The Netherlands - The Low Country RECLAIMED (from the SEA)

[@koen9303]

The Netherlands also have a border with France at the island of Sint-Maarten

[@GEOfocusChannel]

True! Thanks for adding that.

[@Olivier-GM]

And France is located in the north side, which is not true in Europe. Also, the Saint Martin does not use the euro, though it's used in the French side or the island.

[@EARART]

And Suriname 🇸🇷

[@koen9303]

@@EARART Suriname is an independent country

[@z.kramer6027]

@@EARART suriname became independent but we still have good relationship with their people

[@GEOfocusChannel]

Hi, everyone! Sorry if you got two notifications for this video. The original file had a problem, so I quickly re-edited part of the video and re-released it. I hope you like the video!

[@baran1170]

Hi Paul

[@kray8405]

do Turkey

[@6helloworld938]

great video!👌

[@robthetraveler1099]

Lived in The Netherlands from Oct 2001-Jun 2003 and loved it. Something I found surprising was that even in such a densely populated country, it's fairly easy to get out into rural areas and small towns. Great video as always!

[@maartent9697]

Also whilst just living here you almost make 10k steps a day by just riding your bike, walking around and other transport methods which are faster than a car. Compare that to the U.S where people on average make less than 4-5k steps a day....

[@JamailvanWestering]

@@maartent9697 because of how the cities in the US are designed

[@simondeinema4265]

I have lived in the Netherlands all my life...

[@crowmob-yo6ry]

Stupid Americans are completely obsessed with driving and hate all other transport methods.

[@MarkKoekenbakker]

Nice video. Some little points: Zeeland is not all reclaimed land, just a little. And not reclaimed from the Zuiderzee, but from the North Sea. In the Netherlands we don't often get temperatures below zero and snow in the winter. That is mostly only some days/year. At the most a few weeks. In Dutch the combination IJ is in someway an official letter, so IJsselmeer is written with two capitals. Bye!

[@shookshibe]

wtf ik wist totaal niet dat IJ samen met hoofdletters geschreven moest worden, thanks school

[@thebiggamers999]

we used to get quite some snow but its become rare for a good 10 years now

[@quivercat6911]

Anders klinkt het gek en ziet er ook gek uit ik bedoel Ijsselmeer lijkt Op LJSSEL

[@ro-q7621]

That temperature is because we have a Sea climate.

[@gnvinternationalambassador925]

in enschede (waar ik woon) vriest het heel vaak in de winter, maar ik weet niet waar jij woont dus ja

[@ingriddurden3929]

Spent the first 40 years of my life in Belgium, only 20 minutes drive from Zeeland where we each week went shopping. Loved the small towns of Hulst which was closest, Axel, where older people still wore their traditional clothing to church, and Sluis, with their traditional houses and lovely streets with little or no traffic. Very good memories.

[@dutchiesforpeace6815]

Netherlands is the besy

[@dennisp8625]

Im from the Netherlands. I find this the best explanation about the country on KZbin. Good job! ..not only about Amsterdam and tulips.

[@sjaakdewinter6258]

Ja joh? Staan al een triljard video s over Nederland op you tube. Deze video voegt niks toe, ouwe meuk, hetzelfde ouwehoerverhaaltje als al die andere video s. Leuk voor de toerist.

[@idraote]

Loved the video, Paul. The Netherlands are a fascinating country, full of history and places to visit. The weather is a little "meh", but nowhere is perfect, I guess :)

[@ETools.]

If you are going to complain about the weather, at least put your back into it like we do. :D

[@henkoosterink8744]

The weather is the same as in GBR, Germany, Belgium, Denmark etc.

[@luxembourger]

True, but both Belgium as The Netherlands have despite their small sizes remarkable regional differences in weather. I noticed, during my time in Delft the weather was much more often grey and rainy than at Maastricht University.

[@henkoosterink8744]

@@luxembourger Maastricht is also Netherlands you dummy.

[@ted1999-y7p]

If IT rains we complain when it is hot it is to hot end when it is cold it is not cold enoug

[@Larzh220469]

Happy to see the GEOfocus Channel revitalised!

[@MarkDDG]

The actual highest point of the Netherlands (not just the kingdom but only the Netherlands) is mt Scenery on the island of Saba at 887 m high. This has been the case since 2010 when the island of Saba in the Netherlands Caribbean voted to become a special municipality in the country of the Netherlands.

[@Wrecker3D]

Nice informative vid, I just somehow hoped to a mention of the Efteling theme park, as everyone tends to link/compare it to Disney but in a forest environment (the theme park may only use 11% of it's land or it looses it's nature park status which causes trouble with zoning, permits etc.) Reviewers from abroad often call it whimsical, but the park is 70yrs old now and tries to both renovate and innovate, meaning much of the original park still is there, but you'll also see the newest (and sometimes buggy) technology However, anything build is trying to stick to the original designers (Anton Pieck) philosophy: High quality and nostalgia, often by using techniques to make new look centuries old Fun fact: Aton Pieck loved to take a hammer and beat up a chimney so it was crooked and looked like it was about to collapse, he also liked to get the builders drunk so they wouldn't be able to build straight walls (do note: Due to laws and safety rules no longer allowed but using shadowing etc.the illusion is maintained)

[@Tim_van_de_Leur]

I basically grew up in the Efteling, but never knew about the drunk workers. Guess I was too little ;)

[@CraftsmanOfAwsomenes]

Thank you for starting as late in the timeline as you did. It seems the earlier people start when describing this the more they conflate medieval Friesland with the Dutch when they have a totally different history from each other up until the late middle ages. It took Frisians hundreds of years to finally be forcibly incorporated into the feudal structure by outsiders. The historical region of West Frisia is located in North Holland and was conquered in the Friso-Hollandic wars that concluded in the 1400s. So today's Fryslan is the central part of the Frisian-speaking sphere. More or less, you do get small communities of North Frisian appearing as far afield as Denmark.

[@Olivier-GM]

Paul, as a Canadian, you may know that the Netherlands offer thousands of tulips every Spring to the city of Ottawa. I let you find why. (one clue: Margriet) ;)

[@6helloworld938]

Yeah, we love Canada 🌷🌷🌷

[@dutchman7623]

We should send them Margriets as well, they bloom after the tulips and bring summer!

[@maaikereal]

7:29 I got so happy when I saw the name ”Efteling”, it’s one of my favorite theme parks here and I have never seen it on a map that was zoomed out so far

[@soundscape26]

Even if I already know a great part of the info shown, this series on countries have been quite enjoyable to watch. Good job. 👍

[@GwnJensman13]

I just love all the dutch desserts. I live in the Netherlands and they are all sooooo good. And a fun fact new Zealand is named after old Zealand or the provincie zeeland

[@dvchel]

Dutch seafarer and discoverer, Abel Tasman, named New Zealand the way it is after mapping a bit of the West Coast and making land fall in 1643.

[@Darkmanticorez]

As far as I understand, the reason that Frisian from the province of Friesland can also be called West-Frisian is due to the fact that there is also an Eastern variety of Frisian that is still being spoken in particular parts of Germany along the coast. Hearing someone say that the Frisian language from Friesland can also be called West Frisian due to it being a language variant sounds really off to me though because I am from a particular region in the Netherlands called West-Friesland which actually wholly lies in the province of North-Holland. What we call West-Fries which actually directly translates to West-Frisian is a rich Dutch dialect. Hence my confusion. As far as I know the West-Fries dialect shares a lot of ancestral similarities compared to the Frisian language but has become a different thing altogether because the Dutch dialect developed separately from the Frisian province. Before reading up about it or seeing videos like this one I never heard that Frisian from Friesland could also be referred to as West-Frisian. All of this is brilliantly confusing to me.

[@Vincrand]

@Remco Vdf Lindeboom From roughly 500 untill 1523. Could argue that it is from 400 bc instead.

[@Vincrand]

I'm from Limburg and currently live in North-Brabant and never knew about the West-Friesland region. I did know about East Frisia being a country on the German coast. Somewhat similar there are provinces in Belgium called Brabant (seperated from Dutch Brabant by the provence of Antwerpen) and Limburg.

[@captainje]

In Spanish we call the Netherlands 'los países bajos' but refer to its people and language as 'Holandés'

[@tim3440]

We call you dickheads... Because Iniesta scored against us in an offside position... #HopeYouUnderstandThatThisIsAJoke:) Only Iniesta is our enemy...

[@Thuras]

many latin language incorrectly do. But in the Netherlands we to refer ourselves as Nederlands, living in Nederland, speaking Nederlands. Holland only refer to the 2 Dutch provinces North and South Holland, but it is understandable since these two provinces are economically the main provinces. Some people who aren't from the Holand provinces might actually get offended if you refer to them as Hollanders, not many people though

[@captainje]

@@Thuras yeah i know i learned that the hard way haha

[@marcosrodes2897]

The land reclamations caused by dams is something that stricked me, for sure. Your videos are always very interesting Paul!! I really enjoy watching them all

[@ETools.]

Something that I, as a Dutchie, believe should be known more is the story of Eise Eisinga. He made the oldest still existing planetarium in the world in his living room with parts of clocks.

[@z.kramer6027]

also antoni van leeuwenhoek who invented the first microscope

[@ETools.]

@@z.kramer6027 debatable, he was the father of microbiology but theres a few others that may have had a part in the initial invention

[@z.kramer6027]

@@ETools. yeah the lens was already invented and perfected by other dutchmen and by galilei, but van leeuwenhoek was the first one to realize that different shaped lenses could dramatically increase enlargement and he was the first scientist to make a device that could observe microorganisms. i count that as the first microscope but i get your point.

[@ETools.]

@@z.kramer6027 ah yes, that was it. Zacharias Janssen was one of them I believe.

