Portal:Netherlands

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Welcome to the Netherlands Portal
Welkom bij het Nederlandportaal!

The Netherlands, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands consists of twelve provinces; it borders Germany to the east and Belgium to the south, with a North Sea coastline to the north and west. It shares maritime borders with the United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium. The official language is Dutch, with West Frisian as a secondary official language in the province of Friesland. Dutch, English, and Papiamento are official in the Caribbean territories.

The Netherlands has been a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a unitary structure since 1848. The country has a tradition of pillarisation (separation of citizens into groups by religion and political beliefs) and a long record of social tolerance, having legalised prostitution and euthanasia, along with maintaining a liberal drug policy. The Netherlands allowed women's suffrage in 1919 and was the first country to legalise same-sex marriage in 2001. Its mixed-market advanced economy has the eleventh-highest per capita income globally. The Hague holds the seat of the States General, Cabinet, and Supreme Court. The Port of Rotterdam is the busiest in Europe. Schiphol is the busiest airport in the Netherlands, and the fourth busiest in Europe. Being a developed country, the Netherlands is a founding member of the European Union, eurozone, G10, NATO, OECD, and WTO, as well as a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. It hosts intergovernmental organisations and international courts, many of which are in The Hague. (Full article...)

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An 1882 print of a pig-faced woman, from The Illustrated Police News

Legends featuring pig-faced women originated roughly simultaneously in The Netherlands, England and France in the late 1630s. The stories tell of a wealthy woman whose body is of normal human appearance, but whose face is that of a pig.

In the earliest forms of the story, the woman's pig-like appearance is the result of witchcraft. Following her wedding day, the pig-faced woman's new husband is granted the choice of having her appear beautiful to him but pig-like to others, or pig-like to him and beautiful to others. When her husband tells her that the choice is hers, the enchantment is broken and her pig-like appearance vanishes. These stories became particularly popular in England, and later in Ireland. (Full article...)
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A newspaper advertisement for Kedok Ketawa from Surabaya

Kedok Ketawa ([kəˈdɔʔ kəˈtawa]; Indonesian for The Laughing Mask, also known by the Dutch title Het Lachende Masker) is a 1940 action film from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Union Films' first production, it was directed by Jo An Djan. Starring Basoeki Resobowo, Fatimah, and Oedjang, the film follows a young couple who fight off criminals with the help of a masked man.

Advertised as an "Indonesian cocktail of violent actions ... and sweet romance", Kedok Ketawa received positive reviews, particularly for its cinematography. Following the success of the film, Union produced another six works before being shut down in early 1942 during the Japanese occupation. The film, screened until at least August 1944, may be lost. (Full article...)
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Newspaper advertisement

Gagak Item ([ɡaˈɡaʔ iˈtəm]; Vernacular Malay for Black Raven, also known by the Dutch title De Zwarte Raaf) is a 1939 bandit film from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) directed by Joshua and Othniel Wong for Tan's Film. Starring Rd Mochtar, Roekiah, and Eddy T. Effendi, it follows a masked man known only as "Gagak Item" ("Black Raven"). The black-and-white film, which featured the cast and crew from the 1937 hit Terang Boelan (Full Moon), was a commercial success and received positive reviews upon release. It is likely lost. (Full article...)
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Harta Berdarah ([harˈta bərˈdarah]; Indonesian for Bloody Treasure) is a 1940 action film from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Set in the Middle Ages, the film stars R Sukran and Hadidjah as a pirate and a princess who fall in love. Union Films, the country's first indigenous film production house, produced the film with Rd Ariffien and R Hu as directors. It was written by Saeroen, one of the country's most prolific screenwriters.The film, which stars Zonder and Soelastri, tells of a young man who convinces a stingy hadji to be more charitable and, in the process, falls in love with the man's daughter.

