Today let's dive into the land of Vincent Van Gough, one of the most famous painters of the 20th century that is the Kingdom of Netherlands.
A bit about the country, the Netherlands also known as the Kingdom of Netherlands became an independent nation on 15th May 1648. It is a small country located in Europe, the national language is Dutch, and yeah people from the Netherlands are dutch people (people usually get confused about where dutch people are from, I was myself confused till a few years ago).
Now coming to the interesting part, here are a few weird things about the Netherlands.
Over a third of the Netherlands lies below sea level!!
The Netherlands literally translates to "the lowlands", this is because over a third of the country is situated below sea level. From the remaining two-thirds, over 50% of the land is just a meter above sea level and most of the people in the Netherlands live five meters below sea level, Schiphol Airport, which is the country's major international airport is a little over three meters below sea level.
The stock market (the first one) was created by the Dutch
The World's first-ever stock market was created by Dutch legislators and businessmen in 1602, it was done as a means of funding the Dutch East India Company and its trade voyages. The same year, The Amsterdam Stock Exchange was created and it is considered to be "the oldest modern exchange in the world".
There are more bicycles than people in the Netherlands.
There are only 17 million residents in the Netherlands, whereas there are 22 million bicycles. This could be because bicycle theft is the most common crime in the Netherlands. Fun Fact: Dutch people are the most physically active people in Europe.
It was the first country to legalize same-sex marriage
On 1st April 2001, the Netherlands made history by legalizing same-sex marriage. The mayor of Amsterdam at the time, Job Cohen, married off four couples at midnight to mark this occasion. Amsterdam is also known for being one of the most LGBTQIA+ friendly cities.
Carrots are orange because of the Dutch
In the 10th century, carrots were originally white, purple, and pale yellow. The story behind carrots turning starts like this, when King William III (aka William of Orange) helped the Dutch get independence from Spain in the 17th century, the farmers honored him by turning their carrots orange through breeding.
so interesting, especially the fact about the bicycles!