By MAARTEN ROTHENGATTER (PHD)
THE province of North-Holland covers a land mass and an island (Texel) in the north-west of The Netherlands, as well as parts of the “IJsselmeer”.
The province can be regarded chiefly as a large peninsula that is surrounded by the “North Sea” to the west; the “Wadden Zee” to its north;and the “Markermeer” and “IJselmeer” to its east. The latter used to be the “Zuider Zee”, until a 32-kilometre long dam (called the “Afsluitdijk”) between North-Holland and Friesland was built in the 1930s and closed off the “South Sea”, thus eventually turning it into one of the biggest artificial lakes in Western Europe.
More than 50 per cent of land in the province consists of reclaimed land (the so-called “Polders” which are below sea level). Amsterdam is located in North-Holland and is also the capital of The Netherlands.
To describe all famous historical sites in Amsterdam would take several book volumes and can be found elsewhere.
Prior to 1795, North-Holland (as a province) used to be part of the much bigger country, called “Holland”, which was ruled by the Counts of Holland, who also annexed an area that was historically known as West-Friesland. “From the 16th century to 1795, Holland was the wealthiest and most important province in the United Provinces in the Dutch Republic. As the richest and most powerful province, Holland dominated the union” (see Wikipedia).
The main cities of the province (Amsterdam and Haarlem) were major centres in which business, trade, art, printing and many associated activities were concentrated and flourished, while Amsterdam was the headquarters of the “first multi-national corporation in the world – the VOC, or the “VereenigdeOost-IndiescheCompagnie” (the United East India Company), which had its own shipyards and numerous storage facilities in Amsterdam. Formed in 1602, the VOC became famous for its trade in spices from Indonesia and Ambon, in particular.
One of its most famous ships was called “Batavia”, which on 4 June, 1629 hit Morning Reef, off the West Australian Coast, resulting in a major mutiny, murder of many crew members and its passengers and the eventual rescue operation of the very few survivors (see Mike Dash’s book Batavia’s Graveyard for a detailed account of this intriguing part of Dutch maritime history). The wealth that was brought to the City of Amsterdam by the VOC has been captured in the many famous paintings by the various “Dutch Masters” that are on display in the Rijksmuseum.
The province of North-Holland can be said to have been responsible for producing a range of people – mainly merchants, mariners and cartographers – who have established the original links between Australia and The Netherlands.
I personally grew up in North-Holland, in the small village of Laren, which had a population comprising a rich mixture of the original farming community, painters, sculptors, musicians, merchant bankers and stockbrokers, as well as small-business owners and service industry workers. The City of Hilversum (five kilometres up the road) is the main home of Dutch television and radio stations.
The small village of Blaricum is bordering on to Laren and also has a similar population mix.
This particular region in the province of North-Holland is known as “Het Gooi”, which is probably one of the prettiest areas in the province because of its interchanging natural habitat of forests, heather fields, small agricultural plots and integrated waterways. The outskirts of Blarium and Laren contain many mansions or ‘gentlemen’s residences’; and real estate prices in this region are among the highest in The Netherlands.
Laren is now also nationally known as one of the most popular day-trip destinations for ‘exclusive shopping tourism’. In summary, there is a lot of history, beauty, cosiness and much more ‘quaintness’ to be experienced, when visiting North-Holland.
(Maarten Rothengatter is a lecturer in Social Sciences at Southern Cross University and is located at the Tweed and Gold Coast Campus. Maarten is a member of the committee which is organising the Dutch Australian Festival, which will be held on the Tweed/Gold Coast, in 2016). The Tweed Coast Weekly is running a monthly column on all things Dutch for the committee leading up to the festival.
