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.
Utrecht
–
Utrecht is the capital and most populous city in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the corner of the Randstad conurbation and is the fourth largest city in the Netherlands with a population of 330,772 in 2014. Utrechts ancient city centre features many buildings and structures several dating as far back as the High Middle Ages and it has been the religious centre of the Netherlands since the 8th century. It lost the status of prince-bishopric but remains the religious center in the country. Utrecht was the most important city in the Netherlands until the Dutch Golden Age, Utrecht is host to Utrecht University, the largest university in the Netherlands, as well as several other institutions of higher education. Due to its position within the country, it is an important transport hub for both rail and road transport. It has the second highest number of events in the Netherlands. In 2012, Lonely Planet included Utrecht in the top 10 of the world’s unsung places, a series of such fortresses was built after the Roman emperor Claudius decided the empire should not expand north. To consolidate the border the limes Germanicus defense line was constructed along the branch of the river Rhine. These fortresses were designed to house a cohort of about 500 Roman soldiers, near the fort settlements would grow housing artisans, traders and soldiers wives and children. In Roman times, the name of the Utrecht fortress was simply Traiectum, Traiectum became Dutch Trecht, with the U from Old Dutch uut added to distinguish U-trecht from Maas-tricht. In 11th-century official documents it was Latinized as Ultra Traiectum, around the year 200, the wooden walls of the fortification were replaced by sturdier tuff stone walls, remnants of which are still to be found below the buildings around Dom Square. From the middle of the 3rd century Germanic tribes regularly invaded the Roman territories, around 275 the Romans could no longer maintain the northern border and Utrecht was abandoned. Little is known about the next period 270–650, Utrecht is first spoken of again several centuries after the Romans left. Under the influence of the realms of the Franks, during Dagobert Is reign in the 7th century. In ongoing border conflicts with the Frisians this first church was destroyed, by the mid-7th century, English and Irish missionaries set out to convert the Frisians. The pope appointed their leader, Willibrordus, bishop of the Frisians, the tenure of Willibrordus is generally considered to be the beginning of the Bishopric of Utrecht. In 723, the Frankish leader Charles Martel bestowed the fortress in Utrecht, from then on Utrecht became one of the most influential seats of power for the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands
3.
King's Commissioner
–
The King’s Commissioner is the head of a province in the Netherlands, and is chairman of both the Provincial Council and the Provincial Executive, but has a right to vote only in the latter. When the reigning monarch is a female, the office is Queens Commissioner, there are two levels of local government in the Netherlands, the provinces and the municipalities. The twelve provinces form the tier of administration between central government and the municipalities, the three tiers are organised in largely the same way, with a directly elected parliament, which in turn chooses the executive branch, headed by an appointed chairman. At the national and municipal levels, these are the king, the King’s Commissioner is not elected by the residents of the province, but appointed by the Dutch Crown, for a term of six years, which may be extended by a second term. The King’s Commissioner can be dismissed only by the Dutch Crown, when a vacancy arises, the provincial council gives the Minister of the Interior a profile of the kind of candidate it would like to see in the job. Although all King’s Commissioners are prominent members of one or another of the national political parties. The Kings Commissioners play a role within the administration and are the official representatives of central government in the provinces. They coordinate disaster management and prevention and pay regular visits to the municipalities in their region. The Kings Commissioners play an important part in the appointment of municipal mayors, when a vacancy arises, the Kings Commissioner first asks the municipal council for its views as to a successor, then writes to the Minister of the Interior, recommending a candidate. Since the Kings Commissioners are both the chairs and full members of the executives, they may include some of the executives tasks in their portfolio. They also oversee the official apparatus and any provincial utilities and represent the province in its dealings with business, in the Dutch province of Limburg, the King’s Commissioner is usually called Gouverneur, as in Belgium. Similarly, the Provinciehuis at Maastricht is called Gouvernement and this local custom arose from the particular status of the province in the nineteenth century. The official name of the office is currently the same as in the other provinces
4.
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
5.
Dom Tower of Utrecht
–
The Dom Tower of Utrecht is the tallest church tower in the Netherlands, at 112.5 metres in height, and the Gothic-style tower is the symbol of the city. The tower was part of the Cathedral of Saint Martin, Utrecht, also known as Dom Church, the cathedral was never fully completed due to lack of money. Since the unfinished nave collapsed in 1674 the Dom tower became a standing tower. The tower stands at the spot where the city of Utrecht originated almost 2,000 years ago, the Dom Tower was one of the largest towers constructed in Europe during the fourteenth century, and it was planned to show the power of the church of Utrecht. Its construction led preacher Geert Groote to protest against the vanity of such a project, suggesting it was too tall, too expensive and all. The tower consists of two blocks, topped by a much lighter lantern. One of the most striking features is the absence of visible buttresses and its particular shape and original architecture had a large influence on many other towers in the Netherlands, including the Martinitoren in Groningen. Upon completion in 1382 the tower stood 109 metres tall, however this height was increased during the restorations in 1910, to its present height of 112.5 metres. The Dom tower was a multifunctional building, in addition to being a belfry, it contained a private chapel of the bishop of Utrecht on the first floor. It also served as the watchtower, the guard was housed on the second floor of the lower square block. The Dom Tower has a peal of fourteen ringing bells. In 1505 Geert van Wou, in his time the most famous bell-founder of the Netherlands, the seven smallest bells, sold in 1664 to finance the new carillon, were recast in 1982 by Eijsbouts. The largest bell, the Salvator, has a weight of 8,200 kg, together with the fourteenth bell, they form the largest existing homogeneous group of medieval bells. Today the bells are set in motion by the members of the Utrecht Klokkenluiders Gilde, in 1625, Jacob van Eyck became carillon player of the Dom Tower. In 1664, a new carillon was installed by Juriaan Sprakel of Zutphen, with a mechanism consisting of 35 chimes, made by the brothers Pieter, in 1972 the carillon was restored and extended to 50 bells. The cathedrals nave was never finished, and in 1674 a tornado destroyed this part of the cathedral. The remaining section of the church and the tower were never reconnected, in the summer of 2004, however, a mock nave was constructed out of scaffolding to commemorate the missing link. The floorplan of the section is shown by the multicoloured paving of the square
6.
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
7.
North Holland
–
North Holland is a province in the northwest of the Netherlands. It is situated on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, in 2015, it had a population of 2,762,163 and a total area of 2,670 km2. From the 9th to the 16th century, the area was a part of the County of Holland. During this period West Friesland was incorporated, in the 17th and 18th century, the area was part of the province of Holland. At that time, the distinction between the Noorderkwartier and the Zuiderkwartier became common, in 1840, the province of Holland was split into the two provinces of North Holland and South Holland. In 1855, the Haarlemmermeer was drained and turned into land, the capital and seat of the provincial government is Haarlem, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands capital city, is the provinces largest city. The Kings Commissioner of North Holland is Johan Remkes, there are 51 municipalities and three water boards in the province. For most of its history, the province of North Holland was an integral part of Holland. From the 9th century to the 16th century, Holland was a county ruled by the counts of Holland, during this period an area known as West Friesland was conquered and integrated into Holland. For centuries afterwards Holland would be officially called Holland and West Friesland, the people of West Friesland had a strong sense of identity as a region within Holland. From the 16th century to 1795, Holland was the wealthiest and most important province in the United Provinces in the Dutch Republic, as the richest and most powerful province, Holland dominated the union. During this period a distinction was made between the North Quarter and the South Quarter, areas that roughly correspond to the two modern provinces. The province of North Holland as it is today has its origins in the period of French rule from 1795 to 1813 and this was a time of bewildering changes to the Dutch system of provinces. In 1795 the old order was swept away and the Batavian Republic was established, in the Constitution enacted on 23 April 1798, the old borders were radically changed. The republic was reorganised into eight departments with roughly equal populations, Holland was split up into five departments named Texel, Amstel, Delf, Schelde en Maas, and Rijn. The first three of these lay within the borders of the old Holland, the two were made up of parts of different provinces. In 1801 the old borders were restored when the department of Holland was created and this reorganisation had been short-lived, but it gave birth to the concept of breaking up Holland and making it a less powerful province. This time the two departments were called Amstelland and Maasland and this also did not last long
8.
