Foreigner Reacts to Life in The Netherlands (Dutch Culture Explained)

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]war against Spain until 1581 where the No idea the Netherlands had to fight for 80 years.

[00:00:07]>> century. The Dutch had to fight for a Color orange because of the Dutch.

[00:00:12]>> how?

[00:00:12]>> How? What color was color before?

[00:00:15]Hey guys. Welcome back again to the channel. Thank you for stopping by today. We are going to be taking out a video from the channel Countries Explained. And today we are going to be taking out Netherlands Explained. We are so excited for this one and I think we will be having a lot of questions to ask. Ooh, ooh, what shoe is that?

[00:00:34]Exactly. I just thought so. What kind of shoe is this?

[00:00:38]I think it's a traditional shoe.

[00:00:41]Is that the shoe that they said that they they was made out of wood?

[00:00:44]That we That was a video we checked out where we saw somebody crafting it out.

[00:00:49]>> And the Dutch has a traditional attire.

[00:00:52]This is the first time I'm seeing that.

[00:00:53]Wow.

[00:00:56]Wow.

[00:01:03]Netherlands is a very fascinating place.

[00:01:06]warm welcome to you all. We're back with episode number two on our journey throughout the world. This time we're visiting the Netherlands because, you know, why not? My name is Kenneth and I'll be your host here today.

[00:01:17]>> Kenneth. But before we get into things, let's make one thing crystal clear. This is not Holland. Yes, you heard me right.

[00:01:25]If you're saying Holland is the same thing you're doing it wrong. Holland was earlier referred to as a common name for the two provinces, North Holland and South Holland. But as of January 2020, the Dutch actually dropped the nickname of the country. So, now it's just the Netherlands. Okay. Yeah.

[00:01:45]I was so surprised. No wonder I actually thought it was the Holland because at first I thought Netherlands is another country on its own. But it's just in 2022 the nickname was dropped. No wonder because that wasn't new to me.

[00:01:57]>> [laughter] >> We used to have a bag in the house. They normally write Holland, like Holland.

[00:02:03]So, I always thought Holland is the most >> and tulips. I'm trying to >> it or not, there is so much more to this country, like being the most healthy people in the world in regards to diet.

[00:02:13]Now, how is that possible with all the cheese that they eat?

[00:02:17]Or being the most physically active population of Europe? Well, that one is pretty obvious. It's because they ride their bikes >> cheese wasn't a healthy meal. Yeah, trust me when I say this, they love their bicycles. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Before this time, I actually thought cheese wasn't a healthy meal.

[00:02:36]Yeah, me, too.

[00:02:37]>> Yeah. In I think in Africa, there's a stereotype with cheese like not being part of healthy eats. Like I I used to refer to cheese as junk food, but I think they are healthy because of the cheese they eat. I think I think one of the things that will make a cheese healthy is the kind of exercise you do.

[00:02:55]Mhm.

[00:02:55]I think so. I'm just speculating here.

[00:02:57]>> Okay. All right.

[00:02:59]Anyway, these giants, yeah, we get into that later on, seem to just have it all.

[00:03:05]You definitely do not want to miss this episode. So, ladies and gentlemen, cheese lovers, and liberal people, we present to you the red, white, and blue, and apparently orange, the Netherlands.

[00:03:16]>> Yeah, the Dutch.

[00:03:21]Yeah, the anthem. You've seen the anthem. The Secondly, you're going to see what I'm talking about.

[00:03:26]>> because the sea will try to drown you while you're here.

[00:03:30]>> [laughter] >> Quick country facts.

[00:03:32]Located in Northwestern Europe, this low-lying country, which by the way is the actual meaning of Netherlands, is kind of sandwiched between Belgium and Germany, like most countries in Europe, being close to Germany, that is.

[00:03:44]With a total area of 41,850 km², [music] it's one of the smaller countries in Europe, ranking in on the 32nd >> Wait, wait, wait, wait.

[00:03:53]Sorry, they just showed the map of um Netherlands and they kind of zoomed out.

[00:03:57]They showed Belgium beside it and Germany beside it. Now, I just want to ask you a very quick question. During the World War I or World War II, did Germany invade Netherlands? Oh, yeah.

[00:04:07]Oh, how how affected was the Netherlands during those war the World War I and World War II?