[@z.kramer6027]

@@ETools. yeah and his father Hans

[@christinakinsley4441]

Hi Paul, I love you videos. I learn so much. I live near Holland and Zeeland in Michigan. I learned we pronounce Zeeland wrong. When I was a kid there were several roadside (US 31) Dutch museums and a Dutch Village. Those are gone, but Tulip time remains (and a delftware factory). Thank you for all the wonderful videos on both of your channels.

[@dvchel]

I would like to visit Michigan some time, due to the strong Dutch heritage that can be found there.

[@tertiusgreyling9955]

Thanks Paul. Enjoyable video as always. I wish people would stop pointing out inaccuracies. I know you do your best to make every video perfect. ❤️

[@AudieHolland]

Noone ever explained to me the significant difference between the two groups of islands that make part of The Netherlands. I thought they were all lush tropical paradises. We rarely see photos of the desert like areas (like, never) of Curacao etc. Understandably, that would not be good marketing for the tourist industry. One thing that not many people will know: when The United States began their Revolutionary War, an American ship visited the port Saint Eustatius ('Statia'). The ship flew the first version of the American flag, which was all stripes but no stars. The fort at Saint Eustatius fired a salvo in salute to that ship flying the American flag, thereby Saint Eustatius (and the Dutch Republic) became the first nation in the world to officially recognize the United States of America. I read that in the book by American historian Barbara Tuchman "The First Salute."

[@arieleduardo2492]

Gouda is my favorite cheese!! Greetings from Southeast Brazil!! I admire the legacy they brought to the Northeast. Major cities there were founded by the West-Indische Compagnie, the first multinational company that we could consider.

[@metalvideos1961]

have you eaten real gouda cheese? i ask this because lots of countries produce their own version of gouda cheese. gouda cheese is a protected cheese in europe. real dutch gouda cheese from the netherlands got a made in holland label on it so you know its imported from the netherlands. if its not on the gouda cheese you buy its not authentic dutch gouda cheese. the more you know.

[@tuna-nl]

The West Indische Companie (WIC) is not the first multinational company but the Verenigde Oostindische Companie (VOC). The VOC was older, richer and have more power and influence than the little sister WIC.

[@Raheem_1412-]

I find fascinating the fact that Netherlands had 17% of its land reclaimed but I expected you would speak more about windmills. A great job like ever thank you

[@flopjul3022]

a lot of reclaimation was done with Flevoland tho and that was done mechanically without windmills just as a big part of the port of Rotterdam. on older reclaimation windmills were used

[@meriotheart]

A few of the old windmills used in polders in North and South Holland are still operating, tho usually more as a museum/historical site. Kinderdijk is known for it's many windmills, so that might be interesting to look up.

[@TualCor]

It's 17%, not 70% 😉

[@DutchyHusky]

Fun fact about the Netherlands! During summer times, we officially do not have nights. This year, that period spans from May 19th to July 25th. The sun will set only marginally below the horizon, not enough to count for actual Night time. During these weeks...Sunlight can be seen all night long, just lingering at the northern horizon. It's not much, but it is still there.

[@metalvideos1961]

what? we still have nights just shorter. we never have a time in the year that we dont have nights. 21 of june is the shortest night. but we still have it.

[@flopjul3022]

i live in a small town that used to be located on the Zuiderzee(now Eemmeer) and its culture has declined yes but people still wear traditional clothing and the fish industry is still thriving it has just shifted, instead of fishing ourselfes fish gets brought here and gets produced into food and we also have 3 local bakery which have a small competition on their own. ooh and we are known for the only derby here in the Netherlands(inside one city/town, not like the frisian derby which is a competition inside a province).

[@eartvj]

interresting video. Visitors to the Netherland can avoid Amsterdam and have a great time. The city of Leiden where I was born has 10 interesting museums and is the birthplace of Rembrandt. Also the delta works are very interesting.

[@roykliffen9674]

Tip: don't get offended by Dutch rudeness. The Dutch are generally not rude, or rather not more rude than others. They do however seem to have an aversion against being circumspect. They go straight to the point and often don't sugar-coat their opinions. It's simply a more efficient way to get to the root of an issue, and work from there.

[@ShacolateClown]

Damn right. Just cut the bs and straight to the point. In Groningen its even "worse" because our dialect sounds more "mad" xD

[@simondeinema4265]

we are not rude or direct, just normal. the others who revolve around it are hypocritical...😁

[@roykliffen9674]

@@simondeinema4265 That's a bit harsh. I would say overly cautious in trying not to be offensive.

[@pixies646]

I love love love the Netherlands! Lovely people, beautiful country. Would live there if I was allowed

[@EARART]

Me too, I'm from London but would swap if I could

[@sulfarussulfarus3378]

@@EARART let’s swap ..would love to live in London …I live in Leiden ..you can visit the tulips fields by bike ..only 30 mins

[@viderethevaccinatorfromhol7536]

@@EARART you can

[@mariosgamingmemechannel2033]

@@EARART im from netherlands and a white kid said the n word to me and btw it ALWAYS RAINS AND WHEN YOU RIDE YOUR BIKE IT SHAKES SO HARD BC OF THE NOT STRAIGHT ROADS IVE BROKEN 3 BIKES BC THIS AND NO WE ALL PRETTY POOR MANY PEOPLE LIVE IN POVERTY BC EVERYTHING COSTS SO MUCH!!!!!!

[@mariosgamingmemechannel2033]

@@sulfarussulfarus3378 bro it rains to much

[@Tim_van_de_Leur]

Great video, love the pronunciations :) Few small mistakes though. Zeeland isn't reclaimed from the Zuiderzee (Southern Sea), but I think it was part of the Lelywerken (the project to protect us from the sea and increase agricultural output) The windmills you show were used earlier in the reclamation during the golden age and more around Holland, although you can find them just about everywhere in the country. They were also used as saw mills or milling grain. A lot of them today are still functional and could be used in case of an emergency. The ones used for the Ijselmeerpolders were steam and diesel powered ones. Also land reclamation efforts date back before the Romans even arrived, although at much smaller scale. People build mounts we call a 'terp' on which they placed their homes and build small dykes slowly pushing out the Waddenzee in the north.

[@Peetz0r]

Small nitpick, no steam engines were used in the IJsselmeerpolders (Flevoland). They were used in for example the Haarlemmermeerpolder (known for Schiphol Airport). The IJsselmeerpolders were made with a mix of diesel and electric puimping stations. These days they are all electric. And since there are a lot of wind turbines on this reclaimed land, you might even say that we still are yusing wind mills ;) (in Dutch we use the same word 'windmolen' for classic wind mills and modern wind turbines)

[@bilalplayer45]

Great video thank you so much 👍😁

[@hijmestoffels5171]

As always, this video by Paul is quite accurate. But I found a mistake: the digraph ‘ij’ should be considered as 1 character. So it is ‘IJsselmeer’, not ‘Ijsselmeer’.

[@GEOfocusChannel]

I see. Thanks!

[@dutchman7623]

I have an old typewriter, made for the Netherlands with a separate ij in lower and upper case, so truly a single character.

[@TheRealMrSkippy]

On old maps you will see it sometimes written with an Y like Yssel or Ysel or even Isel. The change to IJ (written with 2 characters, but considered 1 for capitalization) came somewhere in the 20th century afaik.

[@seustaceRotterdam]

I live in NL more than 20 years. The south as you pointed out has at least on paper a Catholic majority. I noticed this in Eindhoven and certainly in Weert where people seem to very social reminding me of my home country Ireland. They also have Carnaval (they spell it this way) just before lent and especially in Limburg each town has a local tradition just for Carnaval week. Now I am back in Zuid-Holland and I am quite happy to call this home (Schiedam). But to the good people of Eindhoven and Weert here is a shout out!

[@PrinceWalacra]

The Nehalennia temple altars were found near the Roman settlements of present Colijnsplaat and Domburg (not in the Westerschelde), she was a Celtic godess, worshipped by sailors and merchants.

[@deldarel]

I always love it when my home gets some love! Tiny thingy, maybe useful in the future but probably not: if an I is capitalised and directly followed by a J, then you capitalise the J too. It's kinda how the initials of Thomas are Th, not T. And the waters Zeeland reclaimed from was not the Zuiderzee but the Schelde, as well as some of the Rhine delta

[@dutchman7623]

Correct the IJ combination is considered to be one letter, and in Dutch typography pushed together even more. The Y is called Greek IJ. In old writings and Afrikaans the y is still present where modern Dutch uses the ij.

[@MarkonFiveM]

The city whith one of the biggest history of the country Leiden, it has the biggest univerity (located in Leiden and The Hague), Willem van Oranje giveted this to the city, Rembrandt was born here, and we have a special holiday on 3 october, the day that we where free from the spain, on that day we eat Hutspot (a mix of union, potato and carrot), Haring and Witte Brood (White Bread).

[@eartvj]

I was born there and I can advise everyone to visit Leiden but the university is only in Leiden.

[@Cl0ckcl0ck]

Leiden is fine but a 'nieuwbouwwijk' compared to Utrecht, Nijmegen and Maastricht. Those cities were all founded by the Romans and have a much more impressive history. The only Dutch pope for example had his palace in Utrecht. Nijmegen was a place Charles the Great ruled from. And Maastricht was once the home of the biggest dinosaur ever discovered in the Netherlands.

[@manuelsolana1429]

Gran vídeo. Felicidades 👍

[@davestrasburg408]

The Netherlands is - are? - an intriguing country, which has given the world a lot. One should never call the country "Holland," because the country has stated that this is an incorrect term. As a patriotic American who knows his history, l know only too well that America's much-vaunted religious and political freedom stems directly from the Dutch de facto colony of Nieuw Nederland ("New Netherlands"), situated from 1625 to 1664 in today's southern New York, eastern New Jersey and western Connecticut. By the way, New York City's "forgotten borough," Staten lsland, takes its name from the "staaten," the states of the Netherlands.