Amersfoort
–
Amersfoort is a municipality and the second largest city of the province of Utrecht in central Netherlands. The city is growing quickly but has a well-preserved and protected medieval centre, Amersfoort is one of the largest railway junctions in the country, because of its location on two of the Netherlands main east-west and north-south rail lines. It celebrated its 750th birthday as a city in 2009, hunter gatherers set up camps in the Amersfoort region in the Mesolithic period. Archaeologists have found traces of these camps, such as the remains of hearths, the city grew around what is now known as the central square, the Hof, where the Bishops of Utrecht established a court in order to control the Gelderse Vallei area. It was granted city rights in 1259 by the bishop of Utrecht, a first defensive wall, made out of brick, was finished around 1300. Soon after, the need for enlargement of the city became apparent and around 1380 the construction of a new wall was begun, the famous Koppelpoort, a combined land and water gate, is part of this second wall. The first wall was demolished and houses were built in its place, todays Muurhuizen Street is at the exact location of the first wall, the fronts of the houses are built on top of the first city walls foundations. The Onze-Lieve-Vrouwentoren tower is one of the tallest medieval church towers in the Netherlands at 98 metres, the construction of the tower and the church was started in 1444. It is now the point of the RD coordinate system, the coordinate grid used by the Dutch topographical service. The inner city of Amersfoort has been preserved well since the Middle Ages, in the Middle Ages, Amersfoort was an important centre for the textile industry, and there were a large number of breweries. In the 18th century the city flourished because of the cultivation of tobacco, after the 1920s growth stalled again, until in 1970 the national government designated Amersfoort, then numbering some 70,000 inhabitants, as a growth city. In 2009 the population was 140,000 plus, with an expected 150,000 by 2012, after four days of battle, the population was allowed to return. There was a functioning Jewish community in the town, at the beginning of the war numbering about 700 people, half of them were deported and killed, mainly in Auschwitz and Sobibor. In 1943, the synagogue, dating from 1727, was damaged on the orders of the then Nazi-controlled city government. It was restored and opened again after the war, and has served since by a succession of rabbis. There was a camp near the city of Amersfoort during the war. The camp, officially called Polizeiliches Durchgangslager Amersfoort, better known as Kamp Amersfoort, was located in the neighbouring municipality of Leusden. After the war the leader of the camp, Joseph Kotälla and he died in captivity in 1979
9.
Houten
–
Houten is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht. The municipality consists of the towns, t Goy Houten Schalkwijk Tull en t Waal The main town in the municipality is Houten. On 1 January 2012, the town had 48,314 inhabitants, the built-up area was 5.08 km2 in area, and contained 18,451 residences. The slightly larger district of Houten had a population of about 39,100 in 2004. Remains of a Roman villa have been found in the old centre of Houten, there used to be a Roman villa on that spot. This building was discovered in the fifties, in the Dark Ages Houten took shape as a rural centre. The area of the municipality of Houten was divided in the so-called gerechten, the names of these districts are still in use, Schonauwen, Wulven, Waijen, Heemstede. A lot of elements in present-day Houten are reminders of its history, prominent in the old centre Het Oude Dorp are the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church. The first accounts of this date from the ninth century. Another prominent building is the restaurant/cafe De Engel, already mentioned in the 16th century as a tavern, former access roads to the old centre are still recognisable by their names, such as the Odijkseweg and Loerikseweg. Houten had many orchards, but few have survived, modern Houten started to take shape in the last decades of the 20th century. It was first designated by the office of Wissing-Derks as a Groeikern – a centre of growth – to meet the needs of the city of Utrecht. From the beginning urban planner-designer Robert Derks was involved with the development of the New Town Houten, in 1979 the construction of 10,000 dwellings started and the population grew from 4,000 to more than 30,000 late in the nineties. Until 2015, some 7,000 new houses are being built in Houten-Zuid, following the urban design principles as the existing Northern part of Houten. The body of water to the east is large in comparison with water bodies in the old parts of Houten, another difference is that in some places cars share the road with bicycle paths. The southern part was designed by Robert Derks and his office for urban design Stedebouw BV. Houten has two stations, Houten and Houten Castellum. These stations are served by commuter trains to Utrecht and Geldermalsen
10.
Nieuwegein
–
Nieuwegein is a municipality and city in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is bordered on the north by the city of Utrecht and it is separated from Vianen to the south by the river Lek and borders on IJsselstein in the southwest and Houten in the east. Nieuwegein was founded on 1 July 1971 as a city, following the merger of the former municipalities of Jutphaas. The new town was built for the population of the city of Utrecht. Nieuwegein is surrounded by three motorways, the A2 to the west, the A12 to the north and the A27 to the east, Nieuwegein is connected to Utrecht and IJsselstein by the Sneltram line. There is a ferry across the river Lek to Vianen. Three canals flow through Nieuwegein, the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal, the Lek River, there are also a few sports clubs in Nieuwegein, such as, SV Geinoord, VSV Vreeswijk and JSV Nieuwegein. Several national sports federations are housed in Nieuwegein, including the NeVoBo, KNZB, Dutch Topographic map of Nieuwegein and neighboring IJsselstein, as of March 2014. Puławy, Poland Rundu, Namibia Media related to Nieuwegein at Wikimedia Commons Official website
-Flag.svg)
listen)) is a province of the Netherlands. It is located in the centre of the country, bordering the Eemmeer in the north, the province of Gelderland in the east, the river Rhine and Lek in the south, the province of South Holland in the west and the province of North Holland in the north-west. With an area of approximately 1,400 square kilometres (540 sq mi), it is the second smallest of the twelve Dutch provinces. Apart from its eponymous capital, major cities in the province are Amersfoort, Houten, Nieuwegein, Veenendaal, IJsselstein and Zeist.
Utrecht (province) travel guide from Wikivoyage
