Social Studies Lesson Plan: Provinces of the Netherlands

Background:

Province of North Holland, The Netherlands

North Holland (in Dutch Noord-Holland) is a part of the Dutch mainland with the islands of Texel and Noorderhaaks, of the Frisian archipelago. Amsterdam is the biggest town of North Holland, but Haarlem is the province capital. The North Holland province is surrounded by water – the North Sea from the West and the Ijsselmeer from the East. The whole province can be visited on one-day trip from Amsterdam, but your route should be planned with the road map because of many canals, which cross the countryside.

North of Amsterdam amazes with wonderful landscape, long patches of grass and water. Old small cities and villages as Edam, Marken, Medemblik, Monnickendam, Naarden, De Rijp, Zaanse Schans, and Volendam are impressing visitor with their unchanged for centuries architecture and quiet, relaxed atmosphere. Some of these places became partly a museum themselves, but they are still economically active and vibrant with life.

Zaanse Schans, the Netherlands

Zaanse Schans is a small village on the banks of the Zaan river, complete with tidy green houses, real working windmills, and small topical museums such as the Clock Museum and the first Albert Heijn store.

In the 17th and 18th century there were thousands of windmills along the dykes; sawmills, dye mills, oil mills etc that powered the Dutch economy. The Zaanse Schans village gives you a picture of what it must have been like. Not all the windmills and buildings started out in Zaanse Schans, many of them were moved here from the region as they came under threat from urban development across North Holland.

The windmills are all working mills, and the perform various functions, including a saw mill, a paint mill (grinding pigments), and oil mill (grinding linseed or peanuts to draw off the oil). The oil mill was working so that’s the one we looked through.

On the ground floor of the oil mill for example, you can see huge grindstones crushing peanuts which were then roasted and pressed so that the oil could be extracted. Both the grindstones and the press are driven by the windmill.

Climbing a narrow ladder to the first floor gives a view of the huge wooden cogs that transform the wind energy down to the grindstone. From this floor small doors lead onto the outside platform where you can watch the sails of the windmill go past. They fly past - really quickly! One full rotation took 16 seconds, this dropped to about 10 seconds as the wind picked up.

Bigger cities like Haarlem, Hoorn and Alkmaar are worthy a one-day visit. Each of them is full of interesting sights, events, old architecture, museums. Alkmaar is a capital of cheese and the cheese market is traditional tourist attraction. Haarlem has a very interesting center and a very good museum. Hoorn is an old city, a harbour at the Ijselmeer. It is here that an explorer Willem Corneliszoon Schouten was born. In 1616, he sailed around the America’s most Southern cape naming it Cape Horn.

North Holland with its long stretch of the North Sea coast is a province of great sand beaches on almost whole length of its coast, and the country of windmills – you may find several of them at Panache Scans and more scattered all over the province.

At the very North of the province lays West Fries land, which is an attraction on its own with small villages like Abbekerk, Enkhuizen, Twisk which did not change much from the Dutch Golden Age (1584-1702).

Satellite cities close to Amsterdam are elegant, residential, quiet – today almost all are connected with Amsterdam in one huge metropolis: Amstelveen to the South and up to 35km to the East - Bussum, Bloemendal, Laren, and Hilversum.

To the South of Amsterdam there is Schiphol - a huge international airport, one of the biggest in Europe which creates the whole area of the economic boom with quickly growing places like Hoofddorp, Heemstede, Aalsmeer.

Province of Friesland, The Netherlands

Friesland (or in Frisian: Fryslân - because people here speak another language, than the rest of the Netherlands), is a part of the Dutch mainland and includes additionally the West Frisian Islands – in Dutch Waddeneilanden: Vlieland, Terschelling, Ameland and Schiermonnikoog. Leeuwarden is the capital of the province and other important cities are Dokkum, Franeker, Heerenveen, Sneek.

