26th July: Netherlands Independence Day

Today is the Netherlands Independence Day, so here are 10 things you might not know about the country.

1. First of all, Netherlands, rather than the often used "Holland" is the correct name for the country. Strictly speaking, Holland is a region of the Netherlands rather than the country as a whole.
2. The country is known for being flat, and low (hence the name Netherlands). About half the country is less than 1 metre above sea level, and the highest point, Vaalserberg, is only 323 meters above sea level. This makes the Netherlands at high risk of being flooded, which is why there are so many dikes and Windmills there. Windmills weren't just for grinding grain, but were pumping stations for irrigation. There are still 1180 windmills in the Netherlands - there used to be many more.
3. Conversely, the Dutch people are the tallest in the world. The average height is 184 cm for men and 170 cm for women. Some scientists have suggested this is because they eat a lot of dairy produce - and they can, because the Dutch have the lowest incidence of lactose intolerance in the world at only 1%.
4. The Netherlands has more Bicycles than people. People tend to own two or three bicycles each, making a total of about 18 million.
5. The Netherlands is responsible for the colour of Carrots. Up until the 16th century, carrots were white, Yellow, Black, purple or red - any colour but orange, in fact. Orange is the national colour of the Netherlands in honour of the House of Orange, who led the Dutch Revolt against Spain and later became the Dutch Royal family. It's thought that Dutch farmers selectively bred carrots in the 16th century in order to produce the orange ones we know today.
6. Despite being such a sign of patriotism, the colour orange does not appear on the Dutch Flag, which is red, white and blue. The flag of the Netherlands dates from 1572 and is the oldest tricolour flag. The national anthem, Wilhelmus, is the oldest in the world. It was used from 1568, although it was only officially adopted in 1932.
7. 75% of the world's flower bulb production comes from Netherlands (although Tulips were originally native to Turkey) and 70% of the world's bacon. It is the largest exporter of Cheese in the world, and they also export a lot of Beer, especially to the USA.
8. Things invented in the Netherlands include the microscope, the Telescope, pendulum clock, the mercury thermometer, the audio tape, the video tape, the Compact Disk, the CD-ROM, and gin, which was originally called "jenever", and was used for medicinal purposes in the 16th century.
9. It is Europe's most densely populated large country (ie with a population of over a million - so Monaco doesn't count) and the third in the world, with 493 inhabitants per square km. Only Bangladesh and Taiwan have a higher density of population.
10. The Dutch were pioneers in the world of business. The Dutch East India Company was the first truly multinational company in the world, and was the first to issue stocks in 1602. Hence the Netherlands has the oldest stock exchange in the world, dating from the same year.

My Books

As well as this blog, I also write fiction and have published two novels (Death and Faxes and Glastonbury Swan) and a collection of short stories (Jigsaw). If you like ghost stories, crime stories, a bit of romance and anything slightly bizarre you might enjoy them. 

Further details on my books page