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The Netherlands is not very so there is not much land. Evan with this over half of the countries total land area is farmland. Dairy farming is the most important part of farming in the Netherlands. Many dairy farmers als grow crops but mostly to feed their livestock. By using modern equipment and fertilizing the soil a lot Dutch farmers have made their land as productive as possible. The principal crops include mushrooms, onions, potatoes, sugar beets, tomatoes, and wheat. Flowers and vegetables are grown in giant greenhouses. These are trucked to nearby countries and often flown to different parts of the world. Flower bulbs, especially tulip bulbs are also really important. Manufacturing is also a big part of the economy. Many large international manufacturers have headquarters in the Netherlands. Food processing is a major manufacturing industry in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands uses Euros. 1 Euro is 1.20 us dollars

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Fishing and mining also help the economy. The fish comes mainly from coastal waters and inlets. Herring, mackerel, plaice, sardines, shrimp, sole and whiting are some of the major catches in the Netherlands. The Netherlands has large deposits of natural gas and some petroleum. One of the largest gas fields in the world is in Slochteren. Energy sources are also important to the economy. The Netherland's oil wells supply only a small part of its petroleum needed. Natural gas provides much of the country’s energy. If you have ever been to the Netherlands you have probably seen windmills everywhere. This is a big part of providing energy for the country.  The Dutch economy relies a lot on foreign trade because it doesn’t have a lot of natural resources. The main imports include, chemicals, clothing, automobiles, food, iron and steel, machinery and electronic equipment, flowers, meat , natural gas and vegetables.

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The Netherlands has a constitutional monarchy, which means it has a monarch but it’s powers are limited by a constitution.  Throughout history there has been many absolute monarchies, where the king or queen had the power to make or repeal laws whenever they wished. In a constitutional monarchy, the monarch is usually the country’s head of state but a lot of times there is someone else who is head of government. Usually this is a prime minister. King WIllem Alexander is the leader today.  The prime minister is Mark Rutte who has been in office since 2010. Amsterdam is the capital but the Government is located in the Hague.

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In parliament there are many different parties which hold seats. These parties believe in different things. The People’s Party for Freedom (VVD) and the Labour Party (PvdA) are two major parties. In the Netherlands the government takes many active  measures to fight and destroy discrimination of all kinds. The voting age is 18 and elections are free and fair. After World War II the turnout for national elections were over 90 percent for two decades. Recently only at an average of 77 percent of the people vote.

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Some of the world’s most famous painters ever. Vincent Van Gogh was one of the most famous painters from the Netherlands. He created many famous paintings such as starry night and the cafe terrace at night. Jan Vermeer  and Rembrandt are also Dutch.  There is a very famous museum in the Netherlands called the Rijksmuseum. There is a lot of really good art and historic items. One of the most famous exhibits is the nightwatch by Rembrandt. It has its own fires escape just incase! There are many music festivals in the Netherlands. The dutch like all kinds of music. One popular music festival is called Pinkpop, where many different famous singers and bands perform over 3 days.

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In the Netherlands there are 4 main land regions, The dunes, the polders, the sand plains and the southern uplands. The polders are places throughout the country which are below sea level. These are usually protected by sand dunes or Dikes. Lying at 22 feet under sea level the Prins Alexander Polder is the lowest in the Netherlands. Over two fifths of the country is covered by polders. Since these were often covered by swamps, lakes or seas, they have fertile areas of clay soils that consist of some of the most productive farms in the country. There are also dams to protect these lands since they are very important. Along the entire coast of the sea lies the dunes which are high sandy ridges which often has tall grass growing on top of them. Then there are the sand plains and the southern uplands. The southern uplands are the highest land in the Netherlands. It has naturally fertile soils and can rise over 1,000 feet! Lastly there are the sand plains which lie less than 100 feet above sea level, and often contain orchards in the east to grow fruit. Forests cover a lot of the region.

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In the Netherlands they speak dutch which is the german language family. There are some cognates in this to english but not a lot. There are many different dialect of dutch. Limburgse is one of the most difficult forms. They speak really fast and with a strong accent which if you are not used to it you won’t understand.

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In schools they learn english. Many instruction everywhere throughout the country are written in English and Dutch.

There are common saying in the Netherlands just like here. Wel te rusten, literally translates into well sleep but it is the same as saying goodnight. Goeiemorgen is good morning. Doie, is goodbye. Dankje wel, is thank you  and alsjeblieft is please and you’re welcome.

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The Netherlands has warm summers and gentle winters. Extremely hot or cold temperatures almost never occur. All over the country there is similar weather with around 25-30 inches of precipitation in a year. Summer is the wettest season but precipitation it all year round. Floods are carefully watched for since they can come from 2 directions. They can come from heavy storms from the north sea which can threaten the dunes and sea dikes, and floods can also occur from the rivers which press against the river dikes. Sometimes dikes break which causes floods .

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30% of the population is Roman Catholic. 20% of the people are Protestants including the royal family. Muslims are about 5% of the population and about 40% don’t have a religion.

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Instead of Christmas they celebrate on St. Nicholas’s Eve, December 5. The children believe that the good boys and girls get presents from Sinterklaas, who is kind of like Santa Claus. He has helpers who the kids call Zwarte Pete. The deliver the presents and they go down the chimney, leave the presents and go out very quickly.

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Transportation is very different from what we are used to. In the Netherlands many people don’t own cars so one of the most popular forms of transportation is biking. There are many stations where you can park and lock your bike or rent one. When I went to Amsterdam over the summer there were evan boats where you can park your bike. Trains and trams are also a very common ways of transportation. The dutch have a diet similar to most of Northern Europe. For breakfast there is usually bread, cheese, and cold meat. Most people eat a light lunch like a sandwich or a salad and for dinner there are a variety of different choices.

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The law makes sure children from ages 5-16 go to school. The Netherlands doesn’t have one high school program. Instead it has a variety of different programs that focus on specific standards. Ice skating is very popular throughout the country. But the climate in the Netherlands is often a problem because the ice sometimes doesn't get thick enough for skating. Sometimes when the ice is hard enough schools close and let the kids go skating. In really cold Winters there is a race that takes place on the waterways of Friesland which connects 11 cities and is 124 Miles!

The other popular sports are field hockey, soccer and tennis. The Dutch celebrate King’s day or Koningsdag. This is the birthday of their current king, Willem Alexander, on April 27. Dutch is the official language of the Netherlands. According to knoema.com in the Netherlands the adult literacy rate is around 99%.  The male life expectancy is 80.0 and the female life expectancy is 83.6

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1568-1584: William of Orange brought the people together and became the unofficial king of the Netherlands.

1572-1574: The Netherlands and Spain had another war and this time the Spanish kept invading town after town until in one town they found their first defeat and eventually the dutch won the war.

In 1806 Napoleon appointed his brother to be the king of the Netherlands, until the kingdom dissolved.

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In the south of the Netherlands the people weren’t happy with the rule of King Willem I so they revolted and became their own state of Belgium.

In 1863 the Netherlands made slavery illegal.

The Germans attacked in 1940. Although the Netherlands wanted to stay neutral they had no chance against the German army.

But after WWII surprisingly the unemployment rate fell greatly and the economy grew at an astonishing rate.

In 1958 the 6 members of the EEC established a tariff-free common market. This eventually led to the Eu which was created in 1993 in Maastricht Netherlands.