Netherlands Travel Stories

 

The Netherlands is full of travel stories that intersect with global history and culture and I have a very interesting experience connecting the dots and having “ah hah” moments during my solo trip.

I am in such awe of The Netherlands: a small country with significant impact – positive and negative – on all corners of the globe, and still influencing history and culture in regions of impact.

On my second solo trip to The Netherlands, I get the bright idea to seek out as much travel stories and “firsts” as I can when I discover that tulips are not originally Dutch. Quelle horreur! *it’s French, I know*.

I discover quite a number of fascinating “firsts” we definitely have no idea about and it is interesting to see the scope of influence when recounting reach and history. Enjoy these handful of stories curated for you as I enjoy reading and discovering them myself.

 

Related: Amsterdam Culture Sprint in 48 Hours

 

Netherlands Travel Stories: Tulips of Keukenhof

Yes. You read right. The world famous tulip bulbs of The Netherlands is not originally Dutch; it is, in fact, Turkish! I initially learn this on a canal cruise on my inaugural Amsterdam travel and I am floored. How am I just knowing of this, as an avid bookworm and lover of history and culture?

Fast forward to my second Amsterdam travel where I am fortunate to experience the tulips of Keukenhof just before the season ends. Even though I sorely lack a green thumb, Keukenhof is on my to-do list and I don’t pass up the opportunity to experience the gardens and a famous Netherlands travel story.

Back to how the tulip becomes Dutch: it goes that in 1594, Clusius receives tulip bulbs from Turkey which he plants in the garden of Leiden University and when they bloom, they become so popular that they induce the first recorded economic bubble!

 

But how Turkish was the tulip prior to its export to The Netherlands?

 

The humble tulip bulb we know was originally very high class in its native Turkey where the period between 1718-1730 was known as the Tulip Era, an era of peace and enjoyment.

Tulips are so common within the Turkish lifestyle that they are embroidered into clothing, woven into carpet, painted on tiles and tapestries and incorporated into folklore. The end of this peaceful era comes in 1730 with a revolt.

“Keukenhof” means kitchen garden and is so-called because Countess van Bieren gathered food from the gardens for her castle way back in the 15th century.

Keukenhof is a collective of tulip farmers collaborating to create a permanent tulip exhibition that opens in 1950 and becomes a global attraction. Tulip bulbs hold value in The Netherlands as half are for export with the other half re-planted in October to bloom in time for the next Keukenhof show between March and May.

The Netherlands produces 3 million tulip bulbs of which 80% is for export. This definitely explains the differently coloured tulips I see all over New York City in the spring. Ahhh!

“Tulips are considered the “King of Bulbs”.

Booking.com

 

 

 

Netherlands Travel Stories: Economic Bubble – Tulipmania

 

Remember how popular tulips are in Leiden and all over The Netherlands? This petal popularity (hah! great alliteration) leads to an economic bubble in an era they did not exist. What a concept to unintentionally create!

 

How did tulips cause an economic bubble in the 17th century?

 

Tulip bulbs are so popular with certain bulb varieties costing a fortune that they are legal tender with some “smart” folks exchanging one tulip bulb for a whole house! Can you imagine? With what we know of markets today, it comes as no shock when speculations rise, the bubble bursts and people lose assets in the winter of 1637. This historic event is known as Tulipmania.

Alas, one of the unfortunates is the Mayor of Amsterdam at the time who loves tulips so much that he changes name from Pieterszoon to Dr. Tulip. Talk about Tulipmania. Click To Tweet

Presently, a few financial historians dispute the stories of rampant bankruptcies, suicides and fall of the Dutch Republic relating to the tulip crash; only the wealthy participate in speculations and can weather losses till bulbs bloom in spring and they get paid thus resuming the cycle.

Tulipmania of the Golden Age is highly informative and I guess we have the Dutch to thank for the economic bubble concept and this useful Netherlands travel story I learn of at Keukenhof tulip gardens.

 

Netherlands Travel Stories: Clocks

The Dutch invented clocks?

 

Well, they certainly invented wall clocks, pendulum clocks, turret clocks and even the mechanics within them. You don’t expect this revelation, do you? Not me. How do I discover this surprising travel story?

I take a day trip to the Dutch countryside of Zandaam, Zaanse Schans and Volendam and it is while wandