Thursday, June 16, 2011

Did you know that...

  • one quarter of the Netherlands is below sea level?


  • the International Court of Justice is at the Peace Palace in The Hague?


  • the Netherlands has approximately 480 inhabitants per square kilometre? Compared to Iowa with about 20 inhabitants per square kilometre.


  • with only 0.008% of the world's area, the Netherlands is the world's third largest agricultural exporter?


  • the Netherlands was one of the European Union's founding nations?


  • the Netherlands has at least 15,000 km of cycle tracks? Iowa does have over 2,253 km of multi-use trails (with some of the longest paved trails in the country acording to bikeiowa.com). This is still not quite as many and Iowa is over three times the size of the Netherlands.


  • Dutch is also spoken in Belgium, northern France, Suriname, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba?


  • the Netherlands still has about 1,000 traditional working windmills?


  • the Dutch are the tallest people in Europe?


  • Amsterdam is entirely built on poles? The swampy ground in Amsterdam makes it necessary to build the houses on long, mostly wooden poles, hammered deep into the ground.


  • the Netherlands always has a coalition government, which makes it a country of compromises?


  • the Netherlands has nearly 1,000 museums, with 42 in Amsterdam alone?


  • almost every Dutch person has a bicycle and there are twice as many bikes as cars?


  • the Netherlands is the world's eighth largest exporter?


  • people in Holland eat raw herring with onions on top?


  • about 30% of all Dutch babies are born at home?


  • you can see 22 paintings by Rembrandt and 206 by Van Gogh in Amsterdam?


  • the Netherlands has the highest number of part-time workers in the EU (four in ten people)?


  • the Netherlands' highest point is 323 metres high and is therefore called a " mountain"?


  • you'll find a bunch of flowers in almost every Dutch living room?


  • Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, but The Hague is the seat of government?


  • most Dutch people speak at least one foreign language?


  • one in every three Dutch people belongs to a sports club?

  • After Scandinavians, the Dutch are the world's biggest coffee drinkers?


  • people of 200 nationalities live in Amsterdam?


  • the Netherlands has one of the youngest populations in the EU?


  • when your plane arrives at Schiphol, it lands 4.5 metres below sea level?


  • the Netherlands has the highest cable density in Europe?


  • Amsterdam has 1,281 bridges?



  • Thanks, Dutch Embassy for your facts and figures :)

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