a brief overview of the netherlandsThe Dutch United Provinces became independent from Spain in the 1600s. It didn't take long for them to become an economic power in the world using the sea to their advantage. About a century later, in 1815, the Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed. At the time Belgium, the country that now borders the Netherlands, was included in the Kingdom until 1830. As we know from the Diary of Anne Frank, the Netherlands suffered from German invasion and occupation in WWII. Technically, the Netherlands full name is still the Kingdom of the Netherlands but it goes by the Netherlands most of the time. Like a lot of European countries they do have a monarchy in place, currently led by King Willem-Alexander, but most of the governing is done by their prime minister Mark Rutte. And some closing interesting facts: their national symbols are lions, tulips and they have the national color orange!
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Location & PopulationThe Netherlands is a seaside country, with over 451 km of coastline, in western Europe between Belgium and Germany. It is a relatively small country and is just over two times the size of New Jersey. However, it is pretty densely populated with around 17.2 million Dutchmen and Dutchwomen. Of those Dutchmen and Dutchwomen about 76.9% are actually Dutch. The rest of the population is relatively diverse splitting between Turkish, Moroccan, Polish and various other ethnic groups. The graph to the left shows the divide among all ethnic groups in the Netherlands. The most densely populated areas of the Netherlands are, unsurprisingly, the areas surrounding Amsterdam, known as the Randstad region, with surrounding cities such as Rotterdam, the Hague, and Utrecht.
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Language & religion
Unsurprisingly the official language of the Dutch Kingdom is in fact Dutch. However, like in most other countries there are plenty of other languages spoken in the country. Frisian, Papiamento and English are all recognized languages in the different provinces and regions of the Netherlands including the Caribbean Netherlands. Similar to the variety of ethnic groups the Netherlands has, there are a wide variety of religions as well. As you can see from the graph to the right, the largest religious group is actually a group who isn't religious. Around 50.7% of people in the Netherlands identify as having no religion. The other approximate 50% is made up of those that are Roman Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish.
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Cover image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands
The World Factbook: Netherlands. (2018, February 1). Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/nl.html
The World Factbook: Netherlands. (2018, February 1). Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/nl.html