Released during Eid al-Fitr, Harta Berdarah was advertised as a "magnificent Indonesian action hit" and used Zonder's silat skills and Soelastri's fame as a keroncong singer to draw audiences. Reviews for the work were positive, with praise focused on its acting and story. Although Harta Berdarah was screened as late as 1944, as with most contemporary productions it is now likely lost. (Full article...)
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The Human Centipede (First Sequence) is a 2009 Dutch independent body horror film written, directed and co-produced by Tom Six. The film concerns a deranged German surgeon who kidnaps three tourists and conjoins them surgically, mouth to anus, forming the eponymous "human centipede". It stars Dieter Laser as Josef Heiter, the creator of the centipede; and Ashley C. Williams, Ashlynn Yennie, and Akihiro Kitamura as Heiter's victims.

According to Six, the concept arose from a joke he had made with friends about punishing a child molester by stitching his mouth to the anus of a "fat truck driver". Other sources of inspiration were Nazi medical experiments performed during World War II, such as those performed by Josef Mengele at the Auschwitz concentration camp. When approaching investors to fund the project, Six did not mention the premise of the film for fear of putting off potential backers; financiers did not discover the full nature of the film until completion. (Full article...)
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Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights, oil on oak panels, 205.5 cm × 384.9 cm (81 in × 152 in), Museo del Prado, Madrid

The Garden of Earthly Delights (Dutch: De tuin der lusten, lit. 'The garden of lusts') is the modern title given to a triptych oil painting on oak panel painted by the Early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch, between 1490 and 1510, when Bosch was between 40 and 60 years old. Bosch's religious beliefs are unknown, but interpretations of the work typically assume it is a warning against the perils of temptation. The outer panels place the work on the Third Day of Creation. The intricacy of its symbolism, particularly that of the central panel, has led to a wide range of scholarly interpretations over the centuries.

Twentieth-century art historians are divided as to whether the triptych's central panel is a moral warning or a panorama of the paradise lost. He painted three large triptychs (the others are The Last Judgment of c. 1482 and The Haywain Triptych of c. 1516) that can be read from left to right and in which each panel was essential to the meaning of the whole. Each of these three works presents distinct yet linked themes addressing history and faith. Triptychs from this period were generally intended to be read sequentially, the left and right panels often portraying Eden and the Last Judgment respectively, while the main subject was contained in the centerpiece. (Full article...)
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Si Ronda is a 1930 silent film from the Dutch East Indies which was directed by Lie Tek Swie and starred Bachtiar Effendi. Based on contemporary Betawi oral tradition, it follows the exploits of a bandit, skilled in silat (traditional Malay martial arts), known as Si Ronda. In the lenong stories from which the film was derived, Ronda was often depicted as a Robin Hood type of figure. The production, now thought lost, was one of a series of martial arts films released between 1929 and 1931. Si Ronda received little coverage in the media upon its release. A second adaptation of the tale, Si Ronda Macan Betawi, was made in 1978. (Full article...)
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Frank in May 1942, two months before she and her family went into hiding

Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (German: [ˈanə(liːs maˈʁiː) ˈfʁaŋk] , Dutch: [ˌɑnəˈlis maːˈri ˈfrɑŋk, ˈɑnə ˈfrɑŋk] ; 12 June 1929 – c. February or March 1945) was a German-born Jewish girl who kept a diary documenting her life in hiding amid Nazi persecution during the German occupation of the Netherlands. A celebrated diarist, Frank described everyday life from her family's hiding place in an Amsterdam attic. She gained fame posthumously and became one of the most-discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust with the 1947 publication of The Diary of a Young Girl (originally Het Achterhuis in Dutch, lit. 'the back house'; English: The Secret Annex), which documents her life in hiding from 1942 to 1944. It is one of the world's best-known books and has been the basis for several plays and films.

