History UsefulNotes / TheNetherlands

There is a strange and tangential association where Holland shaped the culture and politics of UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland. When Great Britain ran out of home-grown royalty with a plausible claim to the throne in the late 1600's, the Dutch prince William was invited to become King of England. The new King William of the House of Orange had to fight a war in Ireland to assert his claim to kingship there. In what was at least part a religious war with the Catholic pretenders, the Stuarts, Prince William of Orange fought a decisive battle at Boyne Water. His men wore orange sashes in the Dutch national colour to distinguish themselves, whilst the orange-sashed William himself rode an iconic white horse. to this day Prince William on his white horse is acclaimed as saviour of Protestant Ireland and the orange sash is still proudly worn on parades as a mark of Ulster Protestant identity. Even the national flag of the Republic of Ireland acknowledges the country also has a Protestant identity - one third of the tricolour is Dutch Orange.

* Media is rated for sex, violence, swearing etc. and 16+ can't be shown on television before 10 PM [[note]] And movie theaters check ID's for admittance to 16+ movies, where sub-16s aren't admitted to ''even if their legal guardian is present and consenting''[[/note]], but [[http://www.kijkwijzer.nl/about-kijkwijzer Kijkwijzer]] tends to rate milder in general against sex and nudity, compared to the MPAA in the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates.
* Alcohol is legal to buy or consume for persons of 18 years and over. Supermarkets can sell beer (which, before you ask, isn't only Heineken), wine and port, but not strong liquor like vodka or whiskey [[note]]Technically they can, but the price of the licence is proportional to the surface area of the shop. That is why liquor stores are tiny, and often found right next to the supermarket[[/note]]. The official policy is that any person "looking to be under 30 years of age" has to show ID at supermarket check-out lanes when buying alcohol, and this is being more strongly enforced lately since government uses undercover underage(-looking) people as "bait" to check if supermarkets and bars adhere to this rule, and heavily fines them if they don't.

The claim that "[[BilingualBonus Everybody in the Netherlands speaks English]]" is very accurate. This is mainly because the Dutch and English languages [[https://elms.wordpress.com/2008/03/04/lexical-distance-among-languages-of-europe/ have similar grammatical and word structure]] (as both English and Dutch are from the Germanic language family[[note]]A minority in the northern province of ''Friesland'' speaks Frysian, which is actually the language most linguistically closely-related to English. Unless you count Scots,
which not everyone does.[[/note]]), and because English is a mandatory subject from early education until high school graduation[[note]]which is at 17, 18 or 16, depending on the track / level you follow[[/note]]. Children are also required to take two other foreign languages - usually German and French, though in some schools Spanish, Chinese or Arabic are options too - for at least 2 years in high school and optionally for up to 6 years - which makes the Netherlands one of the most [[{{Omniglot}} polyglot]] countries in Europe[[note]]Of course, this is based on pure theory because with similar rules, the British would also be one of the most polyglot (French is an official language of the UK and from about 2007 is a requirement to be taught from the start of education age 4, two other languages - usually including German - must be learnt through high school age 11-15) but people wouldn’t really say that is accurate. Not every Dutch person knows four languages[[/note]]. Latin and classical Greek are included for students that are at the top tier of the Dutch school system. At Universities / Colleges, Dutch is the standard for "Bachelor" level but English is ''required by law'' at "Master" level University for the lectures to be given in and assignments to be written in (probably Justified because University Master programmes typically have a lot of foreign students). English serves as a ''de facto'' secondary language in the Netherlands, with Dutch people regularly using English words in otherwise Dutch sentences.[[note]]Funnily enough, the Dutch have completely incorporated the English-language swear words "fuck" and "shit", to the point that they use them more casually than native-English-speakers themselves.[[/note]] Fluency is probably helped by TV and movies generally preferring subtitling over dubbing, regardless of a work's original language. Dubbing a work into Dutch is usually reserved for small kids (preschoolers)' media, though as of late more VideoGames are using dubbing as well.

