1.      Many people talk about “Holland” when they actually mean “the Netherlands”. Holland consists of the Dutch provinces of North and South Holland. This region was economically very strong in the past and was therefore often equated with the Netherlands, which is wrong.

2.      The Netherlands was the first country to legalize same-sex marriage. That was in 2001

3.      Did you know that Dutch is not the only official language in the Netherlands? Frisian, spoken in the province of Friesland, is also recognised.

4.      Only 50% of the land mass of the Netherlands is more than one meter above sea level.

5.      The UN-sponsored World Happiness Report 2021 has named the Netherlands the fifth happiest nation in the world, up one position on the previous report.

6.      There are still more than 1,000 working traditional windmills in the Netherlands. 19 of these can be found in Kinderdijk, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

7.      KLM, the Dutch Royal Airlines, is the oldest national airline in the world. She was founded in 1919.

8.      The audio cassette, video cassette and DVD were all invented in Eindhoven, by the company Philips.

9.      Amsterdam is the 5th busiest destination in Europe, with some 4.2 million international visitors a year.

10.  Amsterdam is completely built on 11-meter high piles. This is because the subsoil consists of thick layers of clay and peat.

11.  There are about 15,000 km of cycle paths in the Netherlands.

12.  The Dutch are the tallest people in Europe, with an average height of 1.81-1m.84 for adult men and 1m.67-1m.70 for adult women (depending on the source). That is probably useful given that the country is largely below sea level

13.  There are more bicycles in the Netherlands (more than 18 million) than there are people

14.  The Royal Palace on Amsterdam's Damplein is built on some 13,659 wooden piles.

15.  About 30% of all Dutch babies are born at home

16.  About 17% of the Dutch land is reclaimed from the sea and lakes.

17.  The Dutch Max Havelaar certificate was the first fair trade certificate in the world.

18.  Because the land is so flat, the highest point, only 323 meters high, is already called a “mountain”. That point is in Vaalserberg.

19.  The Dutch national anthem, the Wilhelmus, is the oldest national anthem that is still sung as such. It was written in 1568, but did not officially become the national anthem until 1932

20.  The Dutch flag is also the oldest tricolor. It dates from 1572.

21.  Rotterdam has the largest seaport in Europe.

22.  In 2013, the Netherlands, together with Denmark, was crowned by the European Cyclists' Federation as the most cyclist-friendly country in Europe.

23.  The Hendrik de Keyser Stock Exchange in Amsterdam is considered the world's oldest stock exchange.

24.  The Netherlands has produced many famous painters, such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Vincent van Gogh and Willem de Kooning. In Amsterdam alone you can find 22 paintings by Rembrandt and 206 works by Van Gogh.

25.  There are 1,281 bridges in Amsterdam!

26.  Another fun fact about the Netherlands is that the microscope was invented in the Netherlands in the 16th century.

27.  The famous Keukenhof flower garden is the largest flower garden in the world.

28.  When Dutch school children pass their exams, the Dutch flag is handed out together with their book bag.

29.  Did you know that carrots weren't orange originally? They were black, white, yellow, purple or red.

30.  The orange variety was grown in honor of the House of Orange, which led the revolt against the Spaniards and later became the royal family.

31.  That is also why orange is the national color of the Netherlands, while the colors of the flag are blue, white and red.

32.  A Dutch person cycles on average about 2.5 km per day and about 900 km per year.

33.  There are about 1,000 museums in the Netherlands, 42 of which are in Amsterdam.

34.  The Netherlands has been a constitutional monarchy since 1815 and a parliamentary democracy since 1848

35.  The telescope was invented in the Netherlands in the 17th century.

36.  Although Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, the seat of government is located in The Hague.

37.  New York City was originally called “New Amsterdam” and was founded as a Dutch colony.

38.  Both New Zealand and Australia were discovered by the Netherlands. Australia was originally called “New Holland”, after the Dutch province, and New Zealand was named after the province of Zeeland

39.  The most popular souvenirs from the Netherlands are: clogs, small windmills, cheese and tulips.

40.  Although the Portuguese discovered tea in East Asia, it was the Dutch who began to commercially import the drink to Europe in 1610. It took another 40 years for tea to reach England!

41.  Despite the fact that the country only occupies 0.008% of the world, the Netherlands is the third largest agricultural exporter.

42.  The Netherlands has always been neutral in conflicts.

43.  The Netherlands has the lowest lactose intolerance in the world, at 1%.

44.  In Groningen you will find the largest cafe in Europe. The “Three Sisters” can welcome 3,700 people.

45.  The Netherlands is the largest cheese exporter in the world.

46.  The Dutch often wear rain suits instead of umbrellas because the wind is often so strong.

47.  If you placed all the dikes that keep the water under control in the Netherlands in a row, that row would be about 80,000 km long.

48.  The province of Flevoland was almost completely reclaimed from water. It would flood in just 48 hours if one of the levees broke. Flevoland is about three times the size of New York's Manhattan.

49.  70% of all bacon in the world comes from the Netherlands.

50.  4/10 of the working people in the Netherlands work part-time. That is the highest ratio in the European Union.