Frank was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1929. In 1934, when she was four-and-a-half, Frank and her family moved to Amsterdam in the Netherlands after Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party gained control over Germany. By May 1940, the family was trapped in Amsterdam by the German occupation of the Netherlands. Frank lost her German citizenship in 1941 and became stateless. Despite spending most of her life in the Netherlands and being a de facto Dutch national, she never officially became a Dutch citizen. As persecutions of the Jewish population increased in July 1942, the family went into hiding in concealed rooms behind a bookcase in the building where Frank's father, Otto Frank, worked. The hiding place is notably referred to as the "secret annex". Until the family's arrest by the Gestapo on 4 August 1944, Frank kept and regularly wrote in a diary she had received as a birthday present in 1942. (Full article...)
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Official portrait, 1956

Fakih Usman (alternatively spelled as Faqih Usman; [faˈkɪh ʊsˈman]; 2 March 1904 – 3 October 1968) was an Indonesian Islamic leader and politician of the Masyumi Party. He twice served as the Minister of Religious Affairs under the cabinets of Abdul Halim and Wilopo from January until September 1950, and again from 1952 until 1953. In his early years, Fakih was criticized by conservative Muslims for his involvement with the modernist Islamic Muhammadiyah organization, though he is remembered fondly by the group. Born to a merchant and his wife in Gresik, Dutch East Indies, Fakih studied with his father and at a series of pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) until the 1920s.

In 1925 he became involved with the Muhammadiyah, rising quickly through the leadership until he became the head of the Surabaya branch in 1938. He was also active in local politics, in 1937, he became the treasurer of the Indonesian Islamic Assembly. He continued to be involved in politics and Islamic groups during the Japanese occupation and the ensuing national revolution. Following the end of the war, he was appointed Minister of Religious Affairs. As a minister, he oversaw educational and institutional reform, growing in prominence within the Muhammadiyah. He also served as deputy chairman of the organization under several different leaders before being chosen as its chairman in late 1968. He died several days later. (Full article...)
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Lie, c. 1900

Lie Kim Hok (Chinese: 李金福; pinyin: Lǐ Jīnfú; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lì Kim-hok; 1 November 1853 – 6 May 1912) was a peranakan Chinese teacher, writer, and social worker active in the Dutch East Indies and styled the "father of Chinese Malay literature". Born in Buitenzorg (now Bogor), West Java, Lie received his formal education in missionary schools and by the 1870s was fluent in Sundanese, vernacular Malay, and Dutch, though he was unable to understand Chinese. In the mid-1870s he married and began working as the editor of two periodicals published by his teacher and mentor D. J. van der Linden. Lie left the position in 1880. His wife died the following year. Lie published his first books, including the critically acclaimed syair (poem) Sair Tjerita Siti Akbari and grammar book Malajoe Batawi, in 1884. When van der Linden died the following year, Lie purchased the printing press and opened his own company.

Over the following two years Lie published numerous books, including Tjhit Liap Seng, considered the first Chinese Malay novel. He also acquired printing rights for Pembrita Betawi, a newspaper based in Batavia (now Jakarta), and moved to the city. After selling his printing press in 1887, the writer spent three years working in various lines of employment until he found stability in 1890 at a rice mill operated by a friend. The following year he married Tan Sioe Nio, with whom he had four children. Lie published two books in the 1890s and, in 1900, became a founding member of the Chinese organisation Tiong Hoa Hwee Koan, which he left in 1904. Lie focused on his translations and social work for the remainder of his life, until his death from typhus at age 58. (Full article...)

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Twenty-two people are recorded as having produced fictional films in the Dutch East Indies between 1926, when L. Heuveldorp released Loetoeng Kasaroeng, the colony's first domestically produced film, and 1949, when the Dutch formally recognised Indonesia's sovereignty after a four-year revolution, leaving the Dutch East Indies defunct. Altogether, they are credited for 93 of all known films produced in the Indies, and four of them remained active after independence. All were men; the first female film producer in Indonesia, Ratna Asmara, produced her first film in 1953.