** Deputy Prime Ministers: Hugo de Jonge, Kajsa Ollongren and Carola Schouten

* '''Area:''' 41,865 km
(16,164 sq mi) (131st)

It stayed out of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI (but had to deal with about one million Belgian refugees fleeing the German invasion), and was invaded by Germany in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (and its Indonesian colonies were invaded by the Japanese). Over 100,000 Jews were sent to the camps, [[Literature/TheDiaryOfAYoungGirl Anne Frank]] among them. While there was a strong resistance movement in the Netherlands, there were also many avid volunteers serving in Dutch Nazi security units, as well as volunteering with the German forces in their war against the Soviet Union. The majority of the country welcomed liberation by the western Allies in 1944 and 1945, by which time the civilian population was slowly starving due to food shortages.

Although the country's name is plural in many languages, the Dutch name for it is simply "Nederland", which would translate to "Netherland". [[UsefulNotes/TheBeautifulProvincesOfNederland "The Kingdom of the Netherlands", plural, consists of Aruba, Curaçao, the Netherlands, and Sint Maarten]]. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland_(disambiguation) Holland]]'' actually is the name of only two of its provinces (North Holland and South Holland), but is often used casually to refer to the entire Netherlands country, even by many Dutch people (similar to how "UsefulNotes/{{England}}" is often used to refer to the entirety of the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom. The Netherlands is even called "Holland" in UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}[[note]]her sole trade partner during the two centuries of isolationism[[/note]] and UsefulNotes/{{Indonesia}}[[note]]her former colonial master[[/note]].

The Netherlands ('''Dutch:''' ''Nederland'') is a country in Western UsefulNotes/{{Europe}}. It's famous for not only being flat, but in large part below sea level. It's also the country of cheese (Gouda, Edam), Delftware, [[LandOfTulipsAndWindmills windmills, tulips, clogs]], [[Creator/RembrandtVanRijn some of]] [[Creator/JohannesVermeer the greatest]] [[Creator/HieronymusBosch painters]] [[Creator/VincentVanGogh the world]] has ever known, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick blow-up dolls, and cannabis.]]

'''Fiction set in the Netherlands''' (also see DutchMedia and DutchSeries):

* ''WesternAnimation/AlfredJKwak'' does not take place in the Netherlands itself, but in a FantasyCounterpartCulture version of the country, called Great Waterland.

* [[MoeAnthropomorphism The Netherlands]] appears as a character in the webcomic Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers
* ''Series/{{Baantjer}}''
* ''Series/BassieEnAdriaan''

* ''Fanfic/TheBlackSheep''

* ''The Discovery of Heaven''
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' had "Arc of Infinity," which saw the return of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E1TheThreeDoctors Omega]]. He needed to be in Amsterdam because of [[{{Technobabble}} the pressure below sea-level]] or something.
* ''ComicBook/DouweDabbert''
* The parts of ''Literature/TheFaultInOurStars'' that aren't in [[FlyoverCountry Indianapolis]]

* ''Theatre/TheFlyingDutchman''
* ''Film/TheForgottenBattle'' is set in World War II Netherlands, and at the time of production was the most expensive film ever made by a Dutch production company.
* ''Literature/GirlWithAPearlEarring''
* The last third of ''Literature/TheGoldfinch'' takes place in Amsterdam
* ''Series/GoodTimesBadTimes''
* ''Literature/TheGrishaverse'' has the country of Kerch as a FantasyCounterpartCulture. It’s most prominent in the ''Six Of Crows'' duology, especially the second book, ''Crooked Kingdom'', which is mostly set in Ketterdam, the country’s capital and a clear analogue to Rotterdam and Amsterdam. FreestateAmsterdam is in full effect in The Barrel, the city district analogous to the Red Light District. Kerch as a country also controls the world’s economy and trade, and has the most powerful navy despite it’s small land area. There are two Kerch POV characters over the course of the entire ‘Verse: gang leader Kaz Brekker and merchant’s son Wylan Van Eck.

* ''Literature/HansBrinkerOrTheSilverSkates''
* ''VideoGame/HitmanCodename47'' and ''VideoGame/HitmanContracts'' have a series of missions in Rotterdam.

* In the ''Series/{{JAG}}'', episode "People v. [=SecNav=]", they go to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

* The Flemish ''ComicBook/DeKiekeboes''' albums ''"Kiekeboe in Carré"'' and ''"De Zes Sterren"'' take place in Amsterdal.

