So I am going to be honest with you about today....I didn't do much. We had bunch of "business" to take care of like applying for visas and enrolling for classes. Then Steef taught us the quick and dirty of Netherlands history and geography. Well it wasn't so quick and only grim at times. We basically started back at the beginning with hunter and gatherer society. Because all of the Netherlands is at or below sea level the hunter and gatherers quickly learned when it was safe to live in the area and when it wasn't. Then they started to get smart and made man made hills, terps, where the Burg in previous blogs were later built, during the Dark Ages, because of Viking attacks. I also need to make a correction about this. The whole vikings not having women to reproduce with so they attacked their friends for their's is only a theory, and not actually quotable as Steef said. I personally am going to keep believing it. Then we get into a lot of shifts in who is in charge of the Netherlands. This is probably best outlined in a list so I think that I will do it that way.
- Roman empire pretty much is the next stop in history. Romans occupied up until the Rign river which runs through Leiden. To the north of the river was Barbarian land. So half of Leiden descends from Barbarians and the other half Romans.
- After the Roman empire crumbles the Dark Ages occurs. This is viking pillage time.
- The Dark Ages end when Charles the Great or Charlemagne, crowns himself the emperor after he promises the pope that he will help protect them. During this time there was a blending of both Germanic and Roman law, and this is why it basically fell apart. Germanic law declares that all land that is inherited should be split equally between sons. Charlemagne had three sons so the empire was split three ways after his death. This is when the Netherlands becomes french.
- This is known as the Renaissance, and time of prosperity. Most of the famous artist known to have come from the Netherlands lived during this time. This is the time of prosperity because of the trade that the Dutch are phenomenal at. We learned that Venice, Italy is where banks were started, and the next place banks came was the Netherlands.
- Somewhere after this the Australians and Spanish own the Netherlands and this lands them in an 80 year war which they win. This is when the Protestant church starts because of the unease the Dutch had with the Roman Catholic religion. Something about the Preist not being able to get married and pass down his riches to his sons wasn't cool. William of Orange (1st) or silent helped during this reformation and actually takes head of state once they gain independence and declares freedom of religion, thus starting the known fact that the Dutch are very liberal back in like 1648.
- The Golden Age!!! This is where the East Indian trading company comes from. This was the part of class where scenes from Pirates of the Carribean were running through my head..... Hmmm .....Orlando Bloom!!!! Oh sorry the rest of the history...they went as far as Indonesia in one direction and then to South America in the other. In all of these places they called the natives Indians basically because they aren't European, so you had three options back then: African, Indian or European. One little side note that Steef said, anytime there is a profit to be made the Dutch will be there.
- Somewhere after the Golden Age things started to get bad and this is when the economy and population started declining. Then the French Revolution started and became a Republic. The Netherlands as part of France became a Republic and was run by Napoleon. After Napoleons defeat in Waterloo, in the Netherlands not Iowa, they became a constitutional monarch with King William the 1st as their appointed king. Don't confuse this with the first first William, this King William is his great great great grandson.
- We skip some time here as nothing really happens until the 19th century where industrialization takes place. It should be noted that the Netherlands really doesn't have a lot of Coal or Steel, so they were one of the last places to industrialize.
- 1914- the first World War takes place because everyone wants this little piece of land that has lots of coal and resources for industrializing. The Netherlands stays neutral because they don't have anything. This is when the Dutch become known for taking in refugees, especially from Belgium.
- WWII - Basically Germany again wants the same land fought over in the first world war and then much more with an ideal of taking over Great Britain. Their first goal was to take over the quickest way to get there, that being take over the Netherlands. The Netherlands had been attacked in May 1940 when the bombing of Rotterdam occurred, and with threats of more bombing they said they would be apart of the Nazi party. Because of how far north the Netherlands is they were really the last to be liberated. Two facts that were interesting to me were learned here. The British actually invented concentration camps, Germans just adapted it. There were actually concentration camps here in the Netherlands.
- After WWII - There was a renewed since of nationalism. They started trading again and basically became the wealthy country we know today. They know trade a lot of services and knowledge. I mean within Leiden there is the coldest place in the world, which is in a lab that got to 0 degrees Celsius, plus Einstein went to school here!
Okay so now you are probably wondering why I titled this blog entry "Dutch Oven! What?". So after our "brief" history lesson we talked about sayings that have the dutch associated with it. One being "Going Dutch" where both people pay half for the meal no matter how much money you have. Another being "Dutch courage" otherwise known as "liquid courage" or alcohol induced courage. The last we talked about was the "Dutch Oven". Dennis didn't know what it was so we had to explain it to him. I of course told him that it was a little oven that you can put everything in and place coals on top and bottom and dinner is served some time after. Another student told him it was when someone farts under the blanket and pulls it over another persons head! Steef could only explain this because the Dutch are cheap and this is a cheap way to warm up the room! Oh fun times!
Sorry there aren't any pictures for today. I promise I will make up for them tomorrow when we go to Amsterdam!
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