Portal:Netherlands

Portal:Netherlands

Portal:Netherlands

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Welcome to the Netherlands Portal
Welkom bij het Nederlandportaal!

Netherlands

The Netherlands, informally Holland, is a country located in Northwestern Europe with overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands consists of twelve provinces; it borders Germany to the east and Belgium to the south, with a North Sea coastline to the north and west. It shares maritime borders with the United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium. The official language is Dutch, with West Frisian as a secondary official language in the province of Friesland. Dutch, English, and Papiamento are official in the Caribbean territories.

The Netherlands has been a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a unitary structure since 1848. The country has a tradition of pillarisation (separation of citizens into groups by religion and political beliefs) and a long record of social tolerance, having legalised prostitution and euthanasia, along with maintaining a liberal drug policy. The Netherlands allowed women's suffrage in 1919 and was the first country to legalise same-sex marriage in 2001. Its mixed-market advanced economy has the eleventh-highest per capita income globally. The Hague holds the seat of the States General, Cabinet, and Supreme Court. The Port of Rotterdam is the busiest in Europe. Schiphol is the busiest airport in the Netherlands, and the fourth busiest in Europe. Being a developed country, the Netherlands is a founding member of the European Union, Eurozone, G10, NATO, OECD, and WTO, as well as a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. It hosts intergovernmental organisations and international courts, many of which are in The Hague. (Full article...)

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  • Jacobus Anthonie Meessen (Dutch pronunciation: [jaːˈkoːbʏs ɑnˈtoːni ˈmeːsə(n)]; 5 December 1836 – 14 November 1885) was a Dutch photographer who took more than 250 portraits and landscapes of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) between 1864 and 1870. Born to a carpenter in Utrecht, Meessen worked in that trade in the Indies before marrying in the Netherlands in the early 1860s. He returned to the colony in 1864, intent on documenting its land and people. He worked mostly in the capital of Batavia (now Jakarta), Java, and Padang, Sumatra; he also photographed Bangka, Belitung, Borneo, and Nias.

    When Meessen returned to the Netherlands in 1870, he established a short-lived partnership with Abraham Vermeulen and began disseminating his photographs. Selected images were given to King William III in an elaborately decorated album in 1871, while more were published by De Bussy in 1875 and exhibited in Paris and Amsterdam. In his final years, Meessen worked predominantly as an architect. Collections of his albumen prints, some of which were hand-tinted or annotated, are held in four institutions in the Netherlands. (Full article...)
  • A tulip, known as "the Viceroy" (viseroij), displayed in the 1637 Dutch catalogue Verzameling van een Meenigte Tulipaanen. Its bulb was offered for sale for between 3,000 and 4,200 guilders (florins) depending on weight (gewooge). A skilled craftsworker at the time earned about 300 guilders a year.


    Tulip mania (Dutch: tulpenmanie) was a period during the Dutch Golden Age when contract prices for some bulbs of the recently introduced and fashionable tulip reached extraordinarily high levels. The major acceleration started in 1634 and then dramatically collapsed in February 1637. It is generally considered to have been the first recorded speculative bubble or asset bubble in history. In many ways, the tulip mania was more of a then-unknown socio-economic phenomenon than a significant economic crisis. It had no critical influence on the prosperity of the Dutch Republic, which was one of the world's leading economic and financial powers in the 17th century, with the highest per capita income in the world from about 1600 to about 1720. The term tulip mania is now often used metaphorically to refer to any large economic bubble when asset prices deviate from intrinsic values.

    Forward markets appeared in the Dutch Republic during the 17th century. Among the most notable was one centred on the tulip market. At the peak of tulip mania, in February 1637, some single tulip bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled artisan. Research is difficult because of the limited economic data from the 1630s, much of which come from biased and speculative sources. Some modern economists have proposed rational explanations, rather than a speculative mania, for the rise and fall in prices. For example, other flowers, such as the hyacinth, also had high initial prices at the time of their introduction, which then fell as the plants were propagated. The high prices may also have been driven by expectations of a parliamentary decree that contracts could be voided for a small cost, thus lowering the risk to buyers. (Full article...)

  • Chinezenmoord, Unknown author

    The 1740 Batavia massacre (Dutch: Chinezenmoord, lit. 'Murder of the Chinese'; Indonesian: Geger Pacinan, lit. 'Chinatown tumult') was a massacre and pogrom in which European soldiers of the Dutch East India Company killed ethnic Chinese residents of the port city of Batavia, Dutch East Indies, (present-day Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies. The violence in the city lasted from 9 October 1740, until 22 October, with minor skirmishes outside the walls continuing late into November that year. Historians have estimated that at least 10,000 ethnic Chinese were massacred; just 600 to 3,000 are believed to have survived.

    In September 1740, as unrest rose among the Chinese population, spurred by government repression and declining sugar prices, Governor-General Adriaan Valckenier declared that any uprising would be met with deadly force. On 7 October, hundreds of ethnic Chinese, many of them sugar mill workers, killed 50 Dutch soldiers, leading Dutch troops to confiscate all weapons from the Chinese populace and to place the Chinese under a curfew. Two days later, rumors of Chinese atrocities led other Batavian ethnic groups to burn Chinese houses along Besar River and Dutch soldiers to fire cannons at Chinese homes in revenge. The violence soon spread throughout Batavia, killing more Chinese. Although Valckenier declared an amnesty on 11 October, gangs of irregulars continued to hunt down and kill Chinese until 22 October, when the governor-general called more forcefully for a cessation of hostilities. Outside the city walls, clashes continued between Dutch troops and rioting sugar mill workers. After several weeks of minor skirmishes, Dutch-led troops assaulted Chinese strongholds in sugar mills throughout the area. (Full article...)

  • Cover of the novelisation

    Asmara Moerni ([asˈmara mʊrˈni]; Perfected Spelling: Asmara Murni; Indonesian for True Love) is a 1941 romance film from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) directed by Rd Ariffien and produced by Ang Hock Liem for Union Films. Written by Saeroen, the film followed a doctor who falls in love with his maid, as well as her failed romance with a fellow villager. Starring Adnan Kapau Gani, Djoewariah, and S. Joesoef, the black-and-white film was cast and advertised to cater to the growing native intelligentsia. Despite mixed reviews, it was a commercial success. As with most films of the Indies, Asmara Moerni may be lost. (Full article...)

  • Film flyer

    Air Mata Iboe (Perfected spelling: Air Mata Ibu; Malay for A Mother's Tears) is a 1941 drama film from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) directed and written by Njoo Cheong Seng. Starring Fifi Young, Rd Ismail, Ali Sarosa, and Ali Joego, it followed a mother who raises her children lovingly but is ultimately betrayed by her eldest sons when she falls upon hard times. The film, billed as a "musical extravaganza," featured a soundtrack by R. Koesbini, and an eponymous title song written by Njoo.

    Air Mata Iboe was the last production completed by Fred Young's Majestic Film Company. The film was filmed throughout June to December 1941, and was released that month as well, prior to the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies. It is now possibly lost, although it still might be hidden somewhere. A titular remake was later produced in 1957. (Full article...)

  • Cover, first printing (1929)

    Drama dari Krakatau ([ˈdrama daˈri kraˈkatau]; Drama of Krakatoa) is a 1929 vernacular Malay novel written by Kwee Tek Hoay. Inspired by Edward Bulwer-Lytton's 1834 novel The Last Days of Pompeii and the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, the sixteen-chapter book centres on two families in 1920s Batam that are unknowingly tied together by siblings who were separated in 1883. The brother becomes a political figure, while the sister marries a Baduy priest-king. Ultimately, these families are reunited by the wedding of their children, after which the priest sacrifices himself to calm a stirring Krakatoa.

    First published as a serial in Kwee's magazine Panorama between 7 April and 22 December 1928, Drama dari Krakatau was written over a period of two months after the author was asked to prepare a "sensational" story for a film. Before the final instalment had been published, the novel had already been adapted for the stage. Although Kwee was known as a realist and researched the volcano before writing, Drama dari Krakatau is replete with mysticism. Thematic analyses have focused on the depiction of indigenous cultures by Kwee (himself ethnic Chinese), as well as geography and nationalism. As with other works of Chinese Malay literature, the book is not considered part of the Indonesian literary canon. (Full article...)

  • LSTs landing supplies at Blue Beach, Morotai
    LSTs landing supplies at Blue Beach, Morotai

    The Battle of Morotai, part of the Pacific War, began on 15 September 1944, and continued until the end of the war in August 1945. The fighting started when United States and Australian forces landed on the southwest corner of Morotai, a small island in the Netherlands East Indies (NEI), which the Allies needed as a base to support the liberation of the Philippines later that year. The invading forces greatly outnumbered the island's Japanese defenders and secured their objectives in two weeks. Japanese reinforcements landed on the island between September and November, but lacked the supplies needed to effectively attack the Allied defensive perimeter. Intermittent fighting continued until the end of the war, with the Japanese troops suffering heavy loss of life from disease and starvation.

