The Netherlands is a country partly reclaimed from the
waters of the North Sea, and around half of it lies at or below sea
level. Land reclamation has been the dominant motif of its history,
the result a country of resonant and unique images - flat, fertile
landscapes punctured by windmills and church spires; ornately
gabled terraces flanking peaceful canals; and mile upon mile of
grassy dunes, backing onto stretches of pristine sandy beach.
A leading colonial power, its mercantile fleets once challenged
the best in the world for supremacy, and the country enjoyed a
so-called "Golden Age" of prosperity in the seventeenth century.
These days, the Netherlands is one of the most developed countries
in the world, with the highest population density in Europe, its
sixteen million or so inhabitants (most of whom speak English)
concentrated into an area about the size of southern England.
Most people travel only to the uniquely atmospheric capital,
Amsterdam : the rest of the country, despite its
accessibility, is comparatively untouched by tourism. The west of
the country is the most populated and most historically interesting
region - unrelentingly flat territory, much of it reclaimed, that
is home to a grouping of towns known collectively as the
Randstad (literally "rim town"). It's a good idea to forsake
Amsterdam for a day or two and investigate places like
Haarlem , Leiden and Delft with their old
canal-girded centres, the gritty port city of Rotterdam , or
The Hague , stately home of the government and the Dutch
royals. Outside the Randstad, life moves more slowly. The province
of Zeeland , in the southwest, is the country at its most
remote, its inhabitants a sturdy, distant people, busy with farming
and fishing and hardly connected to the mainland. In the north,
Groningen is a busy cultural centre, lent verve by its large
resident student population. To the south, around the town of
Arnhem , the landscape undulates into heathy moorland, best
experienced in the Hoge Veluwe national park. Further south
still lies the compelling city of Maastricht , squeezed
between the German and Belgian borders.
Though "Holland" is often used as a shorthand alternative name
for the country, this is strictly speaking outdated; these days,
although there are two Dutch provinces called North Holland and
South Holland, they are separate entities. On the same note, it's
common to call Belgium and the Netherlands "the Low Countries", and
to use the abbreviation "Benelux" to refer to the neighbouring trio
of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg