Portal:Netherlands

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

Welcome to the Netherlands Portal
Welkom bij het Nederlandportaal!

The Netherlands, informally 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; it borders Germany to the east and Belgium to the south, with a North Sea coastline to the north and west. It shares maritime borders with the United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium. 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.

The Netherlands has been a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a unitary structure since 1848. The country has a tradition of pillarisation (separation of citizens into groups by religion and political beliefs) and a long record of social tolerance, having legalised prostitution and euthanasia, along with maintaining a liberal drug policy. The Netherlands allowed women's suffrage in 1919 and was the first country to legalise same-sex marriage in 2001. Its mixed-market advanced economy has the eleventh-highest per capita income globally. The Hague holds the seat of the States General, Cabinet, and Supreme Court. The Port of Rotterdam is the busiest in Europe. Schiphol is the busiest airport in the Netherlands, and the fourth busiest in Europe. Being a developed country, the Netherlands is a founding member of the European Union, Eurozone, G10, NATO, OECD, and WTO, as well as a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. It hosts intergovernmental organisations and international courts, many of which are in The Hague. (Full article...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Featured articles - load new batch

Featured articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia.

Image 1
Joanna Clare Yeates (19 April 1985 – 17 December 2010) was a landscape architect from Ampfield, Hampshire, England, who went missing from the flat she shared with her partner in Clifton, Bristol, on 17 December 2010 after an evening out with colleagues. Following a highly publicised appeal for information on her whereabouts and intensive police enquiries, her body was discovered on 25 December 2010 in Failand, North Somerset. A post-mortem examination determined that she had been strangled.

The murder inquiry was one of the largest police investigations ever undertaken in the Bristol area. The case dominated news coverage in the United Kingdom around the Christmas period as Yeates's family sought assistance from the public through social networking services and press conferences. Rewards amounting to £60,000 were offered for information leading to those responsible for Yeates's death. The police initially suspected and arrested Christopher Jefferies, Yeates's landlord, who lived in another flat in the same building. He was subsequently released without charge, but was vilified in the press. (Full article...)
Image 2
Jacobus Anthonie Meessen (Dutch pronunciation: [jaːˈkoːbʏs ˈɑntoːni ˈmeːsə(n)]; 5 December 1836 – 14 November 1885) was a Dutch photographer who took more than 250 portraits and landscapes of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) between 1864 and 1870. Born to a carpenter in Utrecht, Meessen worked in that trade in the Indies before marrying in the Netherlands in the early 1860s. He returned to the colony in 1864, intent on documenting its land and people. He worked mostly in the capital of Batavia (now Jakarta), Java, and Padang, Sumatra; he also photographed Bangka, Belitung, Borneo, and Nias.

When Meessen returned to the Netherlands in 1870, he established a short-lived partnership with Abraham Vermeulen and began disseminating his photographs. Selected images were given to King William III in an elaborately decorated album in 1871, while more were published by De Bussy in 1875 and exhibited in Paris and Amsterdam. In his final years, Meessen worked predominantly as an architect. Collections of his albumen prints, some of which were hand-tinted or annotated, are held in four institutions in the Netherlands. (Full article...)
Image 3

Portrait by Godfrey Kneller, c. 1690

William III (William Henry; Dutch: Willem Hendrik; 4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702), also known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from the 1670s, and King of England, Ireland, and Scotland from 1689 until his death in 1702. He ruled Great Britain and Ireland with his wife, Queen Mary II, and their joint reign is known as that of William and Mary.

William was the only child of William II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, Princess Royal, the daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland. His father died a week before his birth, making William III the prince of Orange from birth. In 1677, he married his first cousin Mary, the elder daughter of his maternal uncle James, Duke of York, the younger brother and later successor of King Charles II. (Full article...)
Image 4

Film flyer

Air Mata Iboe (Perfected spelling: Air Mata Ibu; Malay for A Mother's Tears) is a 1941 drama film from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) directed and written by Njoo Cheong Seng. Starring Fifi Young, Rd Ismail, Ali Sarosa, and Ali Joego, it followed a mother who raises her children lovingly but is ultimately betrayed by her eldest sons when she falls upon hard times. The film, billed as a "musical extravaganza," featured a soundtrack by R. Koesbini, and an eponymous title song written by Njoo.

