of Denmark. In the 1370 Treaty of Stralsund that ended the war, Zwolle was awarded a vitte, zwolles golden age came in the 15th century. Between 1402 and 1450, the citys Gross Regional Product multiplied by about six, in July 1324 and October 1361, regional noblemen set fire to Zwolle. In the 1324 fire, only nine buildings escaped the flames, Zwolle was also, with Deventer, one of the centers of the Brethren of the Common Life, a monastic movement. 5 km from Zwolle, on an eminence called the Agnietenberg, once stood the Augustinian convent in which Thomas à Kempis spent the greatest part of his life. At least as early as 1911, Zwolle had a trade by river, a large fish market. The more important industries comprised cotton manufactures, iron works, boat-building, dyeing and bleaching, tanning, rope-making, in World War II, Zwolle was single-handedly liberated from the Germans by Canadian soldier Léo Major. He was made a citizen of Zwolle in 2005 and a street is named for him. Citizens of Zwolle are colloquially known as Blauwvingers and this dates back to 1682, when the St Michaels church tower collapsed. The authorities were strapped for cash and saw no option but to sell the church bells to neighbouring city Kampen, to make sure that Kampen would not make too much profit from the deal, the local authorities asked a high price for the church bells. Kampen accepted, yet after the arrival of the bells it became clear, in revenge, Kampen paid in copper coins of four duiten
6.
Dutch East Indies
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The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony. It was formed from the colonies of the Dutch East India Company. During the 19th century, Dutch possessions and hegemony were expanded and this colony was one of the most valuable European colonies under the Dutch Empires rule, and contributed to Dutch global prominence in spice and cash crop trade in the 19th to early 20th century. The colonial social order was based on racial and social structures with a Dutch elite living separate from. The term Indonesia came into use for the location after 1880. In the early 20th century, local intellectuals began developing the concept of Indonesia as a nation state, Japans World War II occupation dismantled much of the Dutch colonial state and economy. Following the Japanese surrender in August 1945, Indonesian nationalists declared independence which they fought to secure during the subsequent Indonesian National Revolution, the word Indies comes from Latin, Indus. The original name Dutch Indies was translated by the English as the Dutch East Indies, the name Dutch Indies is recorded in the Dutch East India Companys documents of the early 1620s. Scholars writing in English use the terms Indië, Indies, the Dutch East Indies, the Netherlands Indies, centuries before Europeans arrived, the Indonesian archipelago supported various states, including commercially oriented coastal trading states and inland agrarian states. The first Europeans to arrive were the Portuguese in the late 15th century, following disruption of Dutch access to spices in Europe, the first Dutch expedition set sail for the East Indies in 1595 to access spices directly from Asia. When it made a 400% profit on its return, other Dutch expeditions soon followed, recognising the potential of the East Indies trade, the Dutch government amalgamated the competing companies into the United East India Company. The VOC was granted a charter to wage war, build fortresses, a capital was established in Batavia, which became the centre of the VOCs Asian trading network. Smuggling, the expense of war, corruption, and mismanagement led to bankruptcy by the end of the 18th century. The company was dissolved in 1800 and its colonial possessions in the Indonesian archipelago were nationalised under the Dutch Republic as the Dutch East Indies. From the arrival of the first Dutch ships in the late 16th century, to the declaration of independence in 1945, although Java was dominated by the Dutch, many areas remained independent throughout much of this time, including Aceh, Bali, Lombok and Borneo. Piracy remained a problem until the mid-19th century, finally in the early 20th century, imperial dominance was extended across what was to become the territory of modern-day Indonesia. In 1811, British forces occupied several Dutch East Indies ports including Java, Dutch control was restored in 1816. Under the 1824 Anglo-Dutch Treaty, the Dutch secured British settlements such as Bengkulu in Sumatra, in exchange for ceding control of their possessions in the Malay Peninsula, the resulting borders between British and Dutch possessions remain between Malaysia and Indonesia
7.
House of Representatives (Netherlands)
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The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the States General, the other one being the Senate. It has 150 seats which are filled through elections using a party-list proportional representation and it sits in the Binnenhof in The Hague. Although this body is called the House of Representatives in English, this is not a translation of its Dutch name. Rather than representatives, members of the House are referred to as Tweede Kamerlid, the House of Representatives is the main chamber of parliament, where discussion of proposed legislation and review of the actions of the cabinet takes place. Both the Cabinet and the House of Representatives itself have the right to propose legislation, review of the actions of the cabinet takes the form of formal interrogations, which may result in motions urging the cabinet to take, or refrain from, certain actions. No individual may be a member of parliament and cabinet, except in a caretaker cabinet that has not yet been succeeded when a new House is sworn in. The House of Representatives is also responsible for the first round of selection for judges to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands and it submits a list of three names for every vacant position to the Government. Furthermore, it elects the Dutch Ombudsman and his subsidiaries, the normal term of the House of Representatives is four years. Anybody eligible to vote in the Netherlands also has the right to establish a political party, parties wanting to take part must register 43 days before the elections, supplying a nationwide list of at most 50 candidates. The candidate lists are placed in the hands of the voters at least 14 days before the election, each candidate list is numbered, with the person in the first position known as the lijsttrekker. The lijsttrekker is usually appointed by the party to lead its election campaign, two or more parties can agree to combine their separate lists, which increases the chance of winning a remainder seat. Only large parties usually have some regional candidates at the bottom of their lists, a single vote can be placed on any one candidate. Many voters select one of the lijsttrekkers, but alternatively a preference vote may be made for a lower down the list. Once the election results are known, the seats are allocated to the parties, the number of valid national votes cast is divided by 150, the number of seats available, to give a threshold for each seat, 1/150th is approximately 0. 67% of the valid votes. Each partys number of votes is divided by this threshold to give a number of seats. Any party that received fewer votes than the threshold fails to gain representation in the House of Representatives, the threshold is one of the lowest for national parliaments in the world, and there are usually multiple parties winning seats with 2% or less of the vote. Any party that received more than 75% of the threshold will have its deposit refunded, after the initial seats are allocated, the remainder seats are allocated using the DHondt method of largest averages. This system slightly favours the larger parties, list combinations compete for the remainder seats as one list of the combined size of all parties in the combination, thus having more chance to gain remainder seats
8.
Den Helder
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Den Helder is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula and it is home to the countrys main naval base. From here the Royal TESO ferryboat service operates the transportation link between Den Helder and the nearby Dutch Wadden island of Texel to the north. The municipality of Den Helder consists of the cities, towns, villages and/or districts, Den Helder, Huisduinen, Julianadorp. The major areas of Den Helder are Old Den Helder, Nieuw-Den Helder, Nieuw-Den Helder was built in the 1950s, following World War II, when there was a great need for additional housing. De Schooten was constructed in the 1960s, Dutch Topographic map of Den Helder, March 2014. Huisduinen was the older part of the city, whereas Helder itself was a nearby smaller hamlet. Due to its location at the tip of the North Holland peninsula. The area likely began being called Helledore because of the water between now Den Helder and Texel called Marsdiep, the current of the water was so strong many ships were lost. The name Helder may also have come from Helle/Helde, which means hill or hilly grounds, or from Helre, Den Helder has played an important part in Dutch shipping. During the Dutch Golden Age, ships would be assembled near Den Helder, on 23 January 1795, the French captured 14 Dutch ships and 850 guns in the deepfrozen towns harbour. In 1799 the city was the target of the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland, during the 1820s, the North Holland Canal was dug from Amsterdam to Den Helder. The lighthouse Lange Jaap was built in 1877 and is the tallest cast-iron lighthouse in Europe, Den Helder was the site of a naval base as early as the 18th century. An Anglo-Russian invasion force landed at Den Helder in August 1799, French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, visiting Den Helder in 1811, was impressed with the towns strategic location and ordered the construction of a fort and naval dockyards. The docks were built during the years 1813-1827, in 1947, it officially became the Royal Netherlands Navys main centre of operations. Den Helder continues to be the main base today. The Royal Netherlands Naval College is also located in the city, the old naval dockyards of Willemsoord, located in the north of the city, now house restaurants, a cinema, and other recreational facilities. The naval docks and administration have moved to a new location further east
9.
