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The official national name of
Netherlands is Koninkrijk der Nederlanden, often called
Holland. The official English name is the Kingdom of
the Netherlands, commonly known as the Netherlands or
Holland.
Holland was originated
from Holland state, divided into south and north state
at present, which played an important role of winning
independence in the war against Spain.
"Netherlands" means
"the land of lowlands" or "a lowland
area" in Dutch, representing the place where the
land is lower than the sea. It is a very good word which
expresses the location of Netherlands.
The nation's population consists of 83% Dutch, and 17%
other nationalities or races that include Turkish, Moroccan,
and immigrants from old colonies such as Suriname or
Indonesia. Interestingly, Dutch are tall people with
a mean height of 182. 5 cm for male and 170. 5cm for
female.
The religion includes 31% Catholic,
21% Protestant, 4. 4% Islam, and others 3. 6%, and non-religious
or those without religion are peg at 40% (data as of
1998).
Netherlands was in its glory in the 17th century with
full of ups and downs. In 1602, the first stock company,
that is, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was established
in the world to open up East Asia. It won the right
of possession in the war of spicery trade with Portugal,
making a large trade profit.
In addition, the VOC seized the right of trade in East
Asia by going into Taiwan and Japan with its foothold
in Batavia.
Since many ships of the VOC used Amsterdam, one of the
biggest ports of trade in the world, culture as well as
business grew in prosperity. In particular, many Dutch
artists' jobs greatly contributed to introduce Dutch culture
into the world with Rembrandt at the helm. Netherlands
still remains as the center of Western painting.
However, the long-term war with England and France
and civil war wasted national strength, and the absolute
government of the VOC, that is, the rule of "the
17 Lordships" brought about political conflict.
This experience taught Netherlands a good lesson of
historical powerlessness, resulting in the organization
of Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxemburg) which
was the first successful trial in the light of the federation
of nations in 1946.
Soon after, Netherlands became a member of NATO (North
Atlantic Treaty Organization) and ECC (European Economic
Community). In 1950, Indonesia under its colonial rule
for 300 years became independent.
Some think the relations begun in 1653 when Hamel
was shipwrecked in Joseon. But,in 1627, Jan Janse Weltevree
(renamed Park Yeon in Korean), who was a Dutch sailor,
was already cast away in Joseon with his two mates.
Even so, neither Weltevree was the beginning of the
relations.
In 1907, Lee Jun was sent to the International Peace
Conference held in The Hague, Netherlands to defy Japanese
invasion, but he died without achieving his object due
to Japan's interference.
Thereafter, Netherlands had chances to conclude official
amity with Korea by the good offices of Western European
countries including Belgium, but they failed. Finally,
in 1661, a separate amity was concluded.
In Dec. 1968, the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Korea
was established. In Oct. 1969, the Korean Embassy in
Netherlands was built. More recently, in 2001, Netherlands
succeeded in concluding a treaty of amity with North
Korea.
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