All Things Holland

At the beginning of the 16th century gardening in Europe was still an underdeveloped skill, vegetable gardening especially.  It is said that Catherine wife of King Henry VII of England could not procure a "sallad" until Henry sent to the Netherlands to have a gardener sent to England to raise the proper articles.  But, it seems that the Netherlands was on top of this modern gardening trend. In most countries carrots are orange, but that has not always been the case.  In fact carrots in the past were never orange.  Before orange carrots there were Western red and white carrots which today might be called parsnips,  and Eastern purple carrots with the occasional wild carrots of different colors. So what is the legend that surrounds the orange carrot?  Folktales tell us that the orange carrot was bred in the Netherlands in the 16th century to honor William I of Orange (William the Silent).  It was to tribute to William I during the Dutch fight for ind...

How would you build a bridge across a 17th century moat that wouldn't take away from the moat's original purpose aesthetically? Why, build a bridge 'in' the moat of course. Click this for Pictures and details RO & AD Architects of the Netherlands recently designed a bridge that 'parts' the waters of a moat surrounding a 17th century Dutch fort. Yes, like Moses from the bible, this bridge appears to split the waters in half allowing you to walk 'through' the waters as the water line is level with the top edge of the walkway. A series of Moats and Fortresses was built over the West Brabant Water Line region of the Netherlands during the 17th century to provide protection from Spain and France. The particular fort Fort de Roovere was too deep to wade across but too shallow to boat. Until now! The bridge begins lying flush with the ground then defends into the slope using treated wood to prevent rot. I looked up Fort de Roovere on the map an it's in ...

Today I'll give a very brief overview of how the Netherlands became an independent country. Only the high points. I'll go into more details on each of these events later. 1519. Charles V the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain originally ruled the area. Then it was known as the 17 provinces and included not just the Netherlands but Belgium, Luxembourg, and some land in France and Germany. 1568. The start of the 80 years war of independence from Spain. In 1579 the northern provinces formed the Union of Utrecht in which the agreed to support one another in their war against Phillip II of Spain. War continued until 1648 when Phillip IV finally recognised the independence of the 7 northern provinces in the Treaty of Munster. Those northern provnices were; Holland, Zeeland, Groningen, Friesland, Utrecht, Overijssel, and Gelre. They formed a confederation that came to be known as teh Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. All these provinces were autonomous and had their own gove...