    Morotai's development into an Allied base began shortly after the landing, and two major airfields were ready for use in October. These and other base facilities played an important role in the Liberation of the Philippines during 1944 and 1945. Torpedo boats and aircraft based at Morotai also harassed Japanese positions in the NEI. The island's base facilities were further expanded in 1945 to support the Australian-led Borneo Campaign, and Morotai remained an important logistical hub and command center until the Dutch reestablished their colonial rule in the NEI. (Full article...)

  • One sheet

    Tjioeng Wanara ([tʃiˈuŋ waˈnara]; Perfected Spelling: Ciung Wanara) is a 1941 film from the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) directed and produced by Jo Eng Sek. Starring R Sukran, Elly Joenara and AB Djoenaedi, it featured more than 500 people in supporting roles. The film follows a young prince named Tjioeng Wanara who must reclaim his throne from the cruel King of Galuh; it is adapted from the Sundanese legend of the same name.

    The second production by Star Film, Tjioeng Wanara was released 18 August 1941. It was advertised heavily, emphasising the fact that the scholar Poerbatjaraka had served as the historical adviser and that the film was based on Balai Pustaka's version of the legend. It premiered to commercial success, but received mixed reviews. This black-and-white production, which was screened until at least 1948, is now thought lost. (Full article...)
  • Jan van Eyck, Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych, c. 1430–40. Oil on canvas, transferred from wood. Each 56.5 cm × 19.7 cm (22.25 in × 7.75 in); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York


    The Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych (or Diptych with Calvary and Last Judgement) consists of two small painted panels attributed to the Early Netherlandish artist Jan van Eyck, with areas finished by unidentified followers or members of his workshop. This diptych is one of the early Northern Renaissance oil-on-panel masterpieces, renowned for its unusually complex and highly detailed iconography, and for the technical skill evident in its completion. It was executed in a miniature format; the panels are just 56.5 cm (22.2 in) high by 19.7 cm (7.8 in) wide. The diptych was probably commissioned for private devotion.

    The left-hand wing depicts the Crucifixion. It shows Christ's followers grieving in the foreground, soldiers and spectators milling about in the mid-ground and a portrayal of three crucified bodies in the upper-ground. The scene is framed against an expansive and foreboding sky with a view of Jerusalem in the distance. The right-hand wing portrays scenes associated with the Last Judgement: a hellscape at its base, the resurrected awaiting judgement in the centre-ground, and a representation of Christ in Majesty flanked by a Great Deësis of saints, apostles, clergy, virgins and nobility in the upper section. Portions of the work contain Greek, Latin and Hebrew inscriptions. The original gilt frames contain Biblical passages in Latin drawn from the books of Isaiah, Deuteronomy and Revelation. According to a date written in Russian on their reverse, the panels were transferred to canvas supports in 1867. (Full article...)

  • Portrait by Godfrey Kneller, 1690

    Mary II (30 April 1662 – 28 December 1694) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, co-reigning with her husband, King William III and II, from 1689 until her death in 1694. She was also Princess of Orange following her marriage on 4 November 1677. Her joint reign with William over Britain is known as that of William and Mary.

    Mary was born during the reign of her uncle King Charles II. She was the eldest daughter of James, Duke of York (the future James II of England), and his first wife, Anne Hyde. Mary and her sister Anne were raised as Anglicans at the behest of Charles II, although their parents both converted to Roman Catholicism. Charles lacked legitimate children, making Mary second in the line of succession. At the age of 15, she married her cousin William of Orange, a Protestant. Charles died in 1685 and James became king, making Mary heir presumptive. James's attempts at rule by decree and the birth of his son from a second marriage, James Francis Edward (later known as "the Old Pretender"), led to his deposition in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the adoption of the English Bill of Rights. (Full article...)
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  • Twenty-two people are recorded as having produced fictional films in the Dutch East Indies between 1926, when L. Heuveldorp released Loetoeng Kasaroeng, the colony's first domestically produced film, and 1949, when the Dutch formally recognised Indonesia's sovereignty after a four-year revolution, leaving the Dutch East Indies defunct. Altogether, they are credited for 93 of all known films produced in the Indies, and four of them remained active after independence. All were men; the first female film producer in Indonesia, Ratna Asmara, produced her first film in 1953.