The colony's first producer, Heuveldorp, was of European descent. He was followed in 1928 by the ethnic Chinese businessmen Tjan Tjoen Lian and Liem Goan Lian, who began work on Lily van Java but soon pulled out, to be replaced by David Wong. By 1930 Chinese producers had dominated the industry. The most active of these, The Teng Chun, made his debut in 1931 with Boenga Roos dari Tjikembang; he would go on to produce another 27 films before independence. No native Indonesian film producers are recorded from this period, although several productions were credited only to companies. (Full article...)
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This page is a list of films that received the Golden Film since its introduction in 2001 by the Netherlands Film Festival and the Netherlands Film Fund. In 2001 and 2002, films from the Netherlands received the award once they had sold 75,000 tickets. From 2003 to date, the Golden Film is awarded to films from the Netherlands once they have sold 100,000 tickets. This page shows, for both audience criteria, which films received the Golden Film and how soon they received it after their releases.

In the following tables, the 'year' column contains the years in which the films received the Golden Film, the '#' column contains the number of the Golden Film, the 'film title' column contains the titles of the receiving films, the 'film release' column contains the dates on which the films were first released in the cinemas, and the 'Golden Film' column contains the days when the Netherlands Film Festival and the Netherlands Film Fund announced that the receiving films reached the audience criterion of the Golden Film. (Full article...)
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The Battle of Camperdown, painted by Philip de Loutherbourg in 1799.

The Battle of Camperdown was an important naval action of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought off Camperduin on the North Holland coast on 11 October 1797 between a British fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan and a Dutch fleet under Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter. The French Republic had overrun the Dutch Republic two years earlier, reforming it into the Batavian Republic. In early 1797, the Batavian Navy was ordered to sail to Brest and unite with the French Atlantic Fleet in preparation for an invasion of Ireland. Shortly afterwards, the British fleets were paralysed by the Spithead and Nore mutinies, in which the sailors refused to take their ships to sea until they were awarded better pay and conditions. For two months^{[citation needed]}, the English Channel was undefended, but the Dutch failed to take the opportunity to sail from their harbour in the Texel: their preparations were not complete, and a small squadron of loyal British ships under Duncan convinced de Winter that the British fleet was at sea by sending nonsensical signals to fictitious ships over the horizon.

By October 1797, the plan to attack Ireland had been abandoned and the British North Sea Fleet was again at full strength. During a brief period replenishing supplies at Yarmouth, news reached Duncan on 10 October that the Dutch had sailed on a raiding cruise^{[citation needed]} and he returned to the Dutch coast, intercepting de Winter's fleet on its way back to the Texel. The Dutch formed a line of battle in shallow coastal waters to meet Duncan's attack, which was conducted in a confused mass, the British fleet separating into two groups that struck the vanguard and rear of the Dutch fleet, overwhelming each in turn and capturing eleven ships, including de Winter's flagship Vrijheid. On the return journey, three of the captured ships were lost, and none of the surviving Dutch prizes was ever suitable for active service again^{[citation needed]}. Both sides suffered heavy casualties during the battle as each fleet had been trained to aim at the hulls of their opponents, maximising the damage to personnel. (Full article...)
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The Wong brothers (one pictured) were the first ethnic Chinese directors in the Indies.

Twenty-nine people are recorded as having directed fictional films in the Dutch East Indies between 1926, when L. Heuveldorp released Loetoeng Kasaroeng, the colony's first domestically produced film, and 1949, when the Dutch formally recognised Indonesia's sovereignty after a four-year revolution, leaving the Dutch East Indies defunct. Thirteen directors active in the Indies continued to direct films after 1950, including Usmar Ismail: his 1950 film Darah dan Doa (The Long March) is generally considered the first truly Indonesian film.

The colony's first directors, L. Heuveldorp and George Krugers, were of European or mixed descent. They were followed by ethnic Chinese soon after, when Nelson Wong made his debut in 1928 with Lily van Java; other Chinese directors included Lie Tek Swie (1929), Wong's brothers Joshua and Othniel (1930), and The Teng Chun (1931). Ethnic Chinese directors dominated the colony's cinema for the remainder of its existence. The first native director, Bachtiar Effendi, made his debut in 1932 with the talkie Njai Dasima; another native director would not appear until Andjar Asmara and Rd Ariffien made their debuts in 1940. (Full article...)
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Since 1 January 2023, there have been 342 regular municipalities (Dutch: gemeenten [ɣəˈmeːntə(n)] ; sing. gemeente [ɣəˈmeːntə] ) and three special municipalities (Dutch: bijzondere gemeenten [biˈzɔndərə -]) in the Netherlands. The latter is the status of three of the six island territories that make up the Dutch Caribbean. Municipalities are the second-level administrative division, or public bodies (Dutch: openbare lichamen), in the Netherlands and are subdivisions of their respective provinces. Their duties are delegated to them by the central government and they are ruled by a municipal council that is elected every four years. Municipal mergers have reduced the total number of municipalities by two-thirds since the first official boundaries were created in the mid 19th century. Municipalities themselves are informally subdivided into districts and neighbourhoods for administrative and statistical purposes.

These municipalities come in a wide range of sizes, Westervoort is the smallest with a land area of 7.01 km2 (2.71 sq mi) and Súdwest-Fryslân the largest with a land area of 522.7 km2 (201.8 sq mi). Schiermonnikoog is both the least populated, with 972 people, and the least densely populated municipality at 23/km2 (60/sq mi). Amsterdam has the highest population with 931,298 residents as of January 2024, whereas The Hague is the most densely populated with a density of 6,868/km2 (17,790/sq mi). (Full article...)
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Film poster for Loetoeng Kasaroeng, the first locally produced film released in the Dutch East Indies

A total of 112 fictional films are known to have been produced in the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) between 1926 and the colony's dissolution in 1949. The earliest motion pictures, imported from abroad, were shown in late 1900, and by the early 1920s imported serials and fictional films were being shown, often with localised names. Dutch companies were also producing documentary films about the Indies to be shown in the Netherlands. The first reports of fictional film production in the Indies date from 1923, although the work in question was not completed. The first locally produced film, Loetoeng Kasaroeng, was directed by L. Heuveldorp and released on 31 December 1926.

Between 1926 and 1933 numerous other local productions were released. Although Dutchmen like Heuveldorp and George Krugers continued to be active in the industry, the majority of filmmakers and producers were ethnic Chinese. The Tan brothers (Khoen Yauw and Khoen Hian) and The Teng Chun were major producers during this period, while the Wong brothers (Nelson, Othniel, and Joshua) were among the more prominent directors. During the mid-1930s, production dropped as a result of the Great Depression. The release of Albert Balink's commercially and critically successful Terang Boelan (Full Moon) in 1937 led to renewed interest in filmmaking, and 1941 saw thirty locally produced films. This rate of production declined after the Japanese occupation beginning in early 1942, closing all but one film studio; this resulted in several films which had begun production in 1941 being released several years later. The majority of films produced during the occupation were short propaganda pieces. Following the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence in 1945 and during the ensuing revolution several films were made, by both pro-Dutch and pro-Indonesian backers; the Dutch formally recognised Indonesia's sovereignty on 27 December 1949, leaving the Dutch East Indies defunct. (Full article...)
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The Amsterdam Tournament (Dutch: Amsterdam Toernooi) was a pre-season association football competition, held in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The competition was hosted by Eredivisie club Ajax at the Amsterdam Arena. It was inaugurated in 1975 as the Amsterdam 700 Tournament to celebrate 700 years of history in the city. It was held annually each summer until 1992, when the last edition of the original tournament was played. It returned in 1999 with the backing of the International Event Partnership (IEP). Four teams participate in the competition, played in a league format since 1986.