Air Mata Iboe was the last production completed by Fred Young's Majestic Film Company. The film was filmed throughout June to December 1941, and was released that month as well, prior to the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies. It is now possibly lost, although it still might be hidden somewhere. A titular remake was later produced in 1957. (Full article...)
Image 5
Jan van Eyck, Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych, c. 1430–40. Oil on canvas, transferred from wood. Each 56.5 cm × 19.7 cm (22.25 in × 7.75 in); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych (or Diptych with Calvary and Last Judgement) consists of two small painted panels attributed to the Early Netherlandish artist Jan van Eyck, with areas finished by unidentified followers or members of his workshop. This diptych is one of the early Northern Renaissance oil-on-panel masterpieces, renowned for its unusually complex and highly detailed iconography, and for the technical skill evident in its completion. It was executed in a miniature format; the panels are just 56.5 cm (22.2 in) high by 19.7 cm (7.8 in) wide. The diptych was probably commissioned for private devotion.

The left-hand wing depicts the Crucifixion. It shows Christ's followers grieving in the foreground, soldiers and spectators milling about in the mid-ground and a portrayal of three crucified bodies in the upper-ground. The scene is framed against an expansive and foreboding sky with a view of Jerusalem in the distance. The right-hand wing portrays scenes associated with the Last Judgement: a hellscape at its base, the resurrected awaiting judgement in the centre-ground, and a representation of Christ in Majesty flanked by a Great Deësis of saints, apostles, clergy, virgins and nobility in the upper section. Portions of the work contain Greek, Latin and Hebrew inscriptions. The original gilt frames contain Biblical passages in Latin drawn from the books of Isaiah, Deuteronomy and Revelation. According to a date written in Russian on their reverse, the panels were transferred to canvas supports in 1867. (Full article...)
Image 6
Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights, oil on oak panels, 205.5 cm × 384.9 cm (81 in × 152 in), Museo del Prado, Madrid

The Garden of Earthly Delights (Dutch: De tuin der lusten, lit. 'The garden of lusts') is the modern title given to a triptych oil painting on oak panel painted by the Early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch, between 1490 and 1510, when Bosch was between 40 and 60 years old. Bosch's religious beliefs are unknown, but interpretations of the work typically assume it is a warning against the perils of temptation. The outer panels place the work on the Third Day of Creation. The intricacy of its symbolism, particularly that of the central panel, has led to a wide range of scholarly interpretations over the centuries.

Twentieth-century art historians are divided as to whether the triptych's central panel is a moral warning or a panorama of the paradise lost. He painted three large triptychs (the others are The Last Judgment of c. 1482 and The Haywain Triptych of c. 1516) that can be read from left to right and in which each panel was essential to the meaning of the whole. Each of these three works presents distinct yet linked themes addressing history and faith. Triptychs from this period were generally intended to be read sequentially, the left and right panels often portraying Eden and the Last Judgment respectively, while the main subject was contained in the centerpiece. (Full article...)
Image 7
Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434, National Gallery, London

Early Netherlandish painting is the body of work by artists active in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands during the 15th- and 16th-century Northern Renaissance period, once known as the Flemish Primitives. It flourished especially in the cities of Bruges, Ghent, Mechelen, Leuven, Tournai and Brussels, all in present-day Belgium. The period begins approximately with Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck in the 1420s and lasts at least until the death of Gerard David in 1523, although many scholars extend it to the start of the Dutch Revolt in 1566 or 1568–Max J. Friedländer's acclaimed surveys run through Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Early Netherlandish painting coincides with the Early and High Italian Renaissance, but the early period (until about 1500) is seen as an independent artistic evolution, separate from the Renaissance humanism that characterised developments in Italy. Beginning in the 1490s, as increasing numbers of Netherlandish and other Northern painters traveled to Italy, Renaissance ideals and painting styles were incorporated into northern painting. As a result, Early Netherlandish painters are often categorised as belonging to both the Northern Renaissance and the Late or International Gothic.

