Facts about Holland

IntroWe are going to tell about facts about Holland. We have chosen some subjects that we think are the most interesting, funny and famous facts about Holland

ProgrammeHere are the programme:

Hagelslag

Flat as a pancake

Same sex marriage

Legislative action

Production of bacon

Child wellbeing

Children rule

Tallest people in the world

HagelslagHagelslag is very small pieces of sugar sprinkles. The sprinkles are usually with chocolate, but you can get them in a variety of colours and tastes. The Dutch’s typically put Hagelslag on the bread, while some use it as decoration on cakes. In fact the Dutch’s eats 14 million kilograms each year!

Flat as a pancakeHolland is a very flat country. The Vaalserberg is the highest point in Holland. It's only 320 meters high. The reason why Holland is so flat is because it was regained from the sea. That means that most of the land was made by the people, there for no natural hills or mountains. Almost the whole country came from bog lying below the sea level.

Same-sex marriageSame sex marriage has been legal in Holland since 1 April 2001. Holland was the first country to legalize same-sex marriage.

Legislative actionAs early as the mid-eighties, a group of gay rights activists, headed by Henk Krol – the editor-in-chief of the Gay Krant – asked the government to allow same sex couples to marry. Parliament decided in 1995 to create a special commission, which was to investigate the possibility of same-sex marriages. At that moment, the Christian Democrats were not part of the ruling coalition for the first time since the introduction of full democracy. The special commission finished its work in 1997 and concluded that civil marriage should be extended to include same-sex couples. After the election of 1998, the government promised to tackle the issue. In September 2000 the final legislation draft was debated in the Dutch Parliament. And on April 1st it became legal.