* ''Literature/LittleSophieAndLankyFlop''
* ''WesternAnimation/{{MASK}}'': The episode ''In Dutch'' takes place in the Netherlands, though the characters erroneously call the country Holland. In this episode, the villains threaten to blow up the dikes if the Dutch government does not hand over power.

* One episode of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' focuses on [[DaChief Director Vance's]] first mission as an agent, which took place in Amsterdam. It's where he and [[BadassIsraeli Eli David]] first met and became friends.
* ''Film/OceansTwelve'' includes the caper crew visiting Amsterdam. The city-setting was [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] though by the fact that prominent scenes of the movie that take place in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam_Centraal_station Amsterdam Central Train Station]], in reality were shot in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haarlem_railway_station Haarlem Train Station]] instead - because while Amsterdam Central Train Station looks [[https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=674&q=amsterdam+centraal pretty on the outside]], the inside looks completely generic (at least at the time the movie was shot - it's been thoroughly renovated since) while [[https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=674&q=haarlem+trein+station Haarlem Train Station]]'s interior and tracks look/(ed) majestic.
* ''Fanfic/PokemonXNimjaPlayTheGame''. Possibly the most Dutch fanfic in the world, it not only contains a ''lot'' of spoken Dutch, but also some [[{{Pun}} Dutch]] ''spoken.'' Which makes sense- the guy who inspired that series, Nimja, is a real-life Dutch hypnotist.
* The Disney/{{Pluto}} cartoon "In Dutch" (1948)
* ''Series/TheSaint'': Season 5 Episode 7 is set in the Netherlands.
* ''VideoGame/Sly3HonorAmongThieves'' has its third episode, "Flight of Fancy", set in Kinderdijk.

* ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'' has a brief segment in rural Netherlands, which serves as a launchpad for the climax.
* ''ComicBook/TomPoes''

* The Flemish ''ComicBook/{{Urbanus}}'' album ''De Laatste Hollander''
* ''Series/VanDerValk''

* Van Helsing, Literature/{{Dracula}}'s enemy, is a Dutchman
* Creator/VanKootenEnDeBie: Between 1964 and 1998 the Netherlands' most famous satirical duo.

* Creator/JackieChan's ''Film/WhoAmI1998''

* Dairy in any form is consumed a ''lot'': cheese, milk, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(dairy_product) quark]], yoghurt [[note]]contrary to in other countries, mostly in its most plain, non-flavoured, non-added-sugar form[[/note]] and ''vla''[[note]]which ''does'' have added sugar, but is also thickened with eggs[[/note]]. Reclaimed seabed is particularly welcoming to grass growth, which of course means a lot of cows.

* Dairy in any form is consumed a ''lot'': cheese, milk, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(dairy_product) quark]], yoghurt [[note]]contrary to in other countries, mostly in its most plain, non-flavoured, non-added-sugar form[[/note]] and ''vla''[[note]]which ''does'' have added sugar[[/note]]. Reclaimed seabed is particularly welcoming to grass growth, which of course means a lot of cows.

* Dairy in any form is consumed a ''lot'': cheese, milk, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(dairy_product) quark]], yoghurt [[note]]contrary to in other countries, mostly in its most plain, non-flavoured, non-added-sugar form[[/note]] and ''vla''[[note]]which ''does'' have added sugar[[/note]]. Reclaimed seabed is particularly welcoming to grass, which of course means a lot of cows.

* Dairy in any form is consumed a ''lot'': cheese, milk, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(dairy_product) quark]], yoghurt [[note]]contrary to in other countries, mostly in its most plain, non-flavoured, non-added-sugar form[[/note]].

* Van Helsing, Franchise/{{Dracula}}'s enemy, is a Dutchman

It stayed out of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI (but had to deal with about one million Belgian refugees fleeing the German invasion), and was invaded by Germany in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (and its Indonesian colonies were invaded by the Japanese). Over 100,000 Jews were sent to the camps, [[Literature/TheDiaryOfAYoungGirl Anne Frank]] among them.

* Media is rated for sex, violence, swearing etc. and 16+ can't be shown on television before 10 PM [[note]] And movie theaters check ID's for admittance to 16+ movies, where sub-16s aren't admitted to ''even if their legal guardian is present and consenting''[[/note]], but [[http://www.kijkwijzer.nl/about-kijkwijzer Kijkwijzer]] tends to rate milder in general against sex and nudity, compared to the MPAA in the U.S.A.

Although the country's name is plural in many languages, the Dutch name for it is simply "Nederland", which would translate to "Netherland". [[UsefulNotes/TheBeautifulProvincesOfNederland "The Kingdom of the Netherlands", plural, consists of Aruba, Curaçao, the Netherlands, and Sint Maarten]]. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland_(disambiguation) Holland]]'' actually is the name of only two of its provinces (North Holland and South Holland), but is often used casually to refer to the entire Netherlands country, even by many Dutch people (similar to how "UsefulNotes/{{England}}" is often used to refer to the entirety of the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom. The Netherlands is even called "Holland" in Japan[[note]]her sole trade partner during the two centuries of isolationism[[/note]] and Indonesia[[note]]her former colonial master[[/note]].

Although the country's name is plural in many languages, the Dutch name for it is simply "Nederland", which would translate to "Netherland". [[UsefulNotes/TheBeautifulProvincesOfNederland "The Kingdom of the Netherlands", plural, consists of Aruba, Curaçao, the Netherlands, and Sint Maarten]]. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland_(disambiguation) Holland]]'' actually is the name of only two of its provinces (North Holland and South Holland), but is often used casually to refer to the entire Netherlands country, even by many Dutch people (similar to how "UsefulNotes/{{England}" is often used to refer to the entirety of the UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom. The Netherlands is even called "Holland" in Japan[[note]]her sole trade partner during the two centuries of isolationism[[/note]] and Indonesia[[note]]her former colonial master[[/note]].

Although the country's name is plural in many languages, the Dutch name for it is simply "Nederland", which would translate to "Netherland". [[UsefulNotes/TheBeautifulProvincesOfNederland "The Kingdom of the Netherlands", plural, consists of Aruba, Curaçao, the Netherlands, and Sint Maarten]]. ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland_(disambiguation) Holland]]'' actually is the name of only two of its provinces (North Holland and South Holland), but is often used casually to refer to the entire Netherlands country, even by many Dutch people (similar to how "England" is often used to refer to the entirety of the United Kingdom). The Netherlands is even called "Holland" in Japan[[note]]her sole trade partner during the two centuries of isolationism[[/note]] and Indonesia[[note]]her former colonial master[[/note]].

* ''Literature/GrishaVerse'' has the country of Kerch as a FantasyCounterpartCulture. It’s most prominent in the ''Six Of Crows'' duology, especially the second book, ''Crooked Kingdom'', which is mostly set in Ketterdam, the country’s capital and a clear analogue to Rotterdam and Amsterdam. FreestyleAmsterdam is in full effect in The Barrel, the city district analogous to the Red Light District. Kerch as a country also controls the world’s economy and trade, and has the most powerful navy despite it’s small land area. There are two Kerch POV characters over the course of the entire ‘Verse: gang leader Kaz Brekker and merchant’s son Wylan Van Eck.

* ''Literature/GrishaVerse'' has the country of Kerch as a FantasyCounterpartCulture. It’s most prominent in the ''Six Of Crows'' duology, especially the second book, ''Crooked Kingdom'', which is mostly set in Ketterdam, the country’s capital and a clear analogue to Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Kerch as a country controls the world’s economy and trade, and has the most powerful navy despite it’s small land area. There are two Kerch POV characters over the course of the entire ‘Verse: gang leader Kaz Brekker and merchant’s son Wylan Van Eck.

* Alcohol is legal to buy or consume for persons of 18 years and over. Supermarkets can sell beer (which, before you ask, isn't only Heineken), wine and port, but not strong liquor like vodka or whiskey. The official policy is that any person "looking to be under 30 years of age" has to show ID at supermarket check-out lanes when buying alcohol, and this is being more strongly enforced lately since government uses undercover underage(-looking) people as "bait" to check if supermarkets and bars adhere to this rule, and heavily fines them if they don't.

* Ride/{{Efteling}}, the country's most popular {{theme park|s}}.

* UsefulNotes/Pillarisation

* ''Film/{{Zwartboek}}''

The Netherlands ('''Dutch:''' ''Nederland'') is a country in Western Europe. It's famous for not only being flat, but in large part below sea level. It's also the country of cheese (Gouda, Edam), Delftware, [[LandOfTulipsAndWindmills windmills, tulips, clogs]], [[Creator/RembrandtVanRijn some of]] [[Creator/JohannesVermeer the greatest]] [[Creator/HieronymusBosch painters]] [[Creator/VincentVanGogh the world]] has ever known, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick blow-up dolls, and cannabis.]]

* Regarding alcoholic drinks: beer is popular; the most popular brands are Heineken and Grolsch - both successful export products, of course. Though in the 2010's, the Dutch tend to consume more and more Belgian beers. The ''de facto'' Dutch strong liquor is ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenever jenever]]'' - the ancestral form of gin, and dominated by juniper flavor. ''Jenever'' is somewhat unusual among gins--and botanical-infused liquor generally--in that it is often batch-distilled in pot stills (rather than continuously distilled in column stills) and may be aged in oak barrels, creating a drink more like a Scotch with botanicals than a traditional gin.[[note]]A few American distilleries have adopted this technique, but they are hard to find unless you have one such in your area (e.g. you live close enough to UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}} to get the barrel-aged version of Philadelphia Distilling Co.'s Bluecoat Gin.[[/note]] By now old-fashioned, but still loved by old people, is ''advocaat'' - a drink of eggs and brandy that's yellow and thick and has a custard-like taste (an alcoholic version of eggnog).

* Regarding alcoholic drinks: beer is popular; the most popular brands are Heineken and Grolsch - both successful export products, of course. Though in the 2010's, the Dutch tend to consume more and more Belgian beers. The ''de facto'' Dutch strong liquor is ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenever jenever]]'' - the ancestral form of gin, and dominated by juniper flavor. ''Jenever'' is somewhat unusual among gins--and botanical-infused liquor generally--in that it is often batch-distilled in pot stills (rather than continuously distilled in column stills) and may be aged in oak barrels, creating a drink more like a Scotch with botanicals than a traditional gin.[[note]]A few American distilleries have adopted this technique, but they are hard to find unless you have one such in your area (e.g. you live close enough to UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}} to get Philadelphia Distilling Co.'s barrel-aged Bluecoat gin.[[/note]] By now old-fashioned, but still loved by old people, is ''advocaat'' - a drink of eggs and brandy that's yellow and thick and has a custard-like taste (an alcoholic version of eggnog).

* Regarding alcoholic drinks: beer is popular; the most popular brands are Heineken and Grolsch - both successful export products, of course. Though in the 2010's, the Dutch tend to consume more and more Belgian beers. The ''de facto'' Dutch strong liquor is ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenever jenever]]'' - a gin made of juniper. By now old-fashioned, but still loved by old people, is ''advocaat'' - a drink of eggs and brandy that's yellow and thick and has a custard-like taste (an alcoholic version of eggnog).

The Dutch Republic was an interesting beast. Nominally a loose confederation of quasi-independent states, it was in practice dominated by Holland. To further complicate matters, although each province was in theory free to appoint anyone "stadtholder" (commander of its armed forces), in practice every province gave the position to the head of the House of Orange-Nassau. As a result, the Princes of Orange (from French lineage) were generally accorded quasi-royal status by the monarchies of Europe, which is why William III of Orange was judged to be an acceptable husband (and co-ruler) for [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfStuart Mary II of England]] (and, not incidentally, that his ''father'' was considered an acceptable husband for an English princess; yeah, William and Mary were [[KissingCousins first cousins]]).

The structure of the United Provinces also had an impact on later federalist political theory: the founders of UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates looked to the Dutch Republic as a model for the federalism aspect of its political system, basing the Articles of Confederation on it: the Confederation Congress (one state, one vote) was modeled on the Dutch States-General, as was the practice of having some lands administered directly by the federal legislature (in the Netherlands these were called Generality Lands; in the US, Territories). As it happened, the first part only really worked in the Netherlands because of Holland's domination over the other provinces, and was quickly dropped (albeit modified in the form of the Senate), but the territorial system worked out rather well and was retained. Both of these innovations, with modifications, later spread to other federal regimes (e.g. Canada, Australia, Mexico, and India).