The major Netherlandish painters include Campin, van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Dieric Bouts, Petrus Christus, Hans Memling, Hugo van der Goes and Hieronymus Bosch. These artists made significant advances in natural representation and illusionism, and their work typically features complex iconography. Their subjects are usually religious scenes or small portraits, with narrative painting or mythological subjects being relatively rare. Landscape is often richly described but relegated as a background detail before the early 16th century. The painted works are generally oil on panel, either as single works or more complex portable or fixed altarpieces in the form of diptychs, triptychs or polyptychs. The period is also noted for its sculpture, tapestries, illuminated manuscripts, stained glass and carved retables. (Full article...)
Image 8

The Battle of Ramillies by Jan van Huchtenburg

The Battle of Ramillies (/ˈræmɪliːz/), fought on 23 May 1706, was a battle of the War of the Spanish Succession. For the Grand Alliance – Austria, England, and the Dutch Republic – the battle had followed an indecisive campaign against the Bourbon armies of King Louis XIV of France in 1705. Although the Allies had captured Barcelona that year, they had been forced to abandon their campaign on the Moselle, had stalled in the Spanish Netherlands and suffered defeat in northern Italy. Yet despite his opponents' setbacks Louis XIV wanted peace, but on reasonable terms. Because of this, as well as to maintain their momentum, the French and their allies took the offensive in 1706.

The campaign began well for Louis XIV's generals: in Italy Marshal Vendôme defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Calcinato in April, while in Alsace Marshal Villars forced the Margrave of Baden back across the Rhine. Encouraged by these early gains Louis XIV urged Marshal Villeroi to go over to the offensive in the Spanish Netherlands and, with victory, gain a 'fair' peace. Accordingly, the French Marshal set off from Leuven (Louvain) at the head of 60,000 men and marched towards Tienen (Tirlemont), as if to threaten Zoutleeuw (Léau). Also determined to fight a major engagement, the Duke of Marlborough, commander-in-chief of Anglo-Dutch forces, assembled his army – some 62,000 men – near Maastricht, and marched past Zoutleeuw. With both sides seeking battle, they soon encountered each other on the dry ground between the rivers Mehaigne and Petite Gette, close to the small village of Ramillies. (Full article...)
Image 9

Chinezenmoord, Unknown author

The 1740 Batavia massacre (Dutch: Chinezenmoord, lit. 'Murder of the Chinese'; Indonesian: Geger Pacinan, lit. 'Chinatown tumult') was a massacre and pogrom of ethnic Chinese residents of the port city of Batavia, Dutch East Indies, (present-day Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies. It was carried out by European soldiers of the Dutch East India Company and allied members of other Batavian ethnic groups. The violence in the city lasted from 9 October 1740, until 22 October, with minor skirmishes outside the walls continuing late into November that year. Historians have estimated that at least 10,000 ethnic Chinese were massacred; just 600 to 3,000 are believed to have survived.

In September 1740, as unrest rose among the Chinese population, spurred by government repression and declining sugar prices, Governor-General Adriaan Valckenier declared that any uprising would be met with deadly force. On 7 October, hundreds of ethnic Chinese, many of them sugar mill workers, killed 50 Dutch soldiers, leading Dutch troops to confiscate all weapons from the Chinese populace and to place the Chinese under a curfew. Two days later, rumors of Chinese atrocities led other Batavian ethnic groups to burn Chinese houses along Besar River and Dutch soldiers to fire cannons at Chinese homes in revenge. The violence soon spread throughout Batavia, killing more Chinese. Although Valckenier declared an amnesty on 11 October, gangs of irregulars continued to hunt down and kill Chinese until 22 October, when the governor-general called more forcefully for a cessation of hostilities. Outside the city walls, clashes continued between Dutch troops and rioting sugar mill workers. After several weeks of minor skirmishes, Dutch-led troops assaulted Chinese strongholds in sugar mills throughout the area. (Full article...)
Image 10
Si Tjonat (Perfected Spelling: Si Conat) is a likely lost 1929 bandit film from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) directed by Nelson Wong and produced by Wong and Jo Eng Sek. Based on the novel by F.D.J. Pangemanann, the silent film followed an indigenous man who, having killed his fellow villager, flees to Batavia (today Jakarta) and becomes a bandit. After kidnapping an ethnic Chinese woman, he is defeated and brought to justice.

