amsterdam

Amsterdam 2007

Group II

OUR JOURNEY BEGINS...

SCHIPHOL AIRPORT Largest airport in the

country Fourth largest in

Europe In 2002, more than 40

million passengers passed through which is twice the population of Amsterdam

It is also the home of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the world’s oldest airline

THE NETHERLANDS It lies on the North

Sea, next to Germany and Belgium

More than 16 million people live here

Making it one of the most crowded countries of the world.

Is it the Netherlands or Holland It is sometimes called as HollandHolland is the name of two of the twelve provinces that make up Netherlands

These provinces play an important role so that name has stuck

RED, WHITE & BLUE Earlier, the top of

the flag was orange Also known as

Prince’s flag Named after Prince

William of Orange, the most famous ancestor of the Queen

Orange ribbon attached to the flag on special occasions

The Cities Large proportion live

in the West. Amsterdam,

Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht

Area also known as Randstad

Amsterdam is the capital

The Hague is the seat of the government

The Language

It is the DUTCH Many people in Belgium,

Suriname, Indonesia and Aruba also speak Dutch

DID YOU KNOW?In the north of Netherlands is the province of Friesland. People here speak Frisian which is a mix of English & Scandinavian languages

Welcome toTHE BICYCLE CAPITAL OF EUROPE

Amsterdam- by far…“ the freest city in the world”.

Amsterdam recognizes freedoms fraternal twin is…RESPONSIBILTY.

Demographics Population- 743,000

(plus an estimated 20,000 unregistered).

Dutch- 95% Netherlands- Approx.

16,400,000. Population aged

between 20-40:40%. Ethnic minorities:47%. Two farthest points in

Netherlands-350 km apart.

Climate Gentle climate. Winters are mild,

average temperature in Jan

(2 degrees Celsius) Summers- fairly cool,

average temperature in July (17 degree Celsius)

Summers can be warm, while extreme winters at times.

Often rainy and windy.

DUTCH PEOPLE

What are they all about? The Dutch- known to tolerate and accept

different opinions. Very fond of their freedom. According to Law - “everyone is equal

and should have the same chances in life”

Very down to earth- do not like to fuss. One well known Dutch saying…“ Just act normally, that’s crazy enough as

it is”

A City of Multi Cultures

Netherlands – multi cultural society.

More than 200 nationalities in Amsterdam.

Moroccan Turkish Indonesian Suriname

The Dutch – The Famous

The known…

Anne Frank (1929-1945) – The Dairy of Anne Frank

Dick Bruna – Dutch children’s author and illustrator- famous character is rabbit ‘Miffy’.

Inventors – Philips, inventors of the first C.D, 1982.

Christians Huygens (1629-1695)- famous for inventing the pendulum clock.

Antony van Leeuwenhok (1632-1723)- invented the microscope, discovered bacteria.

ART

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) - Greatest painter of the Golden Age

Vincent van Gogh(1853-1890)- Special

style of his own, museum in Amsterdam named after him.

The Dutch masters are the best known painters ever to come out of Northern Europe.

Amsterdam, one of the world’s greatest creative centers.

Art- A part of everyday life. Amsterdam- has an entire section of

town with streets named for artists and musicians.

Food Most Dutch people eat sandwiches

for breakfast and lunch In the evening they have a hot

meal, which often includes potatoes Some typical Dutch dishes, pea

soup, Kale with sausage and hutspot

School children usually cheese sandwiches on brown bread with peanut butter and chocolates sprinkles as part of their breakfast

Parents give money to their children, to buy milk at lunch time

Literature Cees Nooteboom – Most prolific, non- fiction,

fiction book introductions writer. Nicholas Freeling – ‘Love in Amsterdam’ ,

inaugural book of Van der Valk, detective series.

Tracy Chevalier – ‘Girl with a pearl earrning’, offers real insight into life in the Golden Age.

Xaviera Hollander- ‘The Happy Hooker’, talks of ins and outs of sex trade.

Deborah Moggach – ‘Tulip fever’, offers a feel of Amsterdam and importance of tulips.

“Many can grow flowers. Many can sell flowers, but only the Dutch can deliver an Easter lily grown in Columbia to a purchaser in Maine and guarantee that it will bloom on Easter. Because of this ability, the Dutch make most of the money in the flower business”.

TYPICAL DUTCH

Wooden ShoesAlso called Clogs.Worn by farmers working in fields.

Clogs- Very hard and long lasting, so they protect the feet.

Wind Mills Used hundreds of years

ago. More than 10,000 wind

mills in the Netherland at one time.

Now, only about 1,000 left.

Modern wind mills- used to generate electricity in an environment friendly manner.

DUTCH SPORTS

Soccer Extremely

popular. Few Dutch soccer

clubs- Ajax, Feienoord.

Famous Players- Johan Cruijiff, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Dennis Bergkamp.

Swimming

Very common in a country with so much water.

Children learn to swim at a very young age.