[00:04:13]How invaded or how um Were they affected?

[00:04:17]>> Affected. How much were they affected by the Please let us know. Being close to Germany that much. We want to know. land area right above Moldova and just below like really just below Switzerland. The Kingdom of the Netherlands also includes a few more places in the world. First, there is a place referred to as the Dutch Caribbean that contains the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba. Then there's a few more islands that separately belong to the kingdom and go under the name of the ABC islands named Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire again.

[00:04:48]>> Oh, that's the ABC Also the island named Sint Maarten. The North Sea is located to the north and west of the Netherlands and it's continually eating the land itself. In fact, there is a Dutch saying, "God made the earth, but the Dutch made made Holland. Yeah, we got that.

[00:05:04]>> As I know, I said there was no such thing as Holland >> Yeah, he said that. [laughter] as I mentioned earlier, which is where most of Dutch people live nowadays. But don't get it twisted here. The country is called the Netherlands, nothing else.

[00:05:18]But what did they mean by that saying?

[00:05:20]Well, in fact, almost a third of the Netherlands is below sea I'm so sorry, but why did they stop? Why did the government remove Holland as the nickname? I want to know why because it's just so recent and I don't know.

[00:05:31]Please help me down there.

[00:05:32]And if it wasn't for the people, the Dutch country wouldn't even be there today.

[00:05:37]The Dutch came out strong fighting the sea itself by building a series of canals, dams, dikes, and pumping stations that over the years made it possible for the water to go through the country rather than over it. And today, there are more than 4,400 km of dikes, rivers, and canals shielding the low-lying country. This is also a reason for all the windmills you see around the country. They were simply used to drain the land of water and help the Dutch survive. Oh, and there's three major rivers that cross the country to help with the flow of the water.

[00:06:05]They're named the Meuse, the Scheldt, and the Rhine. So, with whatever land service the Dutch had remaining, they had to be creative with it and find innovative solutions for everything. And I guess they did, because they have about 17.5 million people living in this area.

[00:06:21]Something that makes the Netherlands the most densely populated country in the European Union, and in fact, one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Wow. Dutch is the official language of the country. A language most similar to German, if anything. Dutch, or Netherlandic, as it can also be called, but probably shouldn't, is also spoken in Belgium with a bit of a dialect. [music] But here, it's called Flemish. Most people in the country also speak English and often a bit of German or French as well. Then there's Frisian, which is spoken in the northern Friesland region.

[00:06:51]Also, it's worth mentioning that the Afrikaans language of South Africa is basically Dutch with an African twist.

[00:06:58]Mhm. The religion of the Netherlands is kind of Roman Catholic, but I say kind of because only about 20% of the population identify with this religion.

[00:07:06]Actually, about half of the country's population don't identify with any particular religion at all. Today, the Netherlands embodies a liberal middle road of having both freedom of religion as well as freedom from religion. And there's a strong growth of ietsism, which can be described as a faith without a religion. So, basically, a person saying, "I don't believe in God, but I do think there is something out there."

[00:07:29]The flag of the Netherlands consists of three horizontal stripe lines with the colors red, white, and blue. In the early days, the red stripe was actually orange to symbolize the Prince of Orange, which the rebel province fought under in the independence war against Spain between the years 1568 and 1648.

[00:07:45]But since red was easier to see at sea, how do you like that pun?

[00:07:51]>> [laughter] >> And so, these have been the official colors since the 19th of February, 1937, when Queen Wilhelmina made the decision.

[00:07:59]However, most of us have seen the orange color still being representative of the Netherlands, especially in different sport events. So, what's up with that?

[00:08:07]The simple answer to that orange color refers to the Dutch royal family, the House of Orange-Nassau, and their ancestor, William of Orange, who is the founding father of the Netherlands. But, this kind of turns us into the history segment of things. So, let's jump right in there, shall we?

[00:08:23]History segment. All right, so try to keep up now because we have a lot to cover and I'm running out of space with the script. [clears throat] But, for the purpose of history, let's bring ourselves back to the prehistoric times of roughly 250,000 BP, to a place called the Low Countries. This place is generally understood to include the territory of what today are referred to as the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. This is where we find the first remains of human life in the Netherlands. But, take a leap in time until the year 1275 and the founding of Amsterdam, the greatest planned city of northern Europe. This city has always been well known in history and played a very central part in the history of the Netherlands. Then, in 1568, Spain came to ruin all the fun. With the Spanish king and his governor in the forefront, they tried to dominate the Netherlands and introduce its taxation there. So, there was war.