A commercially oriented work aimed at ethnic Chinese audiences, Si Tjonat received mixed reviews; box office proceeds are unclear. Although intended as a serial, no sequel was ever made; the production house, Batavia Motion Picture, closed soon afterwards. Several works in the same genre were released soon afterwards, including Si Pitoeng, which used the same director and star. (Full article...)

More featured articles

Featured lists

Featured lists have been determined by the Wikipedia community to be the best lists on English Wikipedia.

Image 1
The Amsterdam Tournament (Dutch: Amsterdam Toernooi) was a pre-season association football competition, held in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The competition was hosted by Eredivisie club Ajax at the Amsterdam Arena. It was inaugurated in 1975 as the Amsterdam 700 Tournament to celebrate 700 years of history in the city. It was held annually each summer until 1992, when the last edition of the original tournament was played. It returned in 1999 with the backing of the International Event Partnership (IEP). Four teams participate in the competition, played in a league format since 1986.

Since its return, the tournament has used an unusual point scoring system. As with most league competitions, three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. An additional point, however, is awarded for each goal scored. The system is designed to reward teams that adopt a more attacking style of play. Each entrant plays two matches, with the winner being the club that finishes at the top of the table. The original competition was held at Amsterdam's Olympic Stadium, where Ajax played its international games until 1996. The Amsterdam Arena, now named the Johan Cruyff Arena, has played host to the event since the return until 2009. (Full article...)
Image 2
This page is a list of films that received the Golden Film since its introduction in 2001 by the Netherlands Film Festival and the Netherlands Film Fund. In 2001 and 2002, films from the Netherlands received the award once they had sold 75,000 tickets. From 2003 to date, the Golden Film is awarded to films from the Netherlands once they have sold 100,000 tickets. This page shows, for both audience criteria, which films received the Golden Film and how soon they received it after their releases.

In the following tables, the 'year' column contains the years in which the films received the Golden Film, the '#' column contains the number of the Golden Film, the 'film title' column contains the titles of the receiving films, the 'film release' column contains the dates on which the films were first released in the cinemas, and the 'Golden Film' column contains the days when the Netherlands Film Festival and the Netherlands Film Fund announced that the receiving films reached the audience criterion of the Golden Film. (Full article...)
Image 3
The Battle of Camperdown, painted by Philip de Loutherbourg in 1799.

The Battle of Camperdown was an important naval action of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought off Camperduin on the North Holland coast on 11 October 1797 between a British fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan and a Dutch fleet under Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter. The French Republic had overrun the Dutch Republic two years earlier, reforming it into the Batavian Republic. In early 1797, the Batavian Navy was ordered to sail to Brest and unite with the French Atlantic Fleet in preparation for an invasion of Ireland. Shortly afterwards, the British fleets were paralysed by the Spithead and Nore mutinies, in which the sailors refused to take their ships to sea until they were awarded better pay and conditions. For two months^{[citation needed]}, the English Channel was undefended, but the Dutch failed to take the opportunity to sail from their harbour in the Texel: their preparations were not complete, and a small squadron of loyal British ships under Duncan convinced de Winter that the British fleet was at sea by sending nonsensical signals to fictitious ships over the horizon.

By October 1797, the plan to attack Ireland had been abandoned and the British North Sea Fleet was again at full strength. During a brief period replenishing supplies at Yarmouth, news reached Duncan on 10 October that the Dutch had sailed on a raiding cruise^{[citation needed]} and he returned to the Dutch coast, intercepting de Winter's fleet on its way back to the Texel. The Dutch formed a line of battle in shallow coastal waters to meet Duncan's attack, which was conducted in a confused mass, the British fleet separating into two groups that struck the vanguard and rear of the Dutch fleet, overwhelming each in turn and capturing eleven ships, including de Winter's flagship Vrijheid. On the return journey, three of the captured ships were lost, and none of the surviving Dutch prizes was ever suitable for active service again^{[citation needed]}. Both sides suffered heavy casualties during the battle as each fleet had been trained to aim at the hulls of their opponents, maximising the damage to personnel. (Full article...)
Image 4
Twenty-two people are recorded as having produced fictional films in the Dutch East Indies between 1926, when L. Heuveldorp released Loetoeng Kasaroeng, the colony's first domestically produced film, and 1949, when the Dutch formally recognised Indonesia's sovereignty after a four-year revolution, leaving the Dutch East Indies defunct. Altogether, they are credited for 93 of all known films produced in the Indies, and four of them remained active after independence. All were men; the first female film producer in Indonesia, Ratna Asmara, produced her first film in 1953.