    The colony's first producer, Heuveldorp, was of European descent. He was followed in 1928 by the ethnic Chinese businessmen Tjan Tjoen Lian and Liem Goan Lian, who began work on Lily van Java but soon pulled out, to be replaced by David Wong. By 1930 Chinese producers had dominated the industry. The most active of these, The Teng Chun, made his debut in 1931 with Boenga Roos dari Tjikembang; he would go on to produce another 27 films before independence. No native Indonesian film producers are recorded from this period, although several productions were credited only to companies. (Full article...)
  • This page is a list of films that received the Golden Film since its introduction in 2001 by the Netherlands Film Festival and the Netherlands Film Fund. In 2001 and 2002, films from the Netherlands received the award once they had sold 75,000 tickets. From 2003 to date, the Golden Film is awarded to films from the Netherlands once they have sold 100,000 tickets. This page shows, for both audience criteria, which films received the Golden Film and how soon they received it after their releases.

    In the following tables, the 'year' column contains the years in which the films received the Golden Film, the '#' column contains the number of the Golden Film, the 'film title' column contains the titles of the receiving films, the 'film release' column contains the dates on which the films were first released in the cinemas, and the 'Golden Film' column contains the days when the Netherlands Film Festival and the Netherlands Film Fund announced that the receiving films reached the audience criterion of the Golden Film. (Full article...)
  • Since 1 January 2023, there have been 342 regular municipalities (Dutch: gemeenten) and three special municipalities (bijzondere gemeenten) in the Netherlands. The latter is the status of three of the six island territories that make up the Dutch Caribbean. Municipalities are the second-level administrative division, or public bodies (openbare lichamen), in the Netherlands and are subdivisions of their respective provinces. Their duties are delegated to them by the central government and they are ruled by a municipal council that is elected every four years. Municipal mergers have reduced the total number of municipalities by two-thirds since the first official boundaries were created in the mid 19th century. Municipalities themselves are informally subdivided into districts and neighbourhoods for administrative and statistical purposes.

    These municipalities come in a wide range of sizes, Westervoort is the smallest with a land area of 7.01 km2 (2.71 sq mi) and Súdwest-Fryslân the largest with a land area of 522.7 km2 (201.8 sq mi). Schiermonnikoog is both the least populated, with 982 people, and the least densely populated municipality at 23/km2 (60/sq mi). Amsterdam has the highest population with 918,117 residents as of January 2023, whereas The Hague is the most densely populated with a density of 6,827/km2 (17,680/sq mi). (Full article...)
  • The Battle of Camperdown, painted by Philip de Loutherbourg in 1799.


    The Battle of Camperdown was an important naval action of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought off Camperduin on the North Holland coast on 11 October 1797 between a British fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan and a Dutch fleet under Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter. The French Republic had overrun the Dutch Republic two years earlier, reforming it into the Batavian Republic. In early 1797, the Batavian Navy was ordered to sail to Brest and unite with the French Atlantic Fleet in preparation for an invasion of Ireland. Shortly afterwards, the British fleets were paralysed by the Spithead and Nore mutinies, in which the sailors refused to take their ships to sea until they were awarded better pay and conditions. For two months[citation needed], the English Channel was undefended, but the Dutch failed to take the opportunity to sail from their harbour in the Texel: their preparations were not complete, and a small squadron of loyal British ships under Duncan convinced de Winter that the British fleet was at sea by sending nonsensical signals to fictitious ships over the horizon.

    By October 1797, the plan to attack Ireland had been abandoned and the British North Sea Fleet was again at full strength. During a brief period replenishing supplies at Yarmouth, news reached Duncan on 10 October that the Dutch had sailed on a raiding cruise[citation needed] and he returned to the Dutch coast, intercepting de Winter's fleet on its way back to the Texel. The Dutch formed a line of battle in shallow coastal waters to meet Duncan's attack, which was conducted in a confused mass, the British fleet separating into two groups that struck the vanguard and rear of the Dutch fleet, overwhelming each in turn and capturing eleven ships, including de Winter's flagship Vrijheid. On the return journey, three of the captured ships were lost, and none of the surviving Dutch prizes was ever suitable for active service again[citation needed]. Both sides suffered heavy casualties during the battle as each fleet had been trained to aim at the hulls of their opponents, maximising the damage to personnel. (Full article...)
  • The Wong brothers (one pictured) were the first ethnic Chinese directors in the Indies.