[00:09:12]When Spain invaded Netherlands. War, then a little bit of war, and some war to that as well. All in all, we're looking at 80 years worth of war against Spain until 1581, where the No idea the Netherlands had to fight for 80 years. That was exceedingly long. I I think majority of these wars are not just 1 year, 2 years. They last for a long time.

[00:09:37]Taking lives, taking resources of people, man.

[00:09:41]What? And all for what?

[00:09:44]Probably for land space.

[00:09:45]>> Yeah, for domination.

[00:09:47]>> or pride. This is crazy. I didn't even know they fought like this, man. I was thinking Netherlands is one of those countries that didn't have to go through so many wars and all of that.

[00:09:56]United Provinces declared their independence from Spain.

[00:10:00]Then comes the discovery period, or the golden age of colonialism, if you so will. And boy, oh boy, was the Dutch a force to be reckoned with here. They expanded all over the world and discovered new lands left and right.

[00:10:13]From America to Asia, Africa, and South America, the Dutch had colonized them all. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they colonized America.

[00:10:20]>> new land, the America, Asia, Africa, and they Well, once upon a time the Dutch colonized America.

[00:10:27]That doesn't seem like this is the first time I'm hearing something like this.

[00:10:31]Wow. Even Asia, Africa, South America.

[00:10:37]Look at this guy. In the 17th century, they were actually the biggest maritime power in Europe. Yes, suck on that, Spain. One of the most >> [laughter] >> famous stories is one of how Director General of the Dutch West India Company, Peter Minuit, bought the entire Manhattan Island for $24.

[00:10:53]What? But is it true, though? No, it's not. Okay.

[00:10:57]>> has it Peter offered some trinkets and glass, which with today's value would be around $24 in exchange for ownership of the land to some natives he ran into.

[00:11:05]Peter felt like a boss, >> Yeah. obviously, since he had done the deal of well, ever. But the deal didn't turn out that well in the end. First, the natives who sold him the land didn't actually own it. Sorry, Peter, you've been scammed. And also, [laughter] the Dutch turned out to have very little interest in colonizing the area after all. This led to the English naval force simply sailing into the harbor in 1664 and took over New Amsterdam without firing a single shot. Charles II of England then later gave a territory to his brother James II of England, the Duke of York, and the land was later named New York. The Netherlands then started a slow but constant economical growth and implemented important constitutional reforms, which led them to be a liberal and modern state. In World War I, the country remained neutral. Oh.

[00:11:51]Neutral. But unlike most of the European countries, they were invaded by German troops in 1940. After a few years under terror of the Nazis, the whole country began to suffer the burden of war. So, when the Nazis tried to incorporate the Netherlands into the Third Reich, they fought back. Oh. After the difficult years of trying to reconstruct the country right after World War II, the Netherlands had exponential economic growth in the second half of the 20th century. And today, they're one of the most developed and wealthiest countries in the world.

[00:12:18]Fun facts.

[00:12:20]So, what are some fun facts about the Netherlands? Well, for starters, Dutch men are the tallest in the world.

[00:12:26]>> In the world. They've been on top for quite some time now with an average length of 1.83 m, but the women aren't exactly short, either, averaging at 1.69 m, only losing out to the women of Latvia. Oh, wow. I'm so sorry. What make them that tall? Like, what do they eat that make them that Like, naturally tall? I think it's genetic. Genetics, right?

[00:12:48]>> think so. Wow. That's amazing.

[00:12:50]>> fascinating fact about the Netherlands.

[00:12:52]Did you know that the carrots are orange because of the Dutch? Back in the 10th century, the vegetables were white or Carrots are orange because of the Dutch. How? How? What color was carrot before?

[00:13:04]Purple. Is it white or purple?

[00:13:07]Carrots. Yeah, but as you know, orange is a They add coloring. the Netherlands.

[00:13:11]So, as a tribute to William the Orange, the Dutch farmers tried to make their carrots orange, and we all know the result of that. Then, there's the flowers, or How?