The colony's first producer, Heuveldorp, was of European descent. He was followed in 1928 by the ethnic Chinese businessmen Tjan Tjoen Lian and Liem Goan Lian, who began work on Lily van Java but soon pulled out, to be replaced by David Wong. By 1930 Chinese producers had dominated the industry. The most active of these, The Teng Chun, made his debut in 1931 with Boenga Roos dari Tjikembang; he would go on to produce another 27 films before independence. No native Indonesian film producers are recorded from this period, although several productions were credited only to companies. (Full article...)
Image 5
Film poster for Loetoeng Kasaroeng, the first locally produced film released in the Dutch East Indies

A total of 112 fictional films are known to have been produced in the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) between 1926 and the colony's dissolution in 1949. The earliest motion pictures, imported from abroad, were shown in late 1900, and by the early 1920s imported serials and fictional films were being shown, often with localised names. Dutch companies were also producing documentary films about the Indies to be shown in the Netherlands. The first reports of fictional film production in the Indies date from 1923, although the work in question was not completed. The first locally produced film, Loetoeng Kasaroeng, was directed by L. Heuveldorp and released on 31 December 1926.

Between 1926 and 1933 numerous other local productions were released. Although Dutchmen like Heuveldorp and George Krugers continued to be active in the industry, the majority of filmmakers and producers were ethnic Chinese. The Tan brothers (Khoen Yauw and Khoen Hian) and The Teng Chun were major producers during this period, while the Wong brothers (Nelson, Othniel, and Joshua) were among the more prominent directors. During the mid-1930s, production dropped as a result of the Great Depression. The release of Albert Balink's commercially and critically successful Terang Boelan (Full Moon) in 1937 led to renewed interest in filmmaking, and 1941 saw thirty locally produced films. This rate of production declined after the Japanese occupation beginning in early 1942, closing all but one film studio; this resulted in several films which had begun production in 1941 being released several years later. The majority of films produced during the occupation were short propaganda pieces. Following the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence in 1945 and during the ensuing revolution several films were made, by both pro-Dutch and pro-Indonesian backers; the Dutch formally recognised Indonesia's sovereignty on 27 December 1949, leaving the Dutch East Indies defunct. (Full article...)
Image 6
The Wong brothers (one pictured) were the first ethnic Chinese directors in the Indies.

Twenty-nine people are recorded as having directed fictional films in the Dutch East Indies between 1926, when L. Heuveldorp released Loetoeng Kasaroeng, the colony's first domestically produced film, and 1949, when the Dutch formally recognised Indonesia's sovereignty after a four-year revolution, leaving the Dutch East Indies defunct. Thirteen directors active in the Indies continued to direct films after 1950, including Usmar Ismail: his 1950 film Darah dan Doa (The Long March) is generally considered the first truly Indonesian film.

The colony's first directors, L. Heuveldorp and George Krugers, were of European or mixed descent. They were followed by ethnic Chinese soon after, when Nelson Wong made his debut in 1928 with Lily van Java; other Chinese directors included Lie Tek Swie (1929), Wong's brothers Joshua and Othniel (1930), and The Teng Chun (1931). Ethnic Chinese directors dominated the colony's cinema for the remainder of its existence. The first native director, Bachtiar Effendi, made his debut in 1932 with the talkie Njai Dasima; another native director would not appear until Andjar Asmara and Rd Ariffien made their debuts in 1940. (Full article...)
Image 7
Since 1 January 2023, there have been 342 regular municipalities (Dutch: gemeenten) and three special municipalities (Dutch: bijzondere gemeenten) in the Netherlands. The latter is the status of three of the six island territories that make up the Dutch Caribbean. Municipalities are the second-level administrative division, or public bodies (Dutch: openbare lichamen), in the Netherlands and are subdivisions of their respective provinces. Their duties are delegated to them by the central government and they are ruled by a municipal council that is elected every four years. Municipal mergers have reduced the total number of municipalities by two-thirds since the first official boundaries were created in the mid 19th century. Municipalities themselves are informally subdivided into districts and neighbourhoods for administrative and statistical purposes.

