The Netherlands | Geography |People |Tourism and Problems

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a beautiful country with hundreds of Canals crossing over the Country.

Original Post: All About Netherlands

Geography

Geography of the Netherlands is quite complex. Firstly, the country is situated in North-Western Europe, bordered with Germany and Belgium.

The Netherlands is divided into 12 provinces. The country has 2 capitals. Amsterdam, the largest city and economic hub of the country and home to the royal palace. The Hague is the second capital city, which holds the seat of government and the International Court of Justice of the Netherlands.

The second-largest city of the Netherlands is Rotterdam, which remarkably is an important city for trading and holds the busiest seaport in all over Europe.

The Netherlands is not only located in the mainland European part, the country also holds over 6 other island entities in the Caribbean, remnants of the Dutch colonization in the past.

Have you ever thought about why the Netherlands is a plural noun?

Technically, the Netherlands is a country made up of 4 countries: The mainland Netherlands, as well as 3 other constituent countries, Aruba, Curaçao and Saint Martin.

However, these overseas territories have their own currency and separate identity.

Landform of the Netherlands is quite unique, about 26% of the Mainland Netherlands lie below sea level whereas nearly 50% of the total territory is just above 1M from Sea level.

The country is separated by hundreds of canals which makes Waterways as the most important medium of Transportation. There’s a town named “Giethoorn” without roads, only they have canals to travel.

Within the complex system of waterways and canals, the Rhine river is the longest river in the country, which ends in Rotterdam.

Yes! This is the same Rhine river which flows through different countries like Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands too.

In order to prevent the country from flooding, the Netherlands has undergone one of the largest engineering projects in modern history by constructing massive elevated sea barriers.

Demographics

The Netherlands have about 17.17 million people, and it is one of the most densely populated nations in Europe.

About 79% of the total population of the Netherlands identifies as Dutch, whereas around 7% are other Europeans, and the remainder are made up of other people groups, mostly Turks, Indians, Moroccans as well as the Surinamese, and surprisingly even some Americans.

Everyone knows, Dutch is the official language of the Netherlands, however, if you speak English fluently you won’t have any communication issues because the Netherlands has the highest proficiency in English out of any non-English country in the world. Around 9/10 Dutch people claim they can comfortably communicate in English.

Do you know? Dutch are the tallest people on average in the world, where the average height of men is around 6'1" and women around 5'7".

In the Netherlands religion Christianity used to be the major religion, but today about half the population identifies as “unaffiliated”.

Otherwise, Islam is practiced by about 5% of the population, mostly by Turkish and Indonesian communities.

The Netherlands is not only diverse but also they have some unique laws. They were the first country to legalize same-sex marriage, they have regulated legal prostitution industry legal recreational use of marijuana.

Dutch people enjoy a happy life, work to life balance, high paying wages, one of the best retirement plans and many more modern infrastructures. They know how to manage life and educate the next generation towards development and science.

Tourism

The Netherlands is the 19th most visited country in the world. There are thousands of Natural, Historical and cultural resources to explore. The Netherlands is home to beautiful beaches, stunning architecture, friendly locals, good foods and canal cities.

Places to Visit in the Netherlands

• The Royal Palace
• Beautiful City of Delft
• The Van Gogh Museum
• The Anne Frank house
• Canals of Amsterdam
• The Hoge Veluwe National Park
• The World’s Largest Flower Garden at Keukenhof
• Austerlitz Pyramid

There are around 1,000 historic windmills left in the country from the 1800s, which are really beautiful places to visit, mostly in the Kinderdijk area.

Visiting the Netherlands is safest according to different travellers however you will find this country expensive to explore.

Economy

The Netherlands is a powerful nation despite its size. They are the top 17th largest world economy and 7th largest exporters in the world in 2021.

Anyway, today, although they produce about 80% of the world’s tulips and over half of the world’s cut flower exports.

Major contribution to the Netherlands economy is driven by the service and energy sectors. After the discovery of a natural gas field in 1959, they became a fuel powerhouse in the world.

The major products of the Netherlands are Electronics items, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, flowers etc. Netherlands’ major trading partner countries are Germany, Belgium, France, UK, US and China.

Nature and Wildlife

Being a small country in low elevation, the Netherlands is diverse in flora and fauna. Over 70 mammal species are found here such as hares, hedgehogs, rabbits, stoats, wild boar, and deer.

In addition, they produce over €65 billion from vegetables, fruit, flour, meat, and dairy products. Do you know? The modern orange-colored carrot was originally in the Netherlands.

Rural area of the Netherlands is filled with beautiful green fields and flower gardens however only 11% of the whole country is forested.

Fact: The Netherlands is the largest Flower Producing Country in the World.

Innovations

The Netherlands is one of the most innovative countries in the world. They have great contributions towards art, literature, science and world exploration.

Some great people from the Netherlands:

• Great Painters like Vincent van Gogh
• Blade Runner actor Rutger Hauer
• Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek
• Willem Barentsz
• Abel Tasman
• Hendrik Lorentz
• Anne Frank
• Max Verstappen
• Glennis Grace
• Christiaan Huygens

In the field of global Innovation and discoveries, the Netherlands has played a great role. They are really good at scientific inventions, mathematics and general theories.

Some Great Inventions of the Netherlands

• The Microscope
• The Telescope
• The Eye Test
• CD/DVD
• Orange Carrots
• Brandy
• The Stock Market
• The Submarine
• The Olympics Flame

And many more.

International Relations

Dutch People know how to make friends and get along with other nations.

First of all, many of the former colonies have good relations with the Netherlands. They still have the same love and support as in the past.

Thousands of Surinamese and Indonesians have been migrating to the Netherlands for decades, and they all have good bonding and social harmony each other

Otherwise, the USA and Canada are very close friends as well. During the 2nd World War, Canada hosted many Dutch refugees as well. To this day, the Netherlands sends tons of flowers every year in gratitude for their help during tough times.

For the US, they all have relations till American colonization, the name of New York was New Amsterdam in the past.

The Dutch people have emigrated to the US for many centuries. In fact, five American presidents have been of Dutch descent.

In most global affairs, the two usually work together as close allies.

With Germany, they have really good relations currently. Similarly, Germany is the largest trading partner of the Netherlands both in imports and exports. Many Germans and Dutch visit, study, live, and have families with each other’s countries.

When it comes to their best friends they love Belgium. In fact, Dutch is one of the national languages of Belgium, around 55% people speak Dutch language as their mother tongue.

Problems

Every country in the world is facing some problems, but the Netherlands is facing a huge problem of flooding because of climate change. About 26 % of the total land is below sea level and other parts are very low in elevation. This can lead to flooding in most parts of the country.

However, they have built most advanced flood barriers and sand dunes, but it is not always reliable for big threats.