[00:13:20]How? I was I was so If the If the Dutch If carrots was white and purple before, so how did the orange colored um carrot dominate all over the world?

[00:13:32]>> I just feel like that that's not true. I thought the orange one would be like specific to a certain >> Yeah, probably the whole of European but not Asia and Africa and you know, the all the whole continent they are.

[00:13:42]>> Remember they discovered and colonized Africa.

[00:13:46]It does not mean our orange automatically our carrot will automatically start growing orange.

[00:13:52]Could be because when they were here at that period, they might have So, why won't we see any white or purple carrots? That's I I feel like that's not >> [laughter] >> I understand that these are a big part of the Netherlands. But did you know that about 75% of the entire world's flower bulbs are exported from the Netherlands? Pretty crazy when you think about it. As you mentioned earlier, the Dutch have been a really clever people using their creativity to find ways to save their land from the sea trying to drown them.

[00:14:25]>> [laughter] >> They made our windmills. And there are actually over 1,000 of them throughout the country. And speaking of being creative, the city of Amsterdam is in fact completely built on top of over 1 million wooden poles, which extend around 12 m into the ground. The city is built on a very wet, swampy land. So, talk about trying to see the possibilities instead of focusing on things being impossible. And if you didn't know, they love bikes. They love them so much that the Dutch own more bicycles than any other country in the world. About 22 million of them are present in the country. So, that's more than one per person on average. Did I mention that they love bikes?

[00:15:02]So, >> [laughter] >> famous people does this country have?

[00:15:04]And what things are they known for in the world? Well, besides bikes, tulips, and windmills, there are a few more things that they should have credit for.

[00:15:11]Well, for starters, it's home of the world's first stock exchange, established in 1602 by the Dutch East India Company. If you've ever been to the Netherlands, chances are small you've missed that they really like cheese. The Dutch have a long history of cheese making, but the most famous one is without a doubt the Gouda cheese.

[00:15:28]Gouda. This is the first time I'm hearing that.

[00:15:30]Most of us have heard this extremely famous painter. Yeah, okay. influential figure in Western art, and he made over 2,000 artworks in his lifetime. Wow.

[00:15:39]notable works being Starry Night, Sunflowers, and The Siesta. Wow.

[00:15:43]>> This country is just amazing.

[00:15:46]It would take me a day to tell you every single thing about this place. We could mention Anne Frank, football, Rembrandt, licorice, beer, and probably a million other things. Is Anne Frank Dutch?

[00:15:59]>> Dutch.

[00:16:01]Who is she actually?

[00:16:02]>> Anne Frank is a like iconic lady that lived through She didn't actually live through World War II, but she documented her diaries like when it was started, and it's it's such a sad story. One of the first of many book I've read in my life.

[00:16:15]>> Wow.

[00:16:16]But the space of my script has come to an end yet again. So, what did you think of the video? Did you learn anything?

[00:16:22]Netherlands Gouda cheese.

[00:16:25]I'd love to hear your opinions, so I can keep making better and better videos.

[00:16:29]Until next week, take care.

[00:16:31]Bye. Toodles.

[00:16:32]>> [crying] >> Wow.

[00:16:34]>> It's such an interesting video.

[00:16:37]>> Mhm.

[00:16:38]It's so packed with a lot of information, and a lot of questions was asked during the video, and we really love answers to them.

[00:16:45]>> why was Netherlands neutral in World War I?

[00:16:48]>> Exactly, one of the questions I have.

[00:16:50]>> if I'm not mistaken, mind you, this is speculation, I think that was the reason why they invaded them in World War II. No, I don't think so. I feel like they tried to be neutral in World War II, but you know, I think World War II was Hitler actually just went all bizarre in claiming land, so he just wanted to I know and seeing that they are very close to them >> is a great way to start. I I know they needed allies, they needed people, they needed people, they needed a lot of things. So >> They needed soldiers.

[00:17:18]Yes.

[00:17:20]One of those many video that leaves you speechless.

[00:17:23]>> Yeah.

[00:17:24]Well, I love it. I love it. So, just we need response in the comment section and keep your recommendations coming as well. I'll see you on our next one.

[00:17:33]Deuces.