These municipalities come in a wide range of sizes, Westervoort is the smallest with a land area of 7.01 km² (2.71 sq mi) and Súdwest-Fryslân the largest with a land area of 522.7 km² (201.8 sq mi). Schiermonnikoog is both the least populated, with 972 people, and the least densely populated municipality at 23/km² (60/sq mi). Amsterdam has the highest population with 931,298 residents as of January 2024, whereas The Hague is the most densely populated with a density of 6,868/km² (17,790/sq mi). (Full article...)

edit

Selected biography

Eleonora "Ellen" van Dijk is a Dutch professional road and track racing cyclist. Van Dijk is a time trial specialist and became 2008 World Track Champion in the scratch race and 2012 Road World Champion in team time trial.

Van Dijk started as a speed skater and undertook cycling as part of cross-training in summer. She excelled at both, competing nationally at junior level. After becoming a national cycling champion for the fifth time in 2007, she quit speed skating and became a full-time cyclist. Along with her world title successes, Van Dijk has also twice been European track champion, twice European time trial champion and has won five world cup races. In 2012 she competed in three disciplines at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, where she helped Marianne Vos win the gold medal in the road race, finished eighth in the time trial and sixth in the team pursuit.

More selections

Read more

Featured pictures - show another

Featured pictures are displayed here, which represent the finest images on English Wikipedia.

Image 1
Indonesian rupiah
Banknotes: Bank of Indonesia
The rupiah is the national currency of Indonesia. Introduced in 1946 by Indonesian nationalists fighting for independence, the currency replaced a version of the Netherlands Indies gulden which had been introduced during the Japanese occupation in World War II. In its early years the rupiah was used in conjunction with other currencies, including a new version of the gulden introduced by the Dutch. Since 1950, it has had a lengthy history of inflation and revaluation. As of August 2018^[update]
'"`UNIQ--nowiki-00000018-QINU`"'
, the currency—which is issued and controlled by the Bank of Indonesia—is trading for more than 14,600 rupiah to the United States dollar.

This note, denominated 5,000 rupiah, is part of the 2009 series. It depicts Tuanku Imam Bonjol, a National Hero of Indonesia, on its obverse, and a West Sumatran weaver on its reverse.

