The Netherlands is known as the "Kingdom of Freedom", what is the characteristics of the Netherlands, how open is its country, and can it get such a title? What kind of country is the Netherlands in China? What makes it unique compared to Western powers such as Britain, France and Germany? That's what we're going to talk about today — the Netherlands. Look at life in the Netherlands past and present, and you'll get a glimpse of it.
The Netherlands, a magical country
The Netherlands is a country whose destiny is determined by its terrain and whose destiny is changed by man. With an area of only 7,600 square kilometers and a population of 60 million, it is one of the most developed countries in Europe. In this small and small land, almost the earliest commercial civilization and maritime civilization were miraculously born.
Here the world's first company, the first stock exchange and the first modern bank were born, all epoch-making products about "money"! This is the Netherlands. The Netherlands is one of the oldest countries in Europe and the oldest in the West, and it has many things to learn and learn from. First, the Netherlands is the largest market economy country in Europe. Therefore, the impression of the Netherlands in the minds of most people is that the world powers have always wanted to have larger colonies and hegemony, but in the eyes of the Dutch, they only want small money!
Even if it is so small and insignificant, the only money in the eyes of the people has left its own deep mark on the development of world history!
The opening of the Netherlands is both a strength and a weakness. We cannot ignore its drawbacks because of openness. However, openness is not the same as laissez-faire, let alone laissez-faire, and its advantages can only be brought into play through the guidance and management of the government. The Netherlands is a very typical example. The openness of the Netherlands is manifested not only in its thoughts, but also in its actions, and as one of the few countries in the world where the "sex trade" is legalized, it has its own procedures.
Amsterdam has the largest sex workspace in the world. For the Dutch, sex is just like eating and sleeping is just one of the basic needs of human beings. There, people are free to date and make love to the opposite sex. In China, the profession known as the "underground worker" has been around for thousands of years. Now, it has become the focus of attention all over the world. Sure, all this is eye-catching for some, but for the Dutch it is a symbol of advanced ideas!
In addition, this is where the country's culture comes from, dutch culture is free, equal, open, and the "sex trade" can exist legally in the Netherlands in some way, and they do not think that legalizing these things makes the Netherlands unsafe, but because the Netherlands itself is a very orderly country and legitimizing these things.
So, what is the fundamental reason why the Netherlands has been able to form such a cultural atmosphere? What makes it a cultural powerhouse and plays an important role on the world stage? What are the unique national spirits and traditions of the Netherlands? These are all worth exploring. Why is the Netherlands so glamorous? Let's take a look at the history!
Holland - floating history
Many of the world's questions can be answered from history, as can the open side of the Netherlands from the history of this small coastal country.
Geographically, in a small corner of the western European plain and the Atlantic Ocean, there is such a small country called the Netherlands.
By its size and status, it is hard to imagine that this small country has historically ruled the entire Atlantic, its merchant ships carrying spices or gold floating around the world, and even monopolizing trade between East and West!
The Netherlands originally belonged to the Netherlands, which means depression because it is located in a depression, and when the Tide of the Atlantic Ocean comes, the sea can often flood the Netherlands!
For centuries, the Netherlands has been building dams to keep water out, and these dams have not only become barriers to water, but also a means of transportation for the Dutch except for boats! So the is an indispensable part. However, in modern society, with the progress of science and technology and economic development, people have higher requirements for living standards, and water conservancy projects have been further improved and improved. Today, many highways in the Netherlands are built on dams.
Before these water conservancy facilities took effect, the people of the Netherlands lived almost precariously, most of them living in small boats, on the one hand, studying how to build small boats better and better, lighter and faster, but also in time to have fun, find ways to earn money, spend money happily!
After the opening of the new route, Spain has developed rapidly with its unique advantages, and the Netherlands is the territory of the Spanish royal family, which is not only the source of Spanish soldiers, but also undertakes the shipbuilding industry of the Kingdom of Spain with its exquisite shipbuilding technology.
At that time, the Reformation had long been prevalent in Western Europe, and the Dutch generally believed in Protestant Calvinism (Galvinism). Calvin advocated Skylinism, believing that the fate of a person's life was originally chosen by heaven, which provided the most powerful theoretical basis for the Dutch who loved to earn money, and Protestant Calvinism was naturally popular in the Netherlands!
When the Portuguese and Spanish brothers on the Iberian Peninsula were occupied by the Arabs, the Holy See firmly supported them in recovering the lost land, and thus formed the Kingdom of Spain.
At first there was a conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism between Spain and the Netherlands, and there were often wars of words for religious reasons, but then the Spanish royal family began to meddle in the Dutch economic problems, sending the governor to want to levy more commercial taxes in the Netherlands, and the situation was even more serious for the rich-loving Dutch.
I can be your people, work for you, and be your subjects. There are many things I can do, even without political power, which doesn't matter, but you can't touch my money! — Homer's Epic, Chapter 5. King William I of the Netherlands had a habit of taking a large sum of money out of his pocket every day and handing it over to his ministers. For the Dutch, money is the root of life!
In this way, the famous Dutch War of Independence in the modern history of the world began, which attracted the attention of European countries and formed two camps of Catholicism and Protestantism, of which the Protestant countries were to aid the Netherlands, the Holy See and several old Catholic countries to support Spain!
The war lasted for more than 40 years, the Dutch War of Independence was a symbol of freedom and independence, the people fought heroically against the Spanish army, and finally with the help of Britain and other Protestant countries, the Dutch Revolution won the victory and established the world's first bourgeois state. So the Netherlands began to make a little money for itself wholeheartedly.
After independence, the Netherlands became an almost purely commercial country, just like the medieval Commercial Cities of Western Europe such as the Italian water city of Venice, the existence of the government and the role of the parliament are all about how to better serve everyone to make money!
For capitalism, the advantage of such a government apparatus is that it can provide more convenience and allow Dutch merchants to earn more worldwide, but it also has a huge weakness, that is, it does not have a strong government, and it is vulnerable when it is subjected to external shocks.
After the decline of the golden hourglass in Spain, the Netherlands gradually reached its peak. Due to the highly developed shipbuilding industry and the exquisite shipbuilding technology, the Netherlands gradually monopolized overseas trade between the seas.
During this period, good commercial credit and reliable fleets and commercial positions made the Netherlands famous. In this case, Dutch businessmen began to look to overseas markets, and they went to sea to do business. In 1650, Dutch merchant ships first reached the Red Sea and gulf of Aden. Since then, the Netherlands has opened up many new routes. At this time, dutch merchant ships were more than the sum of the commercial ships of European countries, and they were truly "sea coachmen".
While striving to earn money, the Netherlands gradually established colonies and commercial bases in various countries in the world, such as the Dutch occupation of our island of Taiwan during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and later Zheng Chenggong led troops to expel it, which was known as the "golden age" in Dutch history.
Later, in order to seek greater commercial profits, save costs, and jointly deal with the dangers of long voyages, the clever Netherlands created an epoch-making tool in the history of the world economy - the company!
The Netherlands merged with the East India Company in 1602. During the year, it began to expand to the East and build a large fleet of ships; subsequently opened up routes to China and India. At the same time, a body independent of the government, the Dutch Colonial Council, was established. The operation of the East India Company (Industrial Inc.) has created great wealth for Dutch investors, the company focused on the tight spice trade in Europe and monopolized the luxury trade between the East and the West, but just like Spain only spent money to develop industry, the Netherlands is also vigorously developing shipbuilding, and has not increased the strength of the development of military industry, at this time the island country of Britain, not far away, has quietly entered the era of steel industry!
If you look at the development of the Dutch shipbuilding industry from the perspective of historical crossers, you can see that the Dutch ships are getting lighter and lighter, the board is getting thinner and thinner, and although the speed of ship travel is accelerating, the defense capability is also declining.
On the contrary, The English guns are ready to go, industrial capital will eventually lose to industrial capital, after three Anglo-Dutch wars, the sea supremacy is the turn of Britain!
Netherlands - Free Kingdom
There is a demand before there is a market, and the development of the maritime industry for hundreds of years has provided a unique space for the Dutch "free industry".
Statistical surveys show that the earlier sexual work areas in the Netherlands were located on both sides of the canal (such areas are not fixed near the canal in the main cities at present).
As mentioned earlier, this is partly due to the fact that the inhabitants of the Netherlands had a good time to live in due to the harsh conditions of their early years. In their fight against disease, they gradually realized the importance of health and longevity; on the other hand, because the navigation industry was very developed at that time, people were able to obtain a lot of wealth through maritime trade and enjoy a rich life. On the other hand, the Netherlands, as a coachman at sea, also gained world dominance in the 17th century by virtue of maritime transport.
At that time, the level of navigation was far less than today's level, and it took several months or even more than a year to go to sea. They can only spend about two hours a day on board. As a result, the crew at that time was full of fear of life at sea. In this case. They can only focus their main energy on work. The crew's living conditions were very difficult. The ship's equipment was rudimentary, there was no entertainment facility, and at that time, the sea voyage was very dangerous because of the lack of technology, and it was impossible to return at any time, which also caused the sailors to live in a precarious life. As a result, every return voyage by the sailor crew brings back money and needs.
In modern times, the Netherlands also has the resources and the capacity to control these industries, because the domestic economy is well developed, so most of the people engaged in these industries come from certain countries of Eastern Europe that are poor and have a wide gender gap.
The Dutch Government will determine the business qualifications and health status of these personnel. The head of the Dutch Tourism Association said that in the process, they discovered a new profession - tour guides, and named this industry "Dutch tour guide industry". These industries generate a lot of revenue for the development of tourism in the Netherlands!
We haven't lived through this history, we haven't developed this industry, but there are many reasons why this industry exists in the Netherlands, and their freedom, their culture, should be respected!