The Berkeley Guides:
Berkeley Guide to Europe:
The Netherlands:
Background Information for
The Netherlands
By Stephanie Schuck
Traditionally, travelers have come to the Netherlands in search of windmills and watery canals, looking for fields of tulips and residents shod in wooden shoes. Certainly tulips grow in abundance in some rural areas, and those windmills are still pumping water from the marshy land, but since World War II the Netherlands has developed into a more urban, culturally rich, hip hangout. Today's budget travelers are usually attracted by the country's reputation for political, social, and cultural progressivism and an anything-goes social scene; the Netherlands, particularly its leading city, Amsterdam, is now as famous for hash and hookers as it is for windmills and wooden shoes.
There's much more to the Netherlands than just hedonism and horticulture, however. The paintings of Rembrandt are a legacy of the Netherlands's Golden Age, when the country became one of the world's leading political, military, and cultural powers. When the Dutch weren't busy pumping the sea out of their tiny, lowland nation, they were busy exploring it, in the process becoming a major player in global imperialism. Today, the country is more interested in domestic concerns, spending a huge chunk of its tax revenue on social-welfare programs. The gap between poor and rich is relatively small, and the government subsidizes all sorts of educational and artistic pursuits. The Netherlands gained an even greater reputation for liberalism when it passed the world's least restrictive laws on euthanasia in 1993. The country's liberal bent goes all the way back to the open-door policy of the 17th century, when religious refugees arrived here from all over Europe. The Netherlands still has one of the most diverse populations in Europe, although many members of the country's ethnic minorities--mostly Indonesians, Surinamese, Turks, and Moroccans--argue that things aren't as rosy as they seem. Job prospects are dim for many of them, forcing them to live in rapidly growing ghettos.
The Dutch are unfailingly courteous and helpful, though they may not seem like the warmest bunch at first. Perhaps the ever-increasing population density is the reason they protect their privacy so vigilantly. Although the country is only half the size of Maine, the population is up to 15 million. To get to know the Dutch better, try hanging out at any neighborhood bar or café, which is more like a home away from home than an escape from it. Here locals of all ages take pleasure in each other's company (an idea embodied by the Dutch word gezellig, loosely translated as community), and they usually don't mind if a few out-of-towners join in.
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