See other denominations: Rp 1,000, Rp 2,000, Rp 10,000, Rp 20,000, Rp 50,000, Rp 100,000
More selected pictures
Image 2
Clitocybe nebularis
Photograph credit: Dominicus Johannes Bergsma
Clitocybe nebularis, commonly known as the clouded agaric or the cloud funnel, is a common gilled fungus that grows both in conifer-dominated forests and broad-leaved woodland in Europe and North America. This C. nebularis mushroom was photographed growing among fallen beech leaves in Famberhorst nature reserve, the Netherlands.
More selected pictures
Image 3
Waterloo Campaign
Map credit: Gsl/I. Pankonin
A map of troop movements during the Waterloo Campaign, leading up to the Battle of Waterloo where Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated. Napoleon's Army of the North came up against a coalition army composed of forces from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Prussia, Hanover, Nassau, and Brunswick. Beginning 15 June 1815, the combatants fought successively in the Battle of Quatre Bras, the Battle of Ligny, the Battle of Waterloo, and lastly the Battle of Wavre.
More selected pictures
Image 4
Solo Display Team
Photo: Łukasz Golowanow
The F-16 Solo Display Team is one of three solo aerobatics display teams of the Royal Netherlands Air Force. It is currently based at Volkel Air Base in the Dutch province of North Brabant and consists of the pilot, two instructors and seven ground crew.
More selected pictures
Image 5
V-2 rocket attack
Photo credit: Ingeldew, T3c, U.S. Army
The smouldering body of a boy killed by a V-2 rocket attack on the main intersection in Antwerp, Belgium, November 27, 1944, on the main Allied supply line to the Netherlands. The V-2, one of the German Vergeltungswaffen, was the first ballistic missile and first man-made object to achieve sub-orbital spaceflight. Over 3,000 V-2s were launched as military rockets by the Wehrmacht against Allied targets in World War II.
More selected pictures
Image 6
Louis-Marie Autissier
A self-portrait of Louis-Marie Autissier (1772–1830), a French-born Belgian portrait miniature painter. He is considered the founder of the Belgian school of miniature painting in the nineteenth century. Born at Vannes, in Brittany, he joined the French Revolutionary Army at Rennes in 1791. On leaving the army in 1795, Autissier went to Paris and trained his art by studying paintings at the Louvre. In 1796 he settled in Brussels, but continued to divide his time between Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. Although he enjoyed great success in his career, serving as court painter to Louis Napoleon, French King of the Netherlands, and later to Willem I, Autissier died penniless.
More selected pictures
Image 7
Baby Huwae
Photograph credit: Tati Photo Studio; restored by Chris Woodrich
Baby Huwae (22 November 1939 – 5 June 1989) was an Indonesian model, film actress and singer. Born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, she moved to Indonesia, where she took up modelling, by the 1950s. She entered the film industry in 1958, and gained popularity following the success of Asrama Dara. Over the next few years, Huwae acted in a further five films and established a girl group, the Baby Dolls, with several actresses who had appeared in her second film. She made a guest appearance in one more film in 1971 after a ten-year hiatus.
More selected pictures
Image 8
Pied avocet juvenile
Photograph: Andreas Trepte
A juvenile pied avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) near Oosterend, Texel Island, the Netherlands. While adults are black and white, juveniles of this species have more greyish and sepia tones.
More selected pictures
Image 9
Japanese government-issued currency in the Dutch East Indies
Banknotes: Empire of Japan. Reproduction: National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution
The Japanese-issued Netherlands Indies gulden was the currency issued by the Japanese Empire when it occupied the Dutch East Indies during World War II. Following the Dutch capitulation in March 1942, the Japanese closed all banks, seized assets and currency, and assumed control of the economy in the territory. They began issuing military banknotes, as had previously been done in other occupied territories. These were printed in Japan, but retained the name of the pre-war currency and replaced the Dutch gulden at par. From 1943 the military banknotes were replaced by identical bank-issued notes printed within the territory, and the currency was renamed the roepiah from 1944. The currency was replaced by the Indonesian rupiah in 1946, one year after the Japanese surrender and the country's independence.

This note, denominated ten cents, is part of the 1942 series.

See other denominations: One cent · Five cents · Ten cents · Half gulden · One gulden, Five gulden, Ten gulden
More selected pictures
Image 10
Windmills
Photograph: Uberprutser
A windmill is a mill that converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Traditional windmills were often used to mill grain, pump water, or both. Most modern windmills take the form of wind turbines used to generate electricity, or windpumps used to pump water, either for land drainage or to extract groundwater.

Here, the smock mill Goliath is viewed in front of the wind farm Growind in Eemshaven in the Netherlands.
More selected pictures
Image 11
Indonesian rupiah
Banknotes: Bank of Indonesia
The rupiah is the national currency of Indonesia. Introduced in 1946 by Indonesian nationalists fighting for independence, the currency replaced a version of the Netherlands Indies gulden which had been introduced during the Japanese occupation in World War II. In its early years the rupiah was used in conjunction with other currencies, including a new version of the gulden introduced by the Dutch. Since 1950, it has had a lengthy history of inflation and revaluation. As of August 2018^[update]
'"`UNIQ--nowiki-00000019-QINU`"'
, the currency—which is issued and controlled by the Bank of Indonesia—is trading for more than 14,600 rupiah to the United States dollar.

This note, denominated 10,000 rupiah, is from a 2010 revision of an earlier series. It depicts Mahmud Badaruddin II, a National Hero of Indonesia, on its obverse, and a rumah limas on its reverse.