Hendrikus Colijn
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Hendrikus Hendrik Colijn was a Dutch soldier, businessman and politician who was Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1925 to 1926 and again from 1933 to 1939. He was the first of six children, all born in Haarlemmermeer, Colijn grew up in the Land of Altena. At the age of 16, he went to an academy in Kampen for officer training. In 1893, he married Helena Groenenberg and was sent to the Dutch East Indies, one of our bullets killed the mother as well as the child. From now on we couldnt give any mercy, it was over, I did give orders to gather a group of 9 women and 3 children who asked for mercy and they were shot all together. It was not a pleasant job, but something else was impossible and our soldiers tacked them with pleasure with their bayonets. After his return to the Netherlands in 1909, he was elected as an Anti Revolutionary Party Member of Parliament for the district Sneek, in 1911, he was appointed Minister of War and revised the Dutch Selective Service System. In May 1918 he acted as an intermediary between the British and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to arrange an armistice, resulting in the Kaiser getting refuge in The Netherlands. In 1910 the Holland Dakota Landbouw Compagnie is established with Hendrikus Colijn and his brother nl, from 1914 to 1922 he served as CEO for the Bataafse Petroleum Maatschappij. In 1925, he also became CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, in 1922 he accepted the political leadership of the Anti Revolutionary Party from Dr. Abraham Kuyper. Between 1925-1926 and 1933-1939 he served five times as Prime Minister, during the 1930s his government faced the effects of the Great Depression, which took a heavy toll on the Netherlands. Colijns government responded to the crisis with a very strict fiscal policy. Colijns decision to adhere to the Gold Standard until 1937, long after most of the partners of the Netherlands had dropped it. In 1939, his latest cabinet, with Protestant and liberal ministers but without Catholic ministers, from 1927-1929, he also was head of the Dutch delegation to the League of Nations in Geneva. His view was influenced by the show of force the German blitzkrieg had shown. Soon thereafter, he tried to organize resistance but was arrested in June 1941. The Germans tried to have him confess that he had conspired with the British to invade the Netherlands to serve as an excuse for the German invasion, the very fact that the Gestapo allowed the visit suggests that Himmler was already making contingency plans in case of a German loss. In March 1943 Colijn was put under house arrest in a mountain hotel in Ilmenau
10.
Prime Minister of the Netherlands
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He is the de facto head of government of the Netherlands and coordinates the policy of the government. The current prime minister is Mark Rutte, although he is the most important political figure in the Netherlands, the Prime Minister is not as powerful as his British and German counterparts. This is mainly because, due to the Dutch system of proportional representation, therefore, the government is always a coalition between two or more parties. Because of his powers, the prime minister is described as primus inter pares. As a result of the review of 1983, the position of Prime Minister was inscribed into the Dutch constitution for the first time. According to the constitution, the Government is constituted by the King, the constitution stipulates the Prime Minister chairs the council of ministers and is appointed by royal decree. The royal decree of their own appointment and those of the ministers are to be countersigned by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister chairs the meetings of the council of ministers and has the power to set the agenda of these meetings. The prime minister is also Minister of General Affairs, which takes an important role in coordinating policy and is responsible for the Government Information Service, the Prime Minister is also responsible for the royal house and has a weekly meeting with the King on government policy. Informally the Prime Minister functions as the face of the cabinet to the public, after the meetings of the cabinet on Friday, the Prime Minister hosts a press conference on the decisions of the cabinet and current affairs. The Prime Minister also has functions in international affairs, attending the European Council every six months. The Prime Ministers office is a hexagon shaped tower, named The Little Tower Het Torentje on the Binnenhof in The Hague, the official residence is the Catshuis. Conventionally, the party with the largest number of seats in the Second Chamber will initiate coalition talks after elections and these negotiations are concluded by means of a so-called government agreement. He or she usually appoints her/himself Prime Minister, a minister from the smaller coalition party usually becomes Deputy Prime Minister of the cabinet. If there is a party in the coalition, one of its ministers will become the second Deputy Prime Minister. For a list of historic Prime Ministers, see List of Prime Ministers of the Netherlands, for a list of Prime Ministers by age, see List of Prime Ministers of the Netherlands by age. For a list of Prime Ministers by religious affiliations, see Religious affiliations of Prime Ministers of the Netherlands, gradually the Prime Minister became an official function of government leader, taken by the political leader of the largest party. Since 1848 the role of the first minister has become relevant, until 1901 the position chair of the council of ministers officially rotated between ministers
11.
Johan Rudolph Thorbecke
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Johan Rudolph Thorbecke was a Dutch politician and statesman of liberal signature, one of the most important Dutch politicians of the 19th century. In 1848 he virtually single-handedly drafted the revision of the Constitution of the Netherlands, giving power to the king. His father Frederik Willem was a Lutheran tobacco manufacturer of German descent, johan Rudolph proved to be diligent and exemplary at a young age, showing intelligence and curiosity. Because of the sacrifices of his parents, who continued to struggle financial problems. He enjoyed primary education in his birthplace and in Amsterdam, where he lived until 1806, Thorbecke began studying classical literature and philosophy in Amsterdam, studies he finished in Leiden defending a thesis on Asinius Pollio in 1820. Shortly after his promotion, Thorbecke was granted a scholarship for a journey through Germany. At Giessen he lectured as a professor, and at Göttingen, in 1824, published his treatise. He would spend four years travelling, during which he was introduced to historism and Romanticism, upon his return to the Netherlands in 1824, he settled in Amsterdam, where he wrote his first political work of significance, Bedenkingen aangaande het Regt en Den Staat. The climax of series was Over het hedendaags burgerschap, literally On contemporary citizenship, published in 1844. On 21 May 1844, Thorbecke was elected into the House of Representatives for South Holland, four years later, with much of Europe convulsed by the Revolutions of 1848, William II agreed upon the formation of a committee for revision of the constitution. Thorbecke was appointed as head of committee on 17 March. The changes were all created by Thorbecke, as the other members of the committee did little. The drafted constitution was reluctantly approved by the States General. Despite initial reluctance, William II appointed Thorbecke as formateur in late October 1849, in this cabinet, Thorbecke served as minister of the Interior and chaired the Council of Ministers, thus becoming de facto Prime Minister of the Netherlands. Thorbeckes first cabinet passed several acts of importance, including the Electoral Act and the Province Act in 1850. Despite these successes, Thorbeckes reforms were increasingly subjected to resistance, in 1853, the Catholic Church sought to restore the episcopal hierarchy in the Netherlands. Common people, pastors and conservative notables showed resistance to this in a movement known as the Aprilbeweging. Thorbecke, who remained passive in the issue in defence of the separation of church and state, was accused of catholic sympathies, Thorbecke spent nine years as leader of the opposition in the House of Representatives
12.
Abraham Kuyper
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Abraham Kuijper, generally known as Abraham Kuyper, was a Dutch journalist, statesman and neo-Calvinist theologian. He founded the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, a newspaper, the Free University of Amsterdam, and he served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands between 1901 and 1905. He vigorously denounced modernism in theology as a fad that would pass away, in politics, he dominated the Anti-Revolutionary Party from its founding in 1879 to his death in 1920. Abraham Kuijper was born on 29 October 1837 in Maassluis in the Netherlands and his father Jan Frederik Kuyper served as a minister for the Dutch Reformed Church in Hoogmade, Maassluis, Middelburg and Leiden. Kuijper was home-schooled by his father, the boy received no formal primary education, but received secondary education at the Gymnasium of Leiden. In 1855, he graduated from the Gymnasium and began to study literature, philosophy and he received his propaedeuse in literature in 1857, summa cum laude, and in philosophy in 1858, also summa cum laude. He also took classes in Arabic, Armenian and physics, in comparing the views of John Calvin and Jan Łaski, Kuyper showed a clear sympathy for the more liberal Łaski. During his studies Kuyper was a member of the tendency within the Dutch Reformed Church. In May 1862, he was declared eligible for the ministry and 1863 he accepted a call to minister for the Dutch Reformed Church for the town of Beesd. In the same year he married Johanna Hendrika Schaay and they would have five sons and three daughters. In 1864 he began corresponding with the anti-revolutionary MP Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, around 1866, he began to sympathise with the orthodox tendency within the Dutch Reformed Church. He was inspired by the robust reformed faith of Pietje Balthus, a woman in her early 30s. He began to oppose the centralization in the church, the role of the King and began to plead for the separation of church, in 1867, Kuyper was asked to become minister for the parish in Utrecht and he left Beesd. In 1870 he was asked to come to Amsterdam, in 1871 he began to write for the De Heraut. In 1872, he founded his own paper, De Standaard and this paper would lay the foundation for the network of Reformed organisation, which Kuyper would found. In 1886, Kuyper led an exodus from the Dutch Reformed Church and he grieved the loss of Reformed distinctives within this State Church, which no longer required office bearers to agree to the Reformed standards which had once been foundational. Kuyper and the consistory of Amsterdam insisted that both ministers and church members subscribe to the Reformed confessions and this was appealed to Classis, and Kuyper, along with about 80 members of the Amsterdam consistory, were suspended in Dec.1885. This was appealed to the synod, which upheld the ruling in a 1 July 1886 ruling
