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The Netherlands - Holland - Dutch?

The Netherlands; Dutch: Nederland is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in North-West Europe. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east. The capital is Amsterdam and the seat of government is The Hague.

The Netherlands is often called Holland, as North and South Holland are actually two of its twelve provinces. The word Dutch is used to refer to the people, the language, and anything pertaining to the Netherlands.

The world’s legal capital

The Netherlands was one of the first parliamentary democracies. Among other affiliations the country is a founding member of the European Union (EU), NATO, OECD and WTO. With Belgium and Luxembourg it forms the Benelux economic union. The country is host to five international courts: the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Court and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The first four are situated in The Hague as is the EU's criminal intelligence agency Europol and judicial co-operation agency Eurojust. This has led to the city being dubbed "the world's legal capital” The Netherlands has a capitalist market-based economy, ranking 15th of 157 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom.

Below sea level

The Netherlands is a geographically low-lying country, with about 20% of its area located below sea level with 50% of its land lying less than 1 meter above sea level. Significant land area has been gained through land reclamation and preserved through an elaborate system of polders and dikes. Much of the Netherlands is formed by the estuary of three important European rivers, which together with their distributaries form the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta. Most of the country is very flat, with the exception of foothills in the far southeast and several low-hill ranges in the central parts.

Education in the Netherlands

The Netherlands has compulsory education from age 5 to 18 (or 16 as a study is completed which has given the student adequate professional skills to start as a professional in the labor market). Pupils attend primary or elementary school from age 4 to age 12. After that they continue their education at secondary school minimally until age 18; which indicates one of three tracks in the Dutch educational system:

The track starts with VMBO, which is seen as the lowest level of secondary education and lasts four years. Successfully completing VMBO results in a low level vocational degree and/or gives access to higher (secondary) levels vocational education. Completion of second level vocational education results in professional skills and gives access to further study a university of applied science. The medium level HAVO lasts five years. After completion a student can attend a university of applied science, which award professional bachelor degrees. A degree at a university of applied science gives access to the university system. The highest level of high school education is VWO, which lasts six years, completion of which allows students to attend a university. University consists of a three year bachelor's degrees, followed by one or two year master's degrees. A master's degree is required to start a four year doctoral degree. Doctoral candidates in the Netherlands are temporary employees of a university.

Culture

The Netherlands has had many well-known painters. The 17th century, when the Dutch republic was prosperous, was the age of the "Dutch Masters", such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Jan Steen, Jacob van Ruysdael and many others. Famous Dutch painters of the 19th and 20th century were Vincent van Gogh and Piet Mondriaan. M. C. Escher is a well-known graphics artist.