See other denominations: Rp 1,000, Rp 2,000, Rp 5,000, Rp 20,000, Rp 50,000, Rp 100,000
More selected pictures
Image 12
Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies registration card
Document: Japanese occupation government; scan by the National Archives of the Netherlands
A registration card for Louis Wijnhamer (1904–1975), an ethnic Dutch humanitarian who was captured soon after the Empire of Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies in March 1942. Prior to the occupation, many ethnic Europeans had refused to leave, expecting the Japanese occupation government to keep a Dutch administration in place. When Japanese troops took control of government infrastructure and services such as ports and postal services, 100,000 European (and some Chinese) civilians were interned in prisoner-of-war camps where the death rates were between 13 and 30 per cent. Wijnhamer was interned in a series of camps throughout Southeast Asia and, after the surrender of Japan, returned to what was now Indonesia, where he lived until his death.
More selected pictures
Image 13
Helleborus orientalis
Photograph credit: Dominicus Johannes Bergsma
Helleborus orientalis, also known as the Lenten rose, is a perennial flowering plant and a species of hellebore in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, native to Greece and Turkey. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck described the species in 1789, giving it its current name of Helleborus orientalis ("Hellébore du Levant"). The species name is derived from the Latin oriens ('east'). The common name derives from the plant's flowering during Lent. Within the genus Helleborus, it has been classified in the section Helleborastrum, and is closely related to the other eight species in the section. These species are all highly variable and hybridise with each other freely.

This picture shows an H. orientalis flower from the Netherlands, showing swollen seedpods.
More selected pictures
Image 14
Woman Reading a Letter
Painting: Johannes Vermeer
Woman Reading a Letter is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, produced in around 1663. The central element of the painting is a woman in blue standing in front of an unseen window, reading a letter. The woman appears to be pregnant, although as pregnancy was rarely depicted in art during this period, some scholars have argued that the woman's rounded figure is simply a result of the fashions of the day. While the contents of the letter are not depicted, the composition of the painting is revealing. The map of the Netherlands on the wall behind the woman has been interpreted as suggesting that the letter she reads was written by a traveling husband. Alternatively, the box of pearls barely visible on the table before the woman might suggest a lover, as pearls are sometimes a symbol of vanity. The painting is unique among Vermeer's interiors in that no fragment of corner, floor or ceiling can be seen. Part of the collection of the city of Amsterdam as part of the Van der Hoop bequest, it has been in the Rijksmuseum since its inception.
More selected pictures
Image 15
Japanese government-issued currency in the Dutch East Indies
Banknotes: Empire of Japan. Reproduction: National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution
The Japanese-issued Netherlands Indies gulden was the currency issued by the Japanese Empire when it occupied the Dutch East Indies during World War II. Following the Dutch capitulation in March 1942, the Japanese closed all banks, seized assets and currency, and assumed control of the economy in the territory. They began issuing military banknotes, as had previously been done in other occupied territories. These were printed in Japan, but retained the name of the pre-war currency and replaced the Dutch gulden at par. From 1943 the military banknotes were replaced by identical bank-issued notes printed within the territory, and the currency was renamed the roepiah from 1944. The currency was replaced by the Indonesian rupiah in 1946, one year after the Japanese surrender and the country's independence.

This note, denominated one cent, is part of the 1942 series.

See other denominations: One cent · Five cents · Ten cents · Half gulden · One gulden, Five gulden, Ten gulden
More selected pictures

Did you know (auto-generated)

... that Bulkboeken ('bulk books') were cheap reprints of Dutch literary classics, published from 1971 to the late 1990s, and again from 2007?
... that Femke is the most common feminine given name of West Frisian origin in the Netherlands?
... that Hendrik Wortman oversaw the early development of the Zuiderzee Works, which dammed off the Zuiderzee to create arable land in the Netherlands?
... that despite losing almost one thousand men capturing Malacca in 1641, the Dutch East India Company did not invest much time or energy into it afterward?
... that Leonie ter Braak made her film debut in The Marriage Escape, the film of Dutch origin with the most cinema ticket sales in 2020?
... that Alois Wyrsch, the first member of colour of the Swiss parliament, was born to a mercenary in the Dutch Indies in 1825?