Famous swimmers- Inge de Bruijn, Pietre van den Hoogenband.

Skating The Dutch- very good

at skating. World champions-

Jochem Uytdehaage, Erben Wennemars.

Cycling

Country of

cyclists. Amsterdam –

Bicycle capital of Europe.

More bicycles than people.

Both a sport plus means of commutation.

The City

Some facts

Houses are built on wooden piles to prevent sinking their house from sinking

City busy even during the night Some people live right on water in

houseboats Lots of tall apartment blocks have

been built because of dense population

NATURE

Lots of woods, heathland, dunes and lots and lots of water

Flevoland province – a paradise for birds, geese, spoonbills and cormorants which go to breed

De Hoge Veluwe – national park with lots of woods and heathland

WORK

World’s sixth biggest exporter and investor

Make lots of money from growing fruits, vegetables, grain and cattle farming

Some major Dutch companies – Philips, Heineken and Unilever

Cooperation One of the first

six members of the European Economic Community

Also a member of the European Union in order to follow the established norms

FARMING – A modern business

More than half of the land is used for growing fruit, vegetables and cattle farming

The pastures are full of grazing cattle and pigs are kept in big sheds

Farmers have become modern businessmen

Using modern, computer-controlled farming machinery and equipment in the work

Flowers and Bulbs Famous all over the

world Bulb fields at

Keukenhof They sell tulip, daffodil

and hyacinth bulbs to the world

Almost two thirds of all imported flowers come from Amsterdam

Flowers sold in Aalsmeer, worlds largest flower auction

Music Organ music in churches in

17th century today- local musicians excel

in classical music, jazz In summer- free Jazz,

classical and world music performers stage free lunch time concerts and festivals- provide free music

Dance

• Amsterdam’s national ballet performs classical ballet

• World leaders in modern dance

• Amsterdam’s Julie dans festival in July brings dancer all over the world

• Popular forms of the dance : pop, jazz, rock

CATTLE FARMING

MILK CHEESE

A Dutch cow produces approx 20 ltrs of milk per day

Cows are fed and milked by machines

Used to make butter, yoghurt and different types of cheese

They export about 55 million kilos of cheese

Dutch cheese are from Edam and Gouda

Cheese come in ages – young and old

DUTCH GOVERNMENT Queen Beatrix – the

head of the state Decisions are made

together – Queen and the ministers

Also known as a democratic country

Similar to that of India

Queen Beatrix – 3 sons – William Alexander, Johan Friso, Constantijn

William Alexander – the crown of prince

Queen Beatrix was married to Claus Van Amsberg who died in 2002.

Prince William Alexander Studied history at

state university Learnt to fly planes Keen on sports Has also

participated in the skating marathon

Married Maxima Zorreguieta from Argentina

HISTORY The early days• The first people – There were already

people living 250,000 yrs ago• Favourite tools – Sharpened stone

called a hand axeThe Golden Age• People became rich • Did many great things in the field of

painting, literature and science

Contd.. Trade• Dutch have always sailed the seas and

oceans• During the golden age – they did a lot of

trade in Indonesia and other countries in South East Asia

• They set up trading posts for buying and selling things in all the countries they did business with

• Usually traded silk, cotton, porcelain, coffee, tea and sugar

The Dutch East India Company Set up by

merchants in 1602 and existed for 200 years

One had to become members in order to trade

Life on the ship was pretty tough as the quarters were pretty small

THE 20th Century

The First World War (1914-1918)

The Second World War (1940-1945)

Dutch didn’t choose sides

Germans wanted to continue trading to the world through Netherland

Compared to other countries in the world, things were not too bad

Netherlands occupied by Germany in 1940

South liberated by the Allies in 1944

Many Dutch people died because they had nothing to eat

DID YOU KNOW? Amsterdam has over 1 million bikes but only

700,000 Amsterdammers When you land at Schiphol Airport, you are

actually 4 meters below sea level Amsterdam has about 300 coffee shops which

can sell upto 5 grams soft drugs to each person

They cover all weird and wonderful topic from painters, museums to sex and marijuana

The world famous Koh-i-Noor diamond was cut in Amsterdam

Continued… Amsterdam has about 15000 km of

bicycle lanes If global warming causes the sea levels to

rise even a little, it will be time for Amsterdam to say bye bye because it will be the first city to get flooded

Amsterdam is built entirely on piles, huge stakes driven into the ground

Every Dutch person has at least one bike and there are twice as many bikes as cars.

THINGS TO DO WHEN YOU HAVE NO MONEY

You can take a stroll along the wonderful canals, up one side and down the other while admiring beautiful buildings and amazing architecture

If you have to escape the rain and the sun, you must visit the historic museum and explore the paintings of the 16th century

You can also drop into Begijnhof surrounded by town houses and are extremely peaceful

We suggest

So rush to you nearest travel agent,

book the Royal Dutch KLM Airlines and reach

Amsterdam.

Feel the freedom, explore the beauty, be cool and

BE VIVID

And say I amsterdam