Leeuwarden is today a quiet old city, remembered beyond Friesland because of Mata Hari, a woman spy executed in France during the WWI who lived here as a small girl with her parents. Their house stands until today. Dokkum and Sneek are small cities with several memorable buildings and interesting historical museums. Franeker was in the Dutch Golden Age and later a home to an important university, a fortress of Protestantism during the reformation, closed in 1811 by Napoleon. Today Franeker is today an interesting small city with several historical sites and museums.

Every few years in winter, when the canals freeze, Elfstedentocht – a skating race through all eleven cities of Friesland, takes place. A Maltese bronze cross is given to each participant, who managed to finish this 200km long race. Usually 16 000 participants take part, but for the race to take place, the ice on the canals has to be thicker than 15cm, so it does not happen every winter.

Friesland with is a province of people proud of their traditions, their separate way of speaking, difficult to understand even for the Dutch, their style of life which combines centuries long tradition with the influences of global economy. Nowhere in the Netherlands McDonalds restaurant looks more weird than in Friesland.

Groningen Province, The Netherlands

The province of Groningen is a part of the Dutch mainland situated most to the North and a few small islands in the Frisian archipelago (Rottumerplaat, Rottumeroog, Zuiderstrand, and Simonszand).

Its capital, which gave the name to the province –Groningen is a big and active city, the seat of the powerful energy company exploiting natural gas from the North Sea as well from the Dutch mainland - Gausnie. The company’s headquarters, a huge modern building by the Dutch architects Alberts and van Huut, in view of its authors an example of an "organic architecture" is called by the locals "apenrots" (the rock of apes).

The center of Groningen has been preserved. Its attraction lays in a contrast between old and new. An important museum – Groninger Museum housed in a complex modern structure by an Italian architect Alessandro Mendini is worth a 150 km trip from Amsterdam. It has an interesting collection of modern art as well as archeological artifacts and Old Dutch Golden age art shown in a context of interesting, modern architecture. Again, contrast between old and new so characteristic for this city may be felt.

The North of the province called Hoogeland, is an area Dutch people go on holiday, because of its protected natural reserves, perfect for walks and water sports. Nearby a famous crèche for the seals in Pieterburen can be visited.

The Groningen Province became rich early in the Golden Age through its agricultural produce. Today old, big farms dating from this period called ´herenboerderijen´ (farms of lords) as well as defensive castles called ´borgen´(castles), define the landscape of the province of Groningen.

At the East South of the Groningen province, near the border with Germany, a beautiful small town – Bourtange is worth a visit. It has been built inside the mighty fortress, which was to defend the Netherlands against much bigger and stronger neighbour.

Overijssel Province, The Netherlands

Province of Overijssel is a mainland province to the South of the Province of Drenthe at the East of the country. Overijssel has several beautiful natural reserve parks but today this bordering Germany province is heavy populated with active industries and services.

Overijssel has a rich past. There was a time, just at the end of the Middle ages, that one of the province biggest cities Deventer has been bigger than Amsterdam. Apart from the province capital – old Hanseatic town of Zwolle, other important cities are academic town of Enschede, industrial Almelo, already mentioned Deventer, and Kampen.

The old city of Kampen located on the Ijssel river, which gave the name to the province (Overijssel translates to "on the other bank of Ijssel"), has more than 500 registered historical monuments. Centuries ago a harbor, protected from the South by the Ijssel river, from the other sides by the strong city walls. Until today fortified, mediaeval city gates of Kampen can be visited. During the war between the Hansa (union of the mostly German cities of Northern Europe) with Holland in the middle of 15 century, Kampen has chosen for the more powerful side of Hansa. Today, apart from it monuments, Kampen is known for its cigars and you may find in the city Tabaksmuseum – Museum of the Tobacco.

The most important natural reserve areas are De Weeribben (North-West of the Province of Overijssel), Los Hoos (near Ootmarsum – East of the Province of Overijssel) and Oomen (near small town of Ommen).