Since its return, the tournament has used an unusual point scoring system. As with most league competitions, three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. An additional point, however, is awarded for each goal scored. The system is designed to reward teams that adopt a more attacking style of play. Each entrant plays two matches, with the winner being the club that finishes at the top of the table. The original competition was held at Amsterdam's Olympic Stadium, where Ajax played its international games until 1996. The Amsterdam Arena, now named the Johan Cruyff Arena, has played host to the event since the return until 2009. (Full article...)

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Selected biography

Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank was a German-born Jewish girl from the city of Frankfurt. She gained international fame posthumously following the publication of her diary which documents her experiences hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.

Anne and her family moved to Amsterdam in 1933 after the Nazis gained power in Germany, and were trapped by the occupation of the Netherlands, which began in 1940. As persecutions against the Jewish population increased, the family went into hiding in July 1942 in hidden rooms in her father Otto Frank's office building. After two years, the group was betrayed and transported to concentration camps. Seven months after her arrest, Anne Frank died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, within days of the death of her sister, Margot Frank. Her father Otto, the only survivor of the group, returned to Amsterdam after the war to find that her diary had been saved, and his efforts led to its publication in 1947. It was translated from its original Dutch and first published in English in 1952 as The Diary of a Young Girl.

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Image 1
Indonesian rupiah
Banknotes: Bank of Indonesia
The rupiah is the national currency of Indonesia. Introduced in 1946 by Indonesian nationalists fighting for independence, the currency replaced a version of the Netherlands Indies gulden which had been introduced during the Japanese occupation in World War II. In its early years the rupiah was used in conjunction with other currencies, including a new version of the gulden introduced by the Dutch. Since 1950, it has had a lengthy history of inflation and revaluation. As of August 2018^[update]
'"`UNIQ--nowiki-00000020-QINU`"'
, the currency—which is issued and controlled by the Bank of Indonesia—is trading for more than 14,600 rupiah to the United States dollar.

This note, denominated 1,000 rupiah, is part of the 2000 series. It depicts Pattimura, a National Hero of Indonesia, on its obverse, and the islands of Maitara and Tidore on its reverse.

See other denominations: Rp 2,000, Rp 5,000, Rp 10,000, Rp 20,000, Rp 50,000, Rp 100,000
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Louis-Marie Autissier
A self-portrait of Louis-Marie Autissier (1772–1830), a French-born Belgian portrait miniature painter. He is considered the founder of the Belgian school of miniature painting in the nineteenth century. Born at Vannes, in Brittany, he joined the French Revolutionary Army at Rennes in 1791. On leaving the army in 1795, Autissier went to Paris and trained his art by studying paintings at the Louvre. In 1796 he settled in Brussels, but continued to divide his time between Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. Although he enjoyed great success in his career, serving as court painter to Louis Napoleon, French King of the Netherlands, and later to Willem I, Autissier died penniless.
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Ambrosius Bosschaert
Painting credit: Ambrosius Bosschaert
Ambrosius Bosschaert (1573–1621) was a Flemish-born Dutch still-life painter and art dealer. A rising interest in botany and a passion for flowers led to an increase in still-life paintings of flowers at the end of the 1500s in the Netherlands and Germany, and Bosschaert was the first great Dutch specialist in the genre. In this oil-on-copper painting, butterflies, a dragonfly, a bumblebee and a caterpillar are nestled among roses, forget-me-nots, lilies-of-the-valley, tulips and other flowers. The painting is in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California.
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Queen Wilhelmina and Princess Juliana of the Netherlands
Photo credit: Bain News Service
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands with her daughter and successor Princess Juliana, circa 1914. Wilhelmina was queen regnant from 1890 to 1948, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Outside the Netherlands she is primarily remembered for her role in the Second World War, in which she proved to be a great inspiration to the Dutch resistance, as well as a prominent leader of the Dutch government in exile. Juliana became queen regnant in 1948 after her mother's abdication and ruled until her own abdication in 1980, succeeded by her daughter, Beatrix.
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Japanese government-issued currency in the Dutch East Indies
Banknotes: Empire of Japan. Reproduction: National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution
The Japanese-issued Netherlands Indies gulden was the currency issued by the Japanese Empire when it occupied the Dutch East Indies during World War II. Following the Dutch capitulation in March 1942, the Japanese closed all banks, seized assets and currency, and assumed control of the economy in the territory. They began issuing military banknotes, as had previously been done in other occupied territories. These were printed in Japan, but retained the name of the pre-war currency and replaced the Dutch gulden at par. From 1943 the military banknotes were replaced by identical bank-issued notes printed within the territory, and the currency was renamed the roepiah from 1944. The currency was replaced by the Indonesian rupiah in 1946, one year after the Japanese surrender and the country's independence.

This note, denominated one gulden, is part of the 1942 series.

See other denominations: One cent · Five cents · Ten cents · Half gulden · One gulden, Five gulden, Ten gulden
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Mark Rutte
Photo: Nick van Ormondt
Mark Rutte is (as of 2011) the incumbent Prime Minister of the Netherlands. He has been the leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) party since 2006. In the 2010 general election, the VVD won the highest number of votes cast, resulting in their occupying 31 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives. When he was sworn in on 14 October 2010, he became the first liberal Prime Minister in the Netherlands in 92 years.
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Helleborus orientalis
Photograph credit: Dominicus Johannes Bergsma
Helleborus orientalis, also known as the Lenten rose, is a perennial flowering plant and a species of hellebore in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, native to Greece and Turkey. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck described the species in 1789, giving it its current name of Helleborus orientalis ("Hellébore du Levant"). The species name is derived from the Latin oriens ('east'). The common name derives from the plant's flowering during Lent. Within the genus Helleborus, it has been classified in the section Helleborastrum, and is closely related to the other eight species in the section. These species are all highly variable and hybridise with each other freely.

This picture shows an H. orientalis flower from the Netherlands, showing swollen seedpods.
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Indonesian rupiah
Banknotes: Bank of Indonesia
The rupiah is the national currency of Indonesia. Introduced in 1946 by Indonesian nationalists fighting for independence, the currency replaced a version of the Netherlands Indies gulden which had been introduced during the Japanese occupation in World War II. In its early years the rupiah was used in conjunction with other currencies, including a new version of the gulden introduced by the Dutch. Since 1950, it has had a lengthy history of inflation and revaluation. As of August 2018^[update]
'"`UNIQ--nowiki-00000022-QINU`"'
, the currency—which is issued and controlled by the Bank of Indonesia—is trading for more than 14,600 rupiah to the United States dollar.

This note, denominated 50,000 rupiah, is from a 2011 revision of an earlier series. It depicts I Gusti Ngurah Rai, a National Hero of Indonesia, on its obverse, and Bratan Temple on its reverse.

See other denominations: Rp 1,000, Rp 2,000, Rp 5,000, Rp 10,000, Rp 20,000, Rp 100,000
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Peace of Münster
Bartholomeus van der Helst's 1648 painting depicting a company of schutterij celebrating the Peace of Münster, the treaty between the Dutch Republic and Spain signed earlier that year making the United Netherlands independent from the Holy Roman Empire. The Dutch Revolt had begun in 1566, and the Northern Netherlands became de facto independent over the years. By the end, France allied itself with the Dutch, taking much of the Southern Netherlands. On January 30, 1648, the warring parties reached an agreement after seven years of negotiations, and the final treaty was signed on May 15.
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Schutterij
De Magere Compagnie (completed 1637), which depicts a company of schutterij, a voluntary city guard or citizen militia in the medieval and early modern Netherlands. Frans Hals was commissioned to create this, but he was unable to complete it after three years, and the company hired Pieter Codde to finish it. Group portraits such as this of schutterij were known as schuttersstuk, and were popular among the guards themselves.
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Indonesian rupiah
Banknotes: Bank of Indonesia
The rupiah is the national currency of Indonesia. Introduced in 1946 by Indonesian nationalists fighting for independence, the currency replaced a version of the Netherlands Indies gulden which had been introduced during the Japanese occupation in World War II. In its early years the rupiah was used in conjunction with other currencies, including a new version of the gulden introduced by the Dutch. Since 1950, it has had a lengthy history of inflation and revaluation. As of August 2018^[update]
'"`UNIQ--nowiki-00000021-QINU`"'
, the currency—which is issued and controlled by the Bank of Indonesia—is trading for more than 14,600 rupiah to the United States dollar.

This note, denominated 20,000 rupiah, is from a 2011 revision of an earlier series. It depicts Oto Iskandar di Nata, a National Hero of Indonesia, on its obverse, and Sundanese tea farmers on its reverse.

See other denominations: Rp 1,000, Rp 2,000, Rp 5,000, Rp 10,000, Rp 50,000, Rp 100,000
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Johannes van den Bosch
Painting: Cornelis Kruseman
Johannes van den Bosch (1780–1844) was a Dutch officer and politician who served variously as Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (1830–1833), commander of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, and Minister of Colonies (1834–1840). He introduced a regulation making the Constitution of the Netherlands apply in the West Indies, as well as the Cultivation System in the East Indies.
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Pied avocet juvenile
Photograph: Andreas Trepte
A juvenile pied avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) near Oosterend, Texel Island, the Netherlands. While adults are black and white, juveniles of this species have more greyish and sepia tones.
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Image 14
Japanese government-issued currency in the Dutch East Indies
Banknotes: Empire of Japan. Reproduction: National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution
The Japanese-issued Netherlands Indies gulden was the currency issued by the Japanese Empire when it occupied the Dutch East Indies during World War II. Following the Dutch capitulation in March 1942, the Japanese closed all banks, seized assets and currency, and assumed control of the economy in the territory. They began issuing military banknotes, as had previously been done in other occupied territories. These were printed in Japan, but retained the name of the pre-war currency and replaced the Dutch gulden at par. From 1943 the military banknotes were replaced by identical bank-issued notes printed within the territory, and the currency was renamed the roepiah from 1944. The currency was replaced by the Indonesian rupiah in 1946, one year after the Japanese surrender and the country's independence.

This note, denominated one cent, is part of the 1942 series.

See other denominations: One cent · Five cents · Ten cents · Half gulden · One gulden, Five gulden, Ten gulden
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Image 15
Netherlands American Cemetery
Photograph: Andrew Shiva
The memorial tower at the Netherlands American Cemetery, a World War II war cemetery in Margraten, the Netherlands. Administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission, the cemetery holds 8,301 graves in an area of 65.5 acres (26.5 ha). The site includes a reflecting pool, museum, and a Court of Honor, the walls of which contain the Tablets of the Missing, on which are recorded the names of 1,722 American missing.
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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that the wedding of Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands and Claus van Amsberg was marred by protests over Amsberg's German heritage and past membership in the Hitler Youth and the Wehrmacht?
... that Kurnianingrat helped historian George McTurnan Kahin smuggle speeches by leaders of the Indonesian revolution from the Dutch?
... that according to scholarship published in 2023, Maria de Knuijt, rather than her husband, was actually the main patron of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer?
... that "Nahe wollt der Herr uns sein" (The Lord wanted to be close to us), first written in Dutch by Huub Oosterhuis in 1964, was included in the 1975 German hymnal Gotteslob?
... that HMS Trent helped keep the Dutch in port by sending bogus signals to a non-existent fleet?
... that two American officers bribed Japanese troops with their watches to have Dutch medical officer Henri Hekking allocated to their prisoner of war camp?