"The Netherlands at ~ and Holland under... " a Netherlands Travel Page by Pavlik_NL

Denkend aan Holland
Zie ik brede rivieren
Traag door oneindig laagland gaan

Thinking of Holland
I see wide rivers
slowly go through an endless lowland

The Netherlands, my country. Colour: green from the grass, blue from the water and sky (on one of the few good days). Holland, say many, not knowing that this actually is only the Western part of the country, in name the two provinces North and South Holland. However from here the (in)famous VOC-ships sailed all over the world and together with Portugal our tiny country settled a worldempire (only later England and Spain followed). Amsterdam was for a whole century a world-centre in trade, finance and science. Now Rotterdam is stil the largest harbour in the world as being the port (gateway) to Europes mainland. The Hague ("Den Haag", the third town) is the governemental capitol and the old governement there can be named the oldest democratic. Saying in Holland is that now-a-days the money is made in Rotterdam, devided in Den Haag and spent in Amsterdam. If your focussed on only these three towns you will see a lot, but ... you will miss a whole lot more.

A country with one of the most dense populations on earth, yet no city has over a million citizens. However you will notice, while driving through the country by car (be carefull: terrifying traffic!) that as soon as you leave one town, you enter the next. Especially in the West the towns are built together and it's known as "Randstad Holland" ("rand" = circle and "stad" = town/city). In this Randstad Holland, seven million people live. In The Netherlands 16 million people are packed together. Distance East-West is 150 kilometres and North-South appr. 300 kilometres.

As largest flowerbulb-growers in the world we provide export over all continents. Despite the dense population, in Holland the agricuktural production is - per head - higher then anywhere else in the world. Reason to the success is greenhouses and a top-of-the-bill technology in growing crops. Besides that the Dutch (Hollands-Fries) black-and-white cows are the best for milk-production. And what is cheese made from?

The Netherlands are the low lands. Half of the country is below sealevel (lowest point is appr. minus 8 metres). If the pumps that keep the land dry would all be switched of at once, half of the country would submerge under the North Sea within 48 hours! Don't be alarmed, the country is perfectly safe, otherwise we wouldn't have so many inhabitants that actually most choose to live in the West (that is almost totally under sealevel). The Netherlands have a long history of fighting against and having as best friend: the sea. A love and hate-relation that took many lives from the land, but also brought us the rich history and current economical wealth. Especially in South Holland and the new province Flevoland (taken from the sea) have many spots where a Dutch typical saying is shown:
Land where the river runs high, above the rooftops.