Near De Weeribben lays Giethoorn, a small village which is a quintessence of the Dutch rural life. Established in 1230, built at the side of the lake, along a small canal and a road and with houses built on both sides and small bridges leading to each house over the small canals Giethoorn is a real tourist attraction. Visitors may see Giethoorn from boats. Several of them move silently (they are powered with electricity) through the small canals crossing the village and nearby natural habitat with several full of wild birds. Giethoorn is seen by the Dutch as the most beautiful village of the whole country ("leukse dorp van Nederland" - prettiest village of the Netherlands).

Flevoland Province, The Netherlands

Flevoland is the youngest province of the country. It is only in 1918 that the Dutch Parliament passed the law deciding to turn part of the Ijsellmeer bay into the land. In 1932, the bay has been closed by a huge dam separating it from the see called Afsluitdijk – "Closing dam". There were other dams built inside the closed area of water and 1500 millions of cubic meters of water pumped away. Two previous islands of Urk and Schokland were incorporated into the new part of the mainland. Between 1942 and 1968, after a part the area has been dried down. The Dutch call such an artificially created area of land lying lower than the level of water a "polder".

In 1986, a new province has been created on a newly finished polders. It takes its name from the ancient Roman name for the Zuiderzee bay given it by Plinius – Flevo Lacus. In fact, Flevoland consists of three polders. Only Noord-Oost Polder is connected to the mainland; East and South Flevoland are still an island on the IJsselmeer divided from the mainland by the narrow strip of water.

Flevoland it is a very flat, agricultural part of the Netherlands. Its main new city - Almere is serving as a distant bedroom to people working in Amsterdam.

Another big city and the capital of the province – Leylstad, takes its name from the engineer Cornelis Lely (1854-1929), who was a leading person in the creation of these new polders.

The only real tourist attraction of this province apart from the polder itself, is a replica of the ship of the East India Company –VOC which is a copy of the 17 century flag ship of the admiral De Ruyter "De Zeven Provinciën" ("Seven Provinces"). Along with this impressive replica of the old ship, you may see the wreckage of the old ships uncovered from the sea bottom, or through the archaeological excavations.

Driving through Flevoland remember about the speed limit in the Netherlands (120km/h or if indicated 100km/h. On this vast, flat field of land, this level of speed feels very slow. The police cameras are waiting along the road for those who lose their patience.

Province of Drenthe, The Netherlands

Drenthe is an agricultural part of the Dutch mainland, on the East of the country near the German border. Hidden among forests forests, Drenthe has been in the Middle ages a free republic of farmers. Today it also has big and impressive forests. Several of them protected are as Natural Parks.

Fifty-two interesting Neolithic stone monuments called "hunnebedden" ("Beds of the Huns") are spread all over province, documenting the beginnings of the human civilisation on Earth. Their exact function is not really known today. Were these place of burial predestined only to the selected, important people or these were just cemeteries? Did the "hunnebedden" also serve as places of worship or had some other additional function? Some of the objects found during the archaeological excavations indicate that prehistoric people had trading connections reaching as far as North Africa. During the WWII, the Germans partly destroyed one of these Neolithic monuments to make a place for their landing field. The "hunnebed" has been thoroughly restored in 1950.

The capital of the province of Drenthe is Assen. Its museum – Drents Museum features interesting archaeological finds from the area, but also in a separate department, uncertain authenticity finds of the amateur archaeologist Tjerk Vermaning (1929-1987).

Early, dark period of the famous Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh’s work depicting farmers and their heavy work, has been partly painted in Drenthe, during his stay there in 1883.

The province of Drenthe is a traditional holiday area for the Dutch people, those who do not like heat and decide not to travel in summer to the South of Europe. Because the province of Drenthe is a perfect area for the walks in the forest, bicycle tourism or horse riding.

Province of Utrecht, The Netherlands

Utrecht is a small, densely populated (875 people on 1 sq.km.) central mainland province.

The province takes its name from its capital – Utrecht, an old city established by the Roman Legions in the year 47 AD. In 695 AD, the bishop established himself in Utrecht exerting for centuries its power over the whole area. In 1527, the bishop sold the city to the German Emperor Charles V who already owned the rest of the Netherlands. Through the way of succession, Dutch provinces went to the King of Spain, but not for long, because they revolted and only after the 80 years of war for independence, became the Republic.

