FACTS ABOUT THE NETHERLANDS

DUTCH PEOPLE ARE ON AVERAGE THE WORLD’S

TALLEST; THE AVERAGE HEIGHT OF A MALE IS

184 CM (ALMOST 6’1”) AND THE AVERAGE

WOMAN IS 170 CM (5’7”)

THE NETHERLANDS IS HOME TO SOME OF THE

GREATEST PAINTERS OF ALL TIME INCLUDING

REMBRANDT AND VAN GOGH. THERE ARE AT LEAST

TWENTY TWO REMBRANDT PAINTINGS AND 206

WORKS BY VAN GOGH IN AMSTERDAM ALONE

THE DUTCH NATIONAL ANTHEM, THE “WILHELMUS”

IS THE OLDEST NATIONAL ANTHEM IN THE WORLD.

ALTHOUGH IT WAS NOT RECOGNIZED AS THE

OFFICIAL ANTHEM UNTIL 1932, IT HAS ALWAYS

BEEN POPULAR WITH PARTS OF THE DUTCH

POPULATION AND RESURFACED ON SEVERAL

OCCASIONS IN THE COURSE OF DUTCH HISTORY

BEFORE GAINING ITS PRESENT STATUS

ACCORDING TO FAOSTAT, THE UNITED STATES

EXPORTS ONLY ABOUT 81,904 TONS OF BACON

AND HAM, OR FOURTEEN PERCENT OF THE

WORLD’S TOTAL, RANKING IT THIRD. THE TINY

NETHERLANDS RANKS FIRST, EXPORTING 128,259

TONS, OR ABOUT TWENTY FIVE PERCENT OF

THE WORLD’S TOTAL

THE DUTCH ARE WIDELY CONSIDERED TO BE THE

BEST IN THE WORLD WHEN IT COMES TO KEEPING

THE SEA AND RIVERS BACK, FROM PREVENTING

THE NETHERLANDS FROM BECOMING ANOTHER

ATLANTIS. FOR THAT MATTER, THE AMERICAN

GOVERNMENT TURNED TO THE DUTCH FOR HELP

AND ADVICE DURING HURRICANE KATRINA

NEW YORK CITY WAS ORIGINALLY CALLED NEW

AMSTERDAM. IN 1624 THE FIRST PERMANENT DUTCH

SETTLEMENT WAS ESTABLISHED AT FORT ORANGE

(PRESENT DAY ALBANY). ONE YEAR LATER PETER

MINUIT PURCHASED MANHATTAN ISLAND FROM

THE INDIANS FOR TRINKETS WORTH ABOUT SIXTY

DUTCH GUILDERS AND FOUNDED THE DUTCH

COLONY OF NEW AMSTERDAM, WHICH WAS

SURRENDERED TO THE BRITISH IN 1664

KLM (ALSO KNOWN AS “ROYAL AIRLINE COMPANY”),

THE DUTCH NATIONAL AIRLINE, WAS FOUNDED IN 1919

AND IS THE OLDEST NATIONAL AIRLINE IN THE

WORLD STILL OPERATING UNDER ITS ORIGINAL NAME

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, NETHERLANDS IS CONSIDERED

ONE OF THE MOST OPEN MINDED COUNTRIES IN THE

WORLD AND IN 2001 IT BECAME THE FIRST COUNTRY

TO LEGALIZE SAME SEX MARRIAGE