Dutch, Holland, Netherlands…Seniors Enjoy

The Netherlands is bounded by the North Sea, Germany  and Belgium. With over 16 million people in an area roughly twice the size of New Jersey, it’s a densely populated country. Its gorgeous capital Amsterdam is just one of many interesting cities.

The name “Netherlands” means low-lying country; one-quarter of the country at or below sea level. Many areas are protected from flooding by dykes and sea walls; much land has been reclaimed from the sea. A polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes. The process of careful water management dates  back to medieval times.

The people, language, and culture of the Netherlands is referred to as “Dutch” and as our senior friends would tell us all the time “If you ain’t Dutch, you ain’t much.” Then there is the English saying: “God created the world but the Dutch created Holland.”

 

So why is it also called Holland? Holland is actually the name for two of its 12 provinces, Holland and South Holland. Holland was the largest and most powerful province in the Dutch Republic; the name Holland comes from Houtland, or “Wooded Land.” Netherlands is the correct name for the entire country.

Cheese, Art and Orange Define the Netherlands, Seniors Learn

The Netherlands has a rich history. This is the land of Hans Brinker, Edam and Gouda; the Dutch are cheese-heads. Archeological digs have proven that cheese was already being made on Dutch soil thousands of years ago. Then there are the Windmills, The Hague and Heineken Beer.

Orange is the national color of the Dutch Royal Family. The lineage of the current dynasty, the House of Oranje-Nassau, dates back to Willem van Oranje, William of Orange. But while the color has royal roots in the Netherlands, today it symbolizes a broader pride in the country and in being Dutch.

Art is king and the Rijksmuseum is the premier art museum of the Netherlands. No self-respecting senior visitor to Amsterdam can afford to miss it. There is an excellent collection of around 200 masterpieces from the Netherlands rich history of great painters.

The 17th century was the age of the Dutch Masters, such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer and Jan Steen. The 19th and 20th centuries were no less remarkable for high-calibre artists like Vincent van Gogh and Piet Mondriaan.

This remarkable country’s fertile, pancake-flat landscape is gridded with drainage ditches and canals, beneath huge open skies, while the country’s towns and villages are often pristine and unchanged places of gabled townhouses, pretty canals and church spires.

In spring and summer the bulb fields provide bold splashes of color, and in the west and north the long coastline is marked by mile upon mile of protective dune, backing onto wide stretches of perfect sandy beach.

Veel plezier in Nederland - Have fun.  jeb