    Twenty-nine people are recorded as having directed fictional films in the Dutch East Indies between 1926, when L. Heuveldorp released Loetoeng Kasaroeng, the colony's first domestically produced film, and 1949, when the Dutch formally recognised Indonesia's sovereignty after a four-year revolution, leaving the Dutch East Indies defunct. Thirteen directors active in the Indies continued to direct films after 1950, including Usmar Ismail: his 1950 film Darah dan Doa (The Long March) is generally considered the first truly Indonesian film.

    The colony's first directors, L. Heuveldorp and George Krugers, were of European or mixed descent. They were followed by ethnic Chinese soon after, when Nelson Wong made his debut in 1928 with Lily van Java; other Chinese directors included Lie Tek Swie (1929), Wong's brothers Joshua and Othniel (1930), and The Teng Chun (1931). Ethnic Chinese directors dominated the colony's cinema for the remainder of its existence. The first native director, Bachtiar Effendi, made his debut in 1932 with the talkie Njai Dasima; another native director would not appear until Andjar Asmara and Rd Ariffien made their debuts in 1940. (Full article...)
  • The Amsterdam Tournament (Dutch: Amsterdam Toernooi) was a pre-season association football competition, held in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The competition was hosted by Eredivisie club Ajax at the Amsterdam Arena. It was inaugurated in 1975 as the Amsterdam 700 Tournament to celebrate 700 years of history in the city. It was held annually each summer until 1992, when the last edition of the original tournament was played. It returned in 1999 with the backing of the International Event Partnership (IEP). Four teams participate in the competition, played in a league format since 1986.

    Since its return, the tournament has used an unusual point scoring system. As with most league competitions, three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. An additional point, however, is awarded for each goal scored. The system is designed to reward teams that adopt a more attacking style of play. Each entrant plays two matches, with the winner being the club that finishes at the top of the table. The original competition was held at Amsterdam's Olympic Stadium, where Ajax played its international games until 1996. The Amsterdam Arena, now named the Johan Cruyff Arena, has played host to the event since the return until 2009. (Full article...)
  • Film poster for Loetoeng Kasaroeng, the first locally produced film released in the Dutch East Indies

    A total of 112 fictional films are known to have been produced in the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) between 1926 and the colony's dissolution in 1949. The earliest motion pictures, imported from abroad, were shown in late 1900, and by the early 1920s imported serials and fictional films were being shown, often with localised names. Dutch companies were also producing documentary films about the Indies to be shown in the Netherlands. The first reports of fictional film production in the Indies date from 1923, although the work in question was not completed. The first locally produced film, Loetoeng Kasaroeng, was directed by L. Heuveldorp and released on 31 December 1926.

    Between 1926 and 1933 numerous other local productions were released. Although Dutchmen like Heuveldorp and George Krugers continued to be active in the industry, the majority of filmmakers and producers were ethnic Chinese. The Tan brothers (Khoen Yauw and Khoen Hian) and The Teng Chun were major producers during this period, while the Wong brothers (Nelson, Othniel, and Joshua) were among the more prominent directors. During the mid-1930s, production dropped as a result of the Great Depression. The release of Albert Balink's commercially and critically successful Terang Boelan (Full Moon) in 1937 led to renewed interest in filmmaking, and 1941 saw thirty locally produced films. This rate of production declined after the Japanese occupation beginning in early 1942, closing all but one film studio; this resulted in several films which had begun production in 1941 being released several years later. The majority of films produced during the occupation were short propaganda pieces. Following the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence in 1945 and during the ensuing revolution several films were made, by both pro-Dutch and pro-Indonesian backers; the Dutch formally recognised Indonesia's sovereignty on 27 December 1949, leaving the Dutch East Indies defunct. (Full article...)
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Selected biography

Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende, Jr. (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈjɑn ˈpeːtər ˈbɑlkənˌɛndə]; born 7 May 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 until 14 October 2010. Balkenende, a jurist by occupation, worked for the Academic Council and the Christian Democratic Appeal Think tank from 1982 until 1998. Balkenende became a professor of Christian theology at the VU University Amsterdam in 1993. He was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after the Dutch general election of 1998, serving from 19 May 1998 until 22 July 2002. After the then Leader of the CDA and Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives Jaap de Hoop Scheffer stepped down, Balkenende was selected to succeed him in both positions, and became the top candidate for the Dutch general election of 2002. The CDA became the surprising winner of the election, gaining 14 seats becoming the largest party in the House of Representatives.

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This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Portal:Netherlands, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.