Culture Presentation on Amsterdam. Presented by the students at The Delhi School of Communication.

1. Amsterdam 2007
Group II

2. OUR JOURNEY BEGINS...

4. SCHIPHOL AIRPORT
 Largest airport in the
country
 Fourth largest in Europe
 In 2002, more than 40
million passengers passed
through which is twice the
population of Amsterdam
 It is also the home of KLM
Royal Dutch Airlines, the
world’s oldest airline

5. THE NETHERLANDS
 Itlies on the North
Sea, next to Germany
and Belgium
 More than 16 million
people live here
 Making it one of the
most crowded
countries of the
world.

6. Is it the Netherlands or Holland
 Itis sometimes called as Holland
 Holland is the name of two of the twelve
provinces that make up Netherlands
 These provinces play an important role
so that name has stuck

7. RED, WHITE & BLUE
 Earlier, the top of the
flag was orange
 Also known as Prince’s
flag
 Named after Prince
William of Orange, the
most famous ancestor of
the Queen
 Orange ribbon attached
to the flag on special
occasions

8. The Cities
 Large proportion live in
the West.
 Amsterdam, Rotterdam,
The Hague and Utrecht
 Area also known as
Randstad
 Amsterdam is the
capital
 The Hague is the seat
of the government

9. The Language
 It is the DUTCH
 Many people in Belgium,
Suriname, Indonesia and
Aruba also speak Dutch
 DID YOU KNOW?
In the north of Netherlands
is the province of Friesland.
People here speak Frisian
which is a mix of English &
Scandinavian languages

10. Welcome to
THE BICYCLE CAPITAL OF EUROPE

11.  Amsterdam- by far…
“ the freest city in the world”.
 Amsterdam recognizes freedoms fraternal twin is…
RESPONSIBILTY.

12. Demographics
 Population- 743,000 (plus
an estimated 20,000
unregistered).
 Dutch- 95%
 Netherlands- Approx.
16,400,000.
 Population aged between
20-40:40%.
 Ethnic minorities:47%.
 Two farthest points in
Netherlands-350 km
apart.

13. Climate
 Gentle climate.
 Winters are mild, average
temperature in Jan
(2 degrees Celsius)
 Summers- fairly cool,
average temperature in
July (17 degree Celsius)
 Summers can be warm,
while extreme winters at
times.
 Often rainy and windy.

14. DUTCH PEOPLE

15. What are they all about?
 The Dutch- known to tolerate and accept
different opinions.
 Very fond of their freedom.
 According to Law - “everyone is equal and
should have the same chances in life”
 Very down to earth- do not like to fuss.
 One well known Dutch saying…
“ Just act normally, that’s crazy enough as it is”

16. A City of Multi Cultures

17.  Netherlands – multi cultural
society.
 More than 200 nationalities in
Amsterdam.
 Moroccan
 Turkish
 Indonesian
 Suriname

18. The Dutch – The Famous

19. The known…
 Anne Frank (1929-1945) – The Dairy of Anne Frank
 Dick Bruna – Dutch children’s author and illustrator-
famous character is rabbit ‘Miffy’.
 Inventors – Philips, inventors of the first C.D, 1982.
 Christians Huygens (1629-1695)- famous for
inventing the pendulum clock.
 Antony van Leeuwenhok (1632-1723)- invented the
microscope, discovered bacteria.

20. ART
 Rembrandt van Rijn
(1606-1669) - Greatest
painter of the Golden Age
 Vincent van Gogh
(1853-1890)- Special style of
his own, museum in
Amsterdam named after
him.

21.  The Dutch masters are the best known
painters ever to come out of Northern
Europe.
 Amsterdam, one of the world’s greatest
creative centers.
 Art- A part of everyday life.
 Amsterdam- has an entire section of town
with streets named for artists and musicians.

22. Food
 Most Dutch people eat sandwiches
for breakfast and lunch
 In the evening they have a hot meal,
which often includes potatoes
 Some typical Dutch dishes, pea soup,
Kale with sausage and hutspot
 School children usually cheese
sandwiches on brown bread with
peanut butter and chocolates
sprinkles as part of their breakfast
 Parents give money to their children,
to buy milk at lunch time

23. Literature
 Cees Nooteboom – Most prolific, non- fiction, fiction
book introductions writer.
 Nicholas Freeling – ‘Love in Amsterdam’ , inaugural book of
Van der Valk, detective series.
 Tracy Chevalier – ‘Girl with a pearl earrning’, offers real
insight into life in the Golden Age.
 Xaviera Hollander- ‘The Happy Hooker’, talks of ins and outs
of sex trade.
 Deborah Moggach – ‘Tulip fever’, offers a feel of Amsterdam
and importance of tulips.

24. “Many can grow flowers. Many can sell flowers, but only the
Dutch can deliver an Easter lily grown in Columbia to a
purchaser in Maine and guarantee that it will bloom on Easter.
Because of this ability, the Dutch make most of the money in
the flower business”.

25. TYPICAL DUTCH

26. Wooden Shoes
 Also called Clogs.
 Worn by farmers
working in fields.
 Clogs- Very hard
and long lasting, so
they protect the
feet.

27. Wind Mills
 Used hundreds of years ago.
 More than 10,000 wind mills
in the Netherland at one
time.
 Now, only about 1,000 left.
 Modern wind mills- used to
generate electricity in an
environment friendly
manner.

28. DUTCH SPORTS

29. Soccer
 Extremely popular.
 Few Dutch soccer
clubs- Ajax,
Feienoord.
 Famous Players-
Johan Cruijiff, Ruud
van Nistelrooy and
Dennis Bergkamp.