From the Middle ages the rich province of Utrecht, has been an object of attacks by its neighbours Counts of Holland, by the Dukes of Burgundy, by the catholic Spain, by the French. Germans during the WWII kept the province of Utrecht until the last day of the war – May 5, 1945.

Today is its one of the provinces in the very heart of the Netherlands with many preserved nature areas, but also many busy cities, small beautiful villages, castles, big and elegant residences. In the 20th century, the province went through intensive economic growth.

Utrecht is a big city, important for industry, commerce, communication, science. It has an interesting old center with the famous in Middle ages old cathedral tower (Domtoren -112m high) dominating the city, a good museum (Centraal Museum), nice café’s and restaurants.

Utrecht is a capital of Dutch design. A house designed by the famous modern architect Gerrit Ritveld (1888-1964) for Mrs. Schröder, became after the owner’s death in 1985 a museum (now called: Rietveld-Schröder-huis). It features many artefacts from the beginnings of modern design in the Netherlands.

Nearby small towns of Loenen (to the North of Utrecht), Wijk bij Duurstede and Amerongen (to the East of Utrecht) are worthy a visit.

The province of Utrecht has several old castles with Kasteel Loenersloot in Loenen, Slot Zuylen in Zuylen, and the neo-gothic Kasteel De Haar in Haarzuilens, as the most known.

The city of Amersfoort is an attraction on its own. With its well-preserved old center, relaxed atmosphere, provincial small shops and markets Amersfoort is perfect for a half-day trip, just to feel the provincial life in the Netherlands.

Province of South-Holland, The Netherlands

The province of South Holland (in Dutch Zuid Holland) has been created in 1840, by the division of the province of Holland into two smaller provinces – Noord (North Holland) and Zuid (South Holland). Zuid Holland includes a mainland part and the islands of Goeree-Overflakkee, Voorne-Putten, Beijerland-Hoekse Waard, IJsselmonde.

Historically Holland has been a county, one of seven Dutch provinces. Holland has been ruled from The Hague – today the seat of the Dutch Parliament and the government of the whole Netherlands. Other big cities include the biggest harbor in Europe and one of the biggest in the world - Rotterdam, the old city of Delft, a university city of Leiden, an important for the Dutch history harbor city Dordrecht and Gouda, an old town renown for its cheese.

The Hague, from the 13 century an important center of the Dutch political life, is also a fine city for walks, shopping and entertaining, place full of interesting architecture old and new, proud home of one of the best art collections in the world – Het Mauritshuis. It is there that you may see famous "Anatomy Lesson of Professor Tulp" by Rembrandt and mysterious "Girl with a pearl" by Vermeer. Another important museum – Gemeentemuseum (Municipal Museum Den Haag) has a good collection of modern art including the 20th century Dutch abstract master Mondrian.

Rotterdam is a big, modern harbor city, vibrant with life and activity. Its old center has been destroyed by the indiscriminate German bombing on 14 of May 1940. On one day, 24798 homes were destroyed, 24 churches and 62 schools. Almost thousand of people died. The old center of the city has been leveled to the ground by the German bomber airplanes. Today a monumental dramatic sculpture by Osip Zadkine reminds that event.

The whole center of Rotterdam is modern, rebuilt after the WWII, but a bit impersonal, therefore not always convenient for a visitor. Still, it is a city of good restaurants, several theaters, and interesting art exhibitions. An excellent museum - Boyman’s van Beuningen Museum, featuring among other four masterpiece paintings by Hieronymus Bosch with the known "The Prodigal Son" and Pieter Brueghel's "The Tower of Babel" should not be missed.

Delft is a beautiful and welcoming old city. Known for hundreds of years for its ceramics called Delftware, it has a pleasant old center, nice restaurants and a good museum – Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof, a headquarters of Willem van Oranje, one of the leaders during the war against Spain in the end of 16 century. It is there where a catholic fanatic shot him dead in 1584. The hole left by the bullet can be still seen on the wall. Travel Amsterdam to Delft.

