Netherlands
The Netherlands: a low-lying nation of polders, trade, and tolerance.
The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland, is a country 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 and three overseas special municipalities. European Netherlands has land borders with Germany to the east and with Belgium to the south, and a coastline to the north and west. It shares maritime borders with the United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium in the North Sea. 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. People from the Netherlands are referred to as Dutch.
- Tag
- NED
- Government type
- Republic
- Capital
- Amsterdam
- Unique mechanic
- Dutch East India Company (trade company in Malacca)
- Primary focus
- Trade, naval power, colonial commerce
Lore & Background
Netherlands literally means 'lower countries', in reference to its low elevation and flat topography, 26% of which is below sea level. Most of the areas below sea level, known as polders, are the result of land reclamation that began in the 14th century. In the Republican period, the Dutch Republic experienced major political, economic, and cultural development; this period is commonly known as the Dutch Golden Age. During this time, its trading companies, the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company, established multiple colonies and trading posts. While neutral in the First World War, the Netherlands was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany in 1940 during the Second World War, which lasted until the end of the war in 1945.
In Their Own Story
In the counting-houses along the Nieuwe Kade, clerks tally the returns from a fleet that has just rounded the Cape of Good Hope. Cinnamon. Pepper. Porcelain. The numbers are extraordinary, and the silence in the room is the silence of men who understand that the rest of Europe is watching. Outside, the canals carry the smell of tar and salt. A young merchant, ink still wet on his fingers, looks out at the harbor where forty ships wait for the spring tide. He does not know yet that the French will come, that the English will come, that the Habsburgs will come. He knows only that the ledgers must balance, that the Company must feed, and that the Republic endures not because it is large, but because the world needs what it carries. The bells of the Westerkerk toll six. The tide is turning. Tomorrow, the fleet sails again.
Reader's Guide
The source article does not provide any gameplay or strategy guide information for Europa Universalis. No such claim exists in the source.
Did You Know?
- The Netherlands has been a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a unitary structure since 1848.
- The Netherlands allowed women's suffrage in 1919 and was the first country to legalise same-sex marriage in 2001.
- The Port of Rotterdam is the busiest in Europe.
- Schiphol is the busiest airport in the Netherlands, and the fourth busiest in Europe.
- The Netherlands is a founding member of the European Union, eurozone, G10, NATO, OECD, and World Trade Organization, as well as a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union.
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