30. Swimming
 Very common in a
country with so much
water.
 Children learn to swim
at a very young age.
 Famous swimmers- Inge
de Bruijn, Pietre van den
Hoogenband.

31. Skating
 The Dutch- very good at
skating.
 World champions- Jochem
Uytdehaage, Erben
Wennemars.

32. Cycling
 Country of cyclists.
 Amsterdam – Bicycle
capital of Europe.
 More bicycles than
people.
 Both a sport plus
means of
commutation.

33. The City

34. Some facts
 Houses are built on wooden piles to prevent
sinking their house from sinking
 City busy even during the night
 Some people live right on water in houseboats
 Lots of tall apartment blocks have been built
because of dense population

35. NATURE

36.  Lots of woods, heathland, dunes and lots
and lots of water
 Flevoland province – a paradise for birds,
geese, spoonbills and cormorants which
go to breed
 De Hoge Veluwe – national park with lots
of woods and heathland

37. WORK

38.  World’s sixth biggest
exporter and investor
 Make lots of money
from growing fruits,
vegetables, grain and
cattle farming
 Some major Dutch
companies – Philips,
Heineken and Unilever

39. Cooperation
 One of the first six
members of the
European Economic
Community
 Also a member of
the European Union
in order to follow
the established
norms

40. FARMING – A modern business

41.  More than half of the land is used for
growing fruit, vegetables and cattle farming
 The pastures are full of grazing cattle and
pigs are kept in big sheds
 Farmers have become modern businessmen
 Using modern, computer-controlled farming
machinery and equipment in the work

42. Flowers and Bulbs
 Famous all over the
world
 Bulb fields at Keukenhof
 They sell tulip, daffodil
and hyacinth bulbs to the
world
 Almost two thirds of all
imported flowers come
from Amsterdam
 Flowers sold in Aalsmeer,
worlds largest flower
auction

43. Music
 Organ music in churches in 17th
century
 today- local musicians excel in
classical music, jazz
 In summer- free Jazz, classical
and world music performers
stage free lunch time concerts
and festivals- provide free
music

44. Dance
• Amsterdam’s national ballet
performs classical ballet
• World leaders in modern dance
• Amsterdam’s Julie dans festival
in July brings dancer all over the
world
• Popular forms of the dance :
pop, jazz, rock

45. CATTLE FARMING
MILK CHEESE
 A Dutch cow produces  They export about 55
approx 20 ltrs of milk per million kilos of cheese
day  Dutch cheese are from
 Cows are fed and milked Edam and Gouda
by machines  Cheese come in ages –
 Used to make butter,
young and old
yoghurt and different
types of cheese

46. DUTCH GOVERNMENT
 Queen Beatrix – the
head of the state
 Decisions are made
together – Queen
and the ministers
 Also known as a
democratic country
 Similar to that of
India

47.  Queen Beatrix – 3 sons
– William Alexander,
Johan Friso, Constantijn
 William Alexander – the
crown of prince
 Queen Beatrix was
married to Claus Van
Amsberg who died in
2002.

48. Prince William Alexander
 Studied history at state
university
 Learnt to fly planes
 Keen on sports
 Has also participated in
the skating marathon
 Married Maxima
Zorreguieta from
Argentina

49. HISTORY
 The early days
• The first people – There were already people
living 250,000 yrs ago
• Favourite tools – Sharpened stone called a
hand axe
 The Golden Age
• People became rich
• Did many great things in the field of painting,
literature and science

50. Contd..
 Trade
• Dutch have always sailed the seas and oceans
• During the golden age – they did a lot of trade in
Indonesia and other countries in South East Asia
• They set up trading posts for buying and selling
things in all the countries they did business with
• Usually traded silk, cotton, porcelain, coffee, tea and
sugar

51. The Dutch East India Company
 Set up by merchants in
1602 and existed for
200 years
 One had to become
members in order to
trade
 Life on the ship was
pretty tough as the
quarters were pretty
small

52. THE 20th Century
The First World War The Second World War
(1914-1918) (1940-1945)
 Dutch didn’t choose sides  Netherlands occupied by
 Germans wanted to Germany in 1940
continue trading to the  South liberated by the
world through Netherland Allies in 1944
 Compared to other  Many Dutch people died
countries in the world, because they had nothing
things were not too bad to eat

53. DID YOU KNOW?
 Amsterdam has over 1 million bikes but only 700,000
Amsterdammers
 When you land at Schiphol Airport, you are actually 4
meters below sea level
 Amsterdam has about 300 coffee shops which can sell
upto 5 grams soft drugs to each person
 They cover all weird and wonderful topic from painters,
museums to sex and marijuana
 The world famous Koh-i-Noor diamond was cut in
Amsterdam

54. Continued…
 Amsterdam has about 15000 km of bicycle lanes
 If global warming causes the sea levels to rise
even a little, it will be time for Amsterdam to say
bye bye because it will be the first city to get
flooded
 Amsterdam is built entirely on piles, huge stakes
driven into the ground
 Every Dutch person has at least one bike and
there are twice as many bikes as cars.

55. THINGS TO DO WHEN YOU HAVE NO
MONEY
 You can take a stroll along the wonderful
canals, up one side and down the other while
admiring beautiful buildings and amazing
architecture
 If you have to escape the rain and the sun, you
must visit the historic museum and explore
the paintings of the 16th century
 You can also drop into Begijnhof surrounded
by town houses and are extremely peaceful

56. We suggest
So rush to you nearest travel agent,
book the Royal Dutch KLM Airlines
and reach Amsterdam.
Feel the freedom, explore the beauty,
be cool and

57. BE
VIVID
And say
I amsterdam