[@simonsaysism]

I lived in the Netherlands for a university exchange term and was surprised by the public transit system (including regional trains, and local metro and bus systems). I think it's the most comprehensive and efficient system anywhere in the world. I'm sure part of its success is due to the high population density - contrast here in Canada, one of the least dense countries in the world, where many public transit endeavours would cost too much compared to the number of people they would actually benefit. People talk about the Dutch and their bikes (and it's true, the cycling infrastructure is beautiful too!) but I still won't shut up about the public transit over 5 years since leaving.

[@GEOfocusChannel]

Yeah, the Netherlands is a very compact and densely populated country compared to Canada, which makes it much more viable to have public transit going to most places. Canada could do much better even in the big metro areas though. North America seems to have been developed with cars in mind.

[@florisariens2312]

Really good and informative video! What I also think is interesting about The Netherlands is the internationally known DJ-artists, dance music and festivals. Big companies like: Shell, Philips and Heineken. Lots of tech and science development by important universities in Delft and Eindhoven. WiFi, bluetooth, development in solar and wind energy. Chips for computers, medical world, robots, modern agriculture. Dutch modern architecture worldwide :).

[@dutchman7623]

Yep! Dutch tourist information still promotes Gouda and not Rotterdam. Rembrandt instead of Mondriaan, windmills instead of ASML. a planetarium in Friesland instead of the European Space Agency, cheese instead of high tech greenhouses, wooden shoe makers instead of refineries, and the Zaanse Schans instead of the Oosterscheldekering. Maybe time for a change? Highlight both?

[@letitiarademakers6304]

I was also thinking that the modern day success was something to add. The designers, big companies, biking infrastructure, green innovations and the happiest children in the world.

[@ForgottenGames]

Ijseljmeer I see in the picture -- but it is Ijselmeer (without the second j) - 'meer' means 'lake' and ijsel is a split from the river the Rhine.

[@tiaxanderson9725]

Fun fact, Gouda cheese doesn't come from the city of Gouda. It derived it's name from that city because that's where most of it was traded. In fact, the name and shape aren't protected, so if you buy it in a different country it could've been made locally or on the other side of the world. Though Gouda Holland is legally protected (by European law) since late 2010 and should be both manufactured in the Netherlands and use Dutch cow milk. If you go to Gouda or the region and find cheese called "Stolwijker" this is locally produced cheese as Gouda once was. Edit: I just noticed I didn't correct you on the Ij/IJ thing like 78% of the comment. Please forgive me :P

[@jonasnyman8189]

Very nice video again, Paul! You could also start mentioning what currencies are used in countries that have overseas territories. It would be interesting to hear if they use their mainland currencies like French Guiana, or some other currencies.

[@GEOfocusChannel]

Thanks! And thanks for the suggestion. I’ve done that in one video (Vietnam), but none of the others as far as I remember.

[@ArmArmAdv]

Heel interessant, Bedankt!

[@DenUitvreter]

The wealth of the Dutch Republic did not come from the VOC. The Dutch did more than half of Europe's trade, that was over a 100 times bigger than the trade with Asia, as those journeys often took over a year. The VOC might have been impressive to those poor British who couldn't compete in Europe and therefore encountered the VOC in Asia, for the Dutch it's importance was mostly culturally and making Amsterdam the hub of global trade rather than just European The Dutch Republic was already filthy rich when the VOC finally started paying dividend in 1631.

[@ronaldderooij1774]

Amen to that. Amsterdam got rich from taking the trade in grain from the Baltics from the Hanzeatic league, in the 15th century. And whaling, of course.

[@DenUitvreter]

@@ronaldderooij1774 Even peak VOC never matched the income of the good old Dutch herring fishery. It was not just grain, it was any bulk good that was mostly shipped by the Dutch. The trade with Asia was high risk high profit per cargo load, in bigger ships. The British could do that too, allthough not that good, but in the bulk shipping they stood no chance with their heavy ships that took much longer to build, needed much more crew and the interest was too high for that too. Then there were lots of industries, from cloth, furniture, silverware to guns they were big in, they printed more than half of Europe's books and also agriculture grew thanks to land reclamation. Even painting was quite an industry as about 70.000 paintings per year were made since ordinary Dutch people had paintings on their walls too.

[@zephyrus339]

To put the richness of the low countries in perspective: Philips II got half his income from this area. So the silver and gold mines in the Americas, spice trade and colonies in the east plus the combined income of a unified Spain equals one river delta.

[@DenUitvreter]

@@zephyrus339 Indeed, that was well before the Dutch had their efficient fluyt ship design and before they could build ships 30 times faster thanks to the wind powered sawmill, and when Portugal still owned the East Indies trade. When Queen Elizabeth's 'sweetheart came to 'help' the Dutch Revolt and arrived in Zeeland in 1586 he was flabbergasted not just by the order and cleanliness of a country in it's second decade of war, but also by how well fed and clothed ordinary people were, the wealth on display and the opulence of the feast they had organized to welcome him "I was told this country was at war" he was quoted. So it was already the wealthiest part of Europe with some margin, and then it exploded from the 1590's, that's how money for the risky and long term investment of the VOC, also a war enterprise in the middle of an existential war, was found with very ordinary people like maids and carpenters who were among the first shareholders. ROI only came in the 1630's and peak VOC was around 1650. Most of the VOC's trade was within Asia, between China, Japan, India. Persia and Indonesia, because of the distances of course. It was when that opportunity was seen that the VOC changed it's ambition from 'kick some Portuguese (Spanish Empire) ass and bring back silk and nutmeg to finance it' to a permanent trade network with a stronghold, requiring reinvestment of profits instead of paying dividend, that brought the need for the invention of the stock exchange, but all that growth still didn't make it substantial to the Dutch economy of that time. When a VOC ship had rounded the Cape and arrived in Amsterdam, it was an event, it would draw a crowd because of all the exotic stuff from all those places, the spills of the trade in Asia got disembarked. This was not a daily or weekly occurance like all the European trade but the boring bulk trade didn't attract that attention while making the real money.

[@dutchman7623]

@@zephyrus339 Until Spain lost one of their silver fleets to the Dutch. Instead of financing the Spanish, it financed the Dutch against Spain, which hit them as hard as the Varus defeat hit the Romans. They never recovered.

[@marcooros9103]

Hello. In My language in Slovak We called Netherlands "Holandsko", as Holland. But In Czech language name of country is "Nizozemsko", which is translation of Netherlands. Also I have heard, that Old Dutch is also language of Franks, althought in Francia (Frankish empire) was used Latin, as official language. I don't know, if It is true, this with Old Frankish, that It is also known, as old Dutch.

[@deldarel]

True, other than that the Franks spoke Old Dutch. Language and territory is always a bit messy and it's hard to say when the language of the Franks ends and Old Dutch begins. Dutch is absolutely a franconian language, but so is the confusingly named Franconian language spoken in Middle Germany. That's where we get Frankfurt from. It's kind of a band that goes from The Netherlands all the way to the Czech border

[@roodborstkalf9664]

The history of the Dutch language is complex, but the Salian Frankish language was indeed the most important influence. Other influences were Frisian and Danish (some important islands in the delta were occupied by Vikings in the 9th and 10th century for a few generations) Holland as a county came into existence around the year 1000 (see f.i. battle of Vlaardingen in 1018).

[@andrewlikestrains4138]

Ijsselmeer and Markermeer lakes surprised me the most. I didn’t realize that they were freshwater lakes, I thought they were just estuaries connected to the North Sea.

[@daanwilmer]

Yeah, but it was flooding too much, so they said "dam it!" and built the Afsluitdijk (literally "closing-off dike"). Fun fact: there used to be a lake there before, connected to the North Sea only by a river. Though storms and floods ate away at the land, eventually connecting the North Sea (through the Wadden Sea) with the lake, turning it into the Zuiderzee.

[@andrewlikestrains4138]

@@daanwilmer Interesting!

[@therealdutchidiot]

@@daanwilmerQuite right. It was known as the "Flevomeer". Hence the name of the province.

[@geeboom]

Another fine video from Paul. The Kingdom of Netherlands is wonderful but my beautiful island of Curaçao is the jewel in its crown. Then again, I'm biased. Curaçao not only has a different, nicer climate but it also has quite a separate culture. We speak Papiamento and most people are black. It's a hobby of mine to make videos documenting areas and aspects of my island. You can find these videos on my KZbin channel.

[@MariaNI-yf1bz]

Not "black " but of mixed ethnic backgrounds. Dont limit its people with these meaningless color constructs.

[@Hollandstation]

5:36 this wasn't drained with windmills. instead it was done with more modern pumps while it wasn't reclaimed before the 1930's... only the very old polders were drained by windmills

[@Hollandstation]

@Remco Vdf Lindeboom that's not true

[@dalstein3708]

@Remco Vdf Lindeboom That is only true for the Marker Wadden, small islands that were created a few years ago. The rest of Flevoland was created in the normal way: build a dike around it, then pump out the water.

[@bytheway1031]

Thanks for posting!

[@Ongevraagd]

Tbh idk what to let you know about my country so just a random history thing: in ww2 a dutch navy ship was ordered to retreat to Australia from the east indies when the Japanese attacked so to get away they disguised the ship as an island and slowly got away without being detected

[@rubengamingroblox7392]

Im dutch so i know much of things u talked about, but u also learned me some things

[@johnberry3824]

It's hard to imagine talking about the modern Netherlands without talking about design. Dutch graphic design and typography have been famous worldwide since at least the 1990s. One German designer once claimed that the Netherlands was so heavily designed that even its ponds were rectilinear.

[@tim3440]

We design our ponds... Yes we do.

[@z.kramer6027]

ofcourse our ponds are rectangular it's the most efficient shape to put roads next to it.

[@MartijnHover]

The "ij" is seen as one letter in Dutch, and is usually capitalized as 'IJ", not "Ij". "IJsselmeer", not "Ijsselmeer".

[@panbrood]

Please note that the reclaimed land is mostly 're-reclaimed', after centuries of making the country more prone to flooding by cutting peat (fuel for heating and cooking) from floodable peat swamps and not from the sea.

[@christianayalacruz1095]

Paul: "East of Cuba" Puerto Rico: "Am I a joke to you?"

[@jaccovermeulen2762]

Zeeland was not mostly reclaimed from the Zuiderzee but from the Noordzee and surroundings. And a lot was lost to the sea as well. Compare: verdronken land van Saeftinge in the Westerschelde or the area where the temple of Nehalennia was located.

[@PrinceWalacra]

The Nehalennia temple altars weer found near the Roman settlements of (present) Domburg and Colijnsplaat (not in the Westerschelde). She was a Celtic godess worshipped by sailors and merchants.

[@markknoop6283]

Rijkswaterstaat and the work they achieve. Waterlevels Of the rivers, canals and waterloopbos.

[@TheWeirdDudeCalledToon]

Some one from the Netherlands here: weather kinda shit, and we don't get high all the time lol

[@dutchman7623]

Soon we'll have palm trees in Scheveningen and coral in the Oosterschelde. When the Sahara takes over Spain and Italy.

[@omrivol]

Great video!

[@2712animefreak]

You forgot my personal favourite Dutch food item: Hagelslag.

[@danielvandommele1204]

nice and very well done video!

[@carstengrooten3686]

The partitioning of the Netherlands from 5.43 onwards is not as the Dutch tipically do it. When talking about the south, usually only Noord-Brabant and Limburg are adressed (due to dialect, religion and culture closer to that of Belgium) and Zeeland is usually included with the West. Because of its own language and culture, Friesland is often adressed as something on its own, but it can also be included in the north with Drenthe and Groningen as stated in the video. The latter two however are also often put together with Overijssel and eastern Gelderland as these are all more rural and are home to more German-like dialects. Flevoland is a weird case because it borders so many other parts. The Flevopolder is probably more Western, especially Almere which lies close to Amsterdam, but the Noord-Oostpolder is more so inhabited by people originally from Friesland, Drenthe and Overijssel. I hope this clarifies some stuff as I personally have never seen the partionining in the video before. It is worthy to say that both Overijssel and Gelderland have a bit of an east-west division going on (with the east being, well east and the west being 'neutral' so to say) and that Zeeland, Flevoland and Friesland can be assigned to different regions. In the end everything is arbitrary and nothing is really relevant as the different parts are not actually that different and changes occur along a gradient, but this is how Dutch people would more often refer to their provinces. Nice video and greetings from Wageningen!

[@unamedofrio]

Paul, I miss your video subtitles, it's always been a source of knowledge to me. Do you need any help with that? KZbin has a tool which allows your viewers to contribute with subtitles... Isn't that a great idea?

[@GEOfocusChannel]

KZbin stopped allowing that. Too many people uploaded junk subtitles, like straight from Google Translate, or they added bad words or spam. For example, KZbin blocked one of my videos because somebody added a racist comment to to the subtitles.

[@jackmehoff1840]

Nederland has some quirky borders with Belgium in the form of Baarle-Hertog, be good for you to look into this further

[@GEOfocusChannel]

I’ll look into it. Thanks!

[@jannybloemers9508]

Very nice,thanks,janny,the netherlands.

[@Cunningwolfy]

I live in a old fishing town. Named Elburg. The town itself can be very beautiful.

[@arrowackskorsou8194]

Hey Paul! Lovely video, but a few tiny factual errors. I could go through them with you if you like, let me know!

[@casadelosotte]

I love your videos and that is why I like to point out a mistake that is commonly made, because Ost-Friesland is German Territory. But Friesland is Friesland and their language is Fries. West-Friesland is the little bulb on the other side of the IJsselmeer, and their Dutch dialect is called Westfrysian (Westfries). It used to be part of the Frysian empire, but so was all the west up until the Belgium border and North-Western Germany. Westfrysians do speak Dutch and not Frysian. Apart from that, your videos make complicated stories understandable and simple. Thanks for taking the trouble making it.

[@GEOfocusChannel]

Yes, I'm aware of that issue, because I made a video about Frisian a couple years ago. It's not a mistake, there's just confusion that comes from the different terms used in English and Dutch. In English we say "West Frisian" to refer to the western dialect of Frisian (ie. Fries) that is spoken in Friesland. In Dutch you just say "Fries" (or maybe linguists say "Westerlauwers Fries".) In English we don't really have a separate name for "Westfries" (the Dutch dialect). We just say "the West Frisian dialect of Dutch" or something similar.

[@tuna-nl]

@@GEOfocusChannel There are three groups of Frisian. West-Frisian in Fryslan, East-Frisian in Groningen and Ost-Friesland (Germany) and North-Frisian (Germany, south of Denmark). East-Frisian is more what they call in Germany "Plattdeutsch" and North-Frisian is the most connected to Danish.

[@GEOfocusChannel]

@@tuna-nl I talk about the different varieties of Frisian in my video about it on Langfocus (my other channel). The examples are in West Frisian though.

[@yorbenpereboom850]

9:49 Dutch people also speak more languages, like German or French. Those languages are school subjects in highschool besides English and Dutch of course.

[@yorbenpereboom850]

Btw i love how you pronounse the Dutch words

[@Sybren033]

You tried to pronounce everything in a Dutch way (which you do very well). Now only "Gouda" is pronounced completely different. I can try to explain it but you can better search it online. Great video btw!

[@GEOfocusChannel]

I just said it the English way, because that’s how I learned it as a kid. For most of the other words, I learned them more recently so I have no native English pronunciation for them. In those cases I tried to say them the Dutch way.

[@Sybren033]

@@GEOfocusChannel Fair enough, loved the video btw. Just a little advice if you would have tried to pronounce it the Dutch way! 😁

[@MetDaan2912]

I would like people to know that cycling is great!

[@DrCatdeJong]

I live in the south, in Brabant. Every year we have carnaval, and basically we just dress up in silly costumes and get drunk en mass for 5 days straight.

[@GEOfocusChannel]

lol

[@karlijnstender1784]

I live in the netherlands i love to learn what other country' s think of ours ( also please try to check how you say some of our words😅 )

[@anthony17mapoy46]

Nice video!

[@hungsu9204]

Thank you. You're great.

[@levi_H_6]

The video I was waiting for

[@justvibeandplay5648]

07:55 i love to walk into that place i enjoy that really much

[@dvchel]

10:42 Makes me hungry from only looking at it. XD

[@BartTheTosti]

Small error, Zeeland is not located on the Zuiderzee, but on the crossroads of the Schelde and northsea

[@crowmob-yo6ry]

Can't wait to visit there in January 2024!

[@roberthunter479]

I'd love to visit.

[@marcovtjev]

Netherlands come not from low lying country directly, but from being downstream, though that is of course correlated. Afaik the 20th century Zuiderzee polders were already drained by (steam) pumps, not windmills, that is longer ago.

[@jaspboynl8094]

When you were talking about food, I expected you to say something about stamppot.

[@dutchman7623]

Why not about asperges with ham and hollandaise sauce? Yummy and fresh from the fields right now!

[@P.Snippe]

1:33 lol that map. The province of Zeeland is fked-up 😅

[@ouwesdebouwes3224]

Zeeland was reclaimed land from the North sea, not the Zuiderzee

[@XL1827]

I live at the lowest point of the netherlands 🇳🇱 (nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel)

[@mikemurphy8350]

¡Me encanta! Muje yah pasand hai! Wo xuihuan ta!

[@fifa23speler]

I am from the Netherlands and in holland much people love to play football or and we like to make a ride on the bike or we like to walk

[@antoniovaccaro2160]

Eindhoven with its high-tech hub (ASML, Philips ) is noteworthy.

[@mlies37]

For someone who also runs a language channel I was a bit disappointed you didn’t capitalize IJsselmeer correctly. A very forgivable mistake if you hadn’t already made a video on the dutch language in which the ij was specifically mentioned ;)

[@GEOfocusChannel]

People have very unrealistic expectations of me based on Langfocus, even though it is not at all about me or my skill. Every video is a constructed project and I have always been open about that. Mentioning something about a language I don’t speak in a video I made 6 years ago doesn’t mean I remember it now.

[@mlies37]

@@GEOfocusChannel sorry, I meant it in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way but in retrospect I didn’t make this clear at all and I just sounded mean

[@MrRofl131]

Above comments are a great example of Dutch directness and the non Dutch receiver somewhat offended about it.

[@jacquelinevanderkooij4301]

One mistake to mention .Rotterdam is not situated on de Schelderiver.

[@henningkoehler9966]

Really good video but it surprised me that you did not mention the relation to Afrikaans.

[@superpanda-bs8284]

I live in the Netherlands!!

[@simonsaysism]

Me when I arrived to the Netherlands: Hey these stroopwafels are pretty good Me when I left the Netherlands 6 months later: I don't think I can live without stroopwafels

[@MarcosVinicius-hg4uz]

i like that they are tall

[@secret6699]

7:34 Zeeland is not reclaimed from the Zuiderzee but the North Sea instead

[@EARART]

Suriname 🇸🇷 is also dutch owed and spoken

[@JesseKuiper]

Suriname has been an independent country for almost half a century now.

[@lexiboy5231]

Thank you im dutch

[@simondeinema4265]

there are more Dutch people who do not eat herring than there are who do eat it. It is nonsense that the Dutch put icing sugar on a pancake cake, even if it contains a savory filling. they often bake bacon and/or cheese or apple in a pancake and they put syrup over it and some also have powdered sugar. some people use (brown) caster sugar, a sand-grained slightly moist texture. poffertjes are eaten with powdered sugar. and with the New Year's Eve, many people eat oliebollen.