A small place called Kinderdijk not far from Rotterdam, is traditionally visited by the tourists location. Here, at the junction of two rivers - Noord and Lek, 19 imposing windmills were built, between 1738 and 1740, to keep the land around Alblasserwaard dry. Today these imposing windmills stand in a torn by wind patches of grass, as the monuments of the Dutch people industriousness in their fight with water for their land.

The Province of Gelderland, The Netherlands

Gelderland is an East central mainland province, South of Overijssel; its capital is Arnhem. This is the biggest, least populated province of The Netherlands, with wide areas of forests and several Natural Park reserves.

Gelderland takes its history back to the 11th century and the County of Gerle, which after the fall of Charlemagne’s European empire became independent. In the centuries after, the counts of Gerle incorporated in Gelderland the region of Betuwe, Veluwe, the county of Zutphen, and an important city of Nijmegen, one of the oldest in the Netherlands, which celebrated 2000 years of its existence in 2005.

At its beginning, Nijmegen was an ancient Roman military camp, which later grew to the real city. One of the emperor Charlemagne palaces has been built in Nijmegen and according to some documents, the town has been his favourite place of residence. In the Middle Ages Nijmegen became an important centre of commerce. As the Dukes of Burgundy grew in power in the 14 th century, they expanded their state from their capital in Dijon, France up to Nijmegen. During the last war, the American planes bombed by mistake the centre of Nijmegen taking it by mistake for the German city of Kleve and killing 750 of its inhabitants. Today Nijmegen is a big city, with some points of interest for a visitor as the museum of African culture - Africa Museum and the National Bicycle Museum, Velorama (Velorama - National Fietsmuseum) exhibiting 250 authentic veteran cycles.

Another big city of Gelederland is Arnhem, known for its WWII battle which 1944 ravaged its entire centre. The battle of Arnhem was to be the point of pride for the British marshal Montgomery, but became the monument of the dramatic failure of his command, costing lives of thousands of soldiers as well as Arnhem inhabitants. As a result of the battle, in September of 1944 all 98 thousands inhabitants of Arnhem had to leave their homes in dramatic circumstances and could only return after the capitulation of Germany on May 5, 1945. The old city has been destroyed. Restoration of some of its monuments will take many years to come.

The province of Gelderland borders with Germany and several of its cities were in the 14 th century member of the Hansa union of trading cities. The province itself accepted the upper power of the Holy Roman Emperor and later the Habsburg emperor in 1453. It is only in 1815 that Gelderland has been formally reunited with the Netherlands.

Today Gelderland is a province of contrasts: vast green area – forests, parks, with many old castles and palaces as Palace van Loo in Apeldoorn, castles - Huis Bergh, in s’Heerenberg, Bronkhorst, Oldenaller, Zaltbommel, just to name some of them, on the other hand Gelderland is an agricultural area (especially the Betuwe region) and has important industries near Arnhem and Nijmegen.

The visitor coming to Gelderland should not miss its one really invaluable attraction - The Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo. The Museum has been established in 1938 and was named after its founder, Helene Kröller-Müller, a German-wife of the Dutch industrialist Anton Müller.

The Kröller-Müller Museum should not missed, not only because of its invaluable collection of modern art, which includes several works by Van Gogh an Mondrian and interesting modern sculpture garden, but also because of its park. Because the concept of the Kröller-MüllerMuseum is unique: here is the important art collection placed in the buildings in the middle of the forest, preserved as a natural reserve. Throughout years the villages and its inhabitants were removed from the estate. A wild natural habitat has been restored, aiming at bringing the nature to its original state. Cars are allowed only on just few main roads and they can be conveniently left parked on a few selected places. Hundreds of white bicycles are given for the free use to the visitors at the park’s gates. Several tiny and narrow bicycle roads allow cyclists to visit the rich and varied natural area of forests, sandy dunes, marshes and lakes.

The Province of Zeeland, the Netherlands

Zeeland or in English ‘See land’, includes a mainland part and the islands of Schouwen, Duiveland, Tholen, Noord-Beveland and Sint Philipsland; with the capital – Middelburg. It is to honor this province that the name of New Zealand (Dutch: Nieuw Zeeland) has been given to the newly discovered land of the southern hemisphere by the Dutch explorers in the 17c.

Dutch Zeeland is the province of water not only by its name. Its land is cut by the North Sea bays and the delta of big rivers with many bridges, dams, ferries, under water road tunnels which a visitor is obliged to take during the simplest tour.

Large parts of Zeeland are below the sea level. This reminds you about the task the Dutch took upon themselves through many centuries. Instead of attacking the neighbor countries, they decided to expand through struggle with the sea, to obtain the land by limiting the forces of nature.

The province of Zeeland had witnessed the most dramatic moments of the Dutch struggle with the sea: terrible floods invaded the land in 1421 and in 1916. One night in winter of 1953 the dames were broken again by the violent sea wave 3,36 m high, and the water invaded vast territories of land, destroying everything on its way. Despite the energetic salvage action of the whole nation, there were 1865 victims and more than 70 000 people lost their homes. But the Dutch took the lesson from this disaster. The Delta plan – the complex system of four huge modern dams, many secondary dams and the mobile storm surge barrier built at the mouth of the three rivers – The Rhine, The Waal and The Masas, made the whole Zeeland safer.

Today Zeeland is a province of long sandy beaches, with provincial sea resorts as snobby Domburg, modern Cadzand, and tiny Zoutelande. Small old towns which were partly protected by the water from the mainland, and nice villages seem almost untouched through centuries. Towns like Verre, Zirkzee, Goes, Hammsteded, Hulst, Sluis and villages like Sint Annater-Muiden, Dreischor, Nisse,look like centuries ago when they were busy with the sea trade, fishing, shipbuilding and crafts.

Except for an important shipyard De Schelde in Vlissingen, which proudly continues long Dutch shipbuilding tradition, Zeeland is today a quiet province, hardly showing the traces of the previous wars and conflicts. Although during the WWII the Germans did heavily bomb the old center of Middelburg, partly destroying its 15th century Town House as well some other important old buildings, today there is hardly a trace of war in this beautiful old city. The Town Hall and other buildings have been rebuilt and life there seems as peaceful as centuries ago.

The capital of the province - Middelburg is the most frequented city by the tourists visiting Zeeland. The historical museum, located in the old Abbey (Abdij) – Zeeland Museum (Zeeuws Museum) tells the visitor about the province history, beginning from the ancient Romans and Celts, showing the tapestries depicting Dutch victories on sea over the Spanish, Dutch Admiral Michiel de Ruyter who was born in a nearby Flushing, the brave commander of the sea battles against England in 17c. and finally the local folklore costumes and hats and scenes of everyday life.

North Brabant Province, The Netherlands

North Brabant (Noord Brabant) is a South central mainland province of the Netherlands. The capital of the North Brabant province is the town of 's-Hertogenbosch (or shorter: Den Bosch). Brabant has been for centuries one of the provinces of The Netherlands, a theater of wars with Spain in the 17th century. When after the fall of Napoleon United Kingdom of the Netherlands has been created, which incorporated Belgium and Luxemburg, the province of Brabant has been divided into Northern and Southern part. When Belgium separated from the Netherlands in 1830, only the province of North Brabant remained with the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Today North Brabant is one of the biggest and most populated Dutch provinces. With big cities like Eindhoven, Breda, Tilburg, and Den Bosch, with several important industries like electronic giant Phillips, big truck company DAF, textile, and shoe factories and food processing industries, North Brabant is a vital area for the Dutch economy.

For a visitor the city of ’s-Hertogenbosch (short name: Den Bosch) with its beautiful, old and busy with shops and restaurants center is a place to visit. Den Bosch has also several interesting buildings as Town Hall (Stadhuis), Saint John (Sint-Jan) cathedral and good contemporary art galleries. The famous painter Hieronymus Bosch (Jeroen Bosch, 1450-1516) was born and lived in the city. His statue stands on the Market square.

The surroundings of Den Bosch are nice for a tour, just to see the landscape of the province with its small villages, windmills (near Heusden), several interesting castles (Bergen op Zoom, Heeze, Heezwijk, Heusden, Helmond, Gemmert).

Eindhoven is a big industrial city. Its modern art museum - Van Abbemuseum, has an interesting collection with an interesting portrait by Pablo Picasso "The Green Lady" (1909).

An interesting old city of Willemstad is an important water sports center. It also has an interesting hunting lodge of the Prince Maurits (built in 1623) now a museum called Het Mauritshuis (as the famous museum in Den Haag).

North Brabant is province of varied landscape and many attractions, therefore is often visited by the Dutch themselves.

The Province of Limburg, The Netherlands

Limburg is a southeast mainland province of the Netherlands, bordering Germany and Belgium. The capital of Limburg is a city of Maastricht.

The name Limburg comes from a castle presently in Belgium with the same name. In the Middle ages it was a capital of the small princedom of Limburg. When the last heiress of Limburg, princess Irmgard died in 1283, a war of succession broke out between her husband Count Reinoud I of Gelre and Duke Jan I of Brabant. Jan I won the war, took Reinoud I prisoner and incorporated Limburg in the Duchy of Brabant. That is how Limburg disappeared from the political maps of the region until 1815.

It is only after the fall of Napoleon and the creation of the Kingdom of The Netherlands, supported by the occupying powers of Russia, England, Austria, and Prussia; Brabant became one of its provinces. The first King of the modern Netherlands, Willem I gave the name of the Duchy Limburg for the new province created in the region of Maastricht.

The name of the Duchy after has been dropped after 1906. Limburg is just one of the Dutch provinces with one small difference: the Commissioner of the Queen is being called in Limburg a Governor. Still it has to be said the Limburg is one of the most interesting regions to visit. It has a varied landscape, with woods, big river – Maas, beautiful natural parks, very special in the Netherlands region of hills – Heuvelland, and it has interesting towns, castles, good museums not to mention wineries.

The province’s capital Maastricht is a big nice city known recently for the European Treaty signed there. Founded by the Romans already in the Middle Ages became an important trade center. In 1673, French King Louis XIV took the city after a long siege. Among the fallen French side was d'Artagnan, an officer of musketeers. Several interesting old buildings document the history of the city. Good museum in an original building built by Italian architect Aldo Rossi – Het Bonnefantenmuseum has a mixture of the old paintings (including Pieter Breughel the Younger and Giovanni del Biondo) as well as a modern art collection.

Other interesting towns of Limburg are Arcen (with its castle – Kasteel Arcen), Thorn, Honsbroek (with another interesting castle), Sittard, Heerlen, Valkenburg, Gulpen (known for its beer and the nearby castle - Kasteel Neubourg), Elsloo (with a museum and a castle – Kasteel Elsloo), Eijsden (again known for its castle – the renaissance Kasteel Eijsden), Meersen (with its cathedral), Roermond, Venlo (with its beautiful 16 century Town Hall).

Overseas territories of Netherlands

Tropical islands Aruba and Netherlands Antilles are overseas dependencies (Dutch: landen en gebiedsdelen overzee) of the Netherlands, nominally the same as that of the provinces. However, being the part of the Kingdom, these territories are not the part of the EU. Still, their habitants having full Dutch citizenship, have the EU citizenship. The overseas territories use their own currencies. The most popular are ABC islands (for Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao).

Aruba
While Aruba is a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, it maintains own laws, constitution, government, and currency. Is a popular tourist destination featuring renowned and luxurious hotel resorts.

Bonaire
This is the second largest of the Netherlands Antilles, and is known for its diving resorts and friendly locals. Bonaire has a population of about 13.000 inhabitants. The biggest settlement is Kralendijk, the island's capital.

Curaçao
Curaçao is largest and most populous of the ABC islands. The population is about 130.000 inhabitants.

Saba

Sint Eustatius

Sint Maarten