Portal:Netherlands

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Welcome to the Netherlands Portal!
Welkom bij het Nederlandportaal!

The Netherlands is one of four constituent countries in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands is a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarch, located in northwestern Europe. It borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east.
Since 2010, the Caribbean islands of Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius have become part of the country of the Netherlands, whereas Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten are considered separate countries within the Kingdom, however only the Kingdom functions internationally as a sovereign state.

Although the Netherlands is often referred to as Holland, this use is strictly incorrect, as Holland is a region in the central-western part of the Netherlands, consisting of only two of the country's twelve provinces. The country's constitutional capital is Amsterdam, but the seat of government is in The Hague. The Hague also locates most international embassies, as well as the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.

The Netherlands is a very densely populated and geographically one of the most low-lying countries in the world (its name literally means "Low lands") that is popularly famous for, among other things, its dikes and canals, windmills, wooden shoes, tulips, bicycles and social tolerance. Its liberal policies, for instance regarding drugs, homosexuality or prostitution receive international attention.
As of 2014^[update] the country ranks fourth in the world on the United Nations Human Development Index, or third on the inequality-adjusted H.D.I.. The Netherlands also ranked as the fourth happiest country in the world in the U.N.'s 2013 World Happiness Report, reflecting its high quality of life.

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The Garden of Earthly Delights (or The Millennium) is a triptych painted by the early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450–1516), housed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid since 1939. Dating from 1503 and 1504, when Bosch was about 50 years old, it is his best-known and most ambitious work. Bosch's masterpiece reveals the artist at the height of his powers; in no other painting does he achieve such complexity of meaning or such vivid imagery. The triptych depicts several biblical and heretical scenes on a grand scale and as a "true triptych", as defined by Hans Belting, was probably intended to illustrate the history of mankind according to medieval Christian doctrine.

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Credit: Dutch Wikipedia user Erik Zachte

Leiden, situated in South Holland, is a city and municipality with over a hundred thousand inhabitants. It is located on the Old Rhine and has a detailed history stretching back to the 1400s.

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Tiësto, stage name of Tijs Michiel Verwest (born 17 January 1969) is one of the world's most famous disc jockeys and record producers in the electronic dance music scene. His accomplishments include being voted "World’s number one DJ" three consecutive times by DJ Mag from 2002 through 2004 and becoming the first DJ to play live on stage in front of a public audience at an Olympic Games at the 2004 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony in Athens. He also won the Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical for his remixed version of John Legend's hit "All of Me" at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.

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Did you know...

... that Dutch Nuna solar racing team, guided by former Space Shuttle astronaut Wubbo Ockels (pictured) won the World Solar Challenge six times out of the last eight events ?
... that The Hague is home to over 150 international organisations (including NGOs) working in the field of peace and justice ?
... the Netherlands is a very densely populated country for its size ? With 406 people per km² – or 498 if inland waters are excluded – only Bangladesh, South Korea and Taiwan have both a larger population and a higher population density.
... the Netherlands is nevertheless the world's second largest exporter of food and agriculture products, after the United States ?
... and that it has the most plentiful, nutritious and healthy food, according to a 2014 comparison of 125 countries by Oxfam ?
... a UNICEF report published in 2007 ranked the Netherlands as the best country for children to live in ?
... the Netherlands also exports more flowers and flower bulbs than the rest of the world combined ?
... the KLM is the longest running national airline in the world ?
... the Port of Rotterdam was the world's busiest port from 1962–2002, and is now still the world's largest seaport outside of East Asia, measured by total cargo tonnage handled ?
... that two major clusters of flood control and land reclamation projects: the Delta Works and the Zuiderzee Works, were declared one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. ?
... of which the Maeslantkering storm surge barrier is one of the largest moving structures on Earth ?
... of which the 1932 Afsluitdijk is still one of the world's longest dams and causeways ?
... and of which the Flevopolder, at an area of 970 km² (370 sq. mi), is by far the world's largest artificial island ?