Page 24 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - The Netherlands

22  INTRODUCING THE NE THERLANDS

Holland’s dunes, a natural barrier against the sea and an important water catchment area
Introducing the Netherlands tend to reply: “Our capital is Amsterdam,
Although the Netherlands is the country’s and the government sits in The Hague.”
official name, most of the rest of the Amsterdam is the most cosmopolitan of
world calls it Holland. This book uses these three cities, as well as the country’s
both names. However, Holland actually centre for cultural life. Rotterdam, home to
comprises only two of the 13 Dutch the Europoort, one of the world’s largest
provinces. North and South Holland ports, is the Netherlands’ industrial centre.
contain the country’s three main cities The Hague is the seat of government and
of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Den Haag quarters many prestigious institutions,
(The Hague), which together with the including the International Court of
cities of Dordrecht, Utrecht, Leiden and Justice. With its neighbouring seaside
Haarlem form a horseshoe-shaped resort of Scheveningen, The Hague is
conurbation known as the Randstad, where most of the foreign embassies
literally, “rim city” (see pp170–71). and consulates are situated.
When people ask, “What is the cap ital Holland can be roughly divided into
of the Netherlands?”, the smiling Dutch the Protestant north and Catholic south,
separated by the great rivers
flowing into the North Sea: the
Rhine, the Waal and the Maas
(Meuse). The people in the north
of the country tend to be more
sober and matter-of-fact, whereas
those of the south tend to be much
more flamboyant in their lifestyles.

Society and Politics
Social life in the Netherlands was
for many years based on the idea
of verzuiling, wherein different
sections of society rested their
beliefs on four pillars (zuilen):
Protestantism, Catholicism,
Shoppers at the Albert Cuypmarkt in Amsterdam liberalism and socialism. At one

020-025_EW_Netherlands.indd 22 16/01/17 12:02 pm
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Portrait template “UK” LAYER
(SourceReport v1.2)
Date 5th December 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm