The Netherlands

More to come...

I lived in the Netherlands for most of the 1990's (Jan 91 - Dec 97). Although the Dutch are quite organized, they are vague about three things that are well-defined in most countries:

1. What is the country called? Officially, The Netherlands, but it's widely referred to as Holland. The Netherlands became a nation when the province of Holland (now the provinces of North Holland and South Holland) beat the other provinces into submission. "Netherlands," i.e. low territories, is a reasonably accurate description. If it weren't for the sea dikes, over a quarter of the country would be under water at high tide.
2. What is the capital of the Netherlands? Officially Amsterdam. However, the Hague is the "seat of government." What does that mean? It means that everything you associate with being a national capital is in the Hague - parliament, government offices, etc. It's as if the U.S. announced that henceforth, New York City was the capital of the United States, while leaving everything in Washington D.C.
3. What is the symbol of Dutch currency? Well, now it's the Euro, so that means a simple €. But back in the 20th century, when the Dutch had their own money, it was pretty messy. The currency had two names: usually Guilder, but also Florin (fans of The Princess Bride take note). Since the country is known as Holland, the Netherlands, and the adjective is Dutch, this lead to lots of permutations. Among the many abbreviations I saw, often within a single store, were HFl, DFl, F, f, NLG, Fl, G, and Gld. The most official was NLG.

Random Dutch Trivia

As befits a country with big chunks below sea level, the Dutch are masters of large-scale hydro-engineering. If there's a major hydro-engineering project going on somewhere in the world, the odds are good that the Dutch are involved. Aside from the sea dikes themselves, their most impressive achievement is probably the province of Flevoland. Holland is the most densely populated country in Europe, and space is at a premium. Starting after WWI, the Dutch started closing off and draining the IJsselmeer, a sea in the northwest of the country. By 1968 a major piece of land was habitable, and in 1986 Flevoland became the 12th province of Holland. It was like draining one of the Great Lakes to make a 51st state. Check out a map. Flevoland is roughly in the middle.

Last Look

I took these photos of the wind farm in Flevoland on my last day in Holland (as dated: 1-1-98), on my way to Schiphol Airport and back to America. Note that the cars are driving at just about sea-level. The Netherlands in a nutshell: flat, low, windy, green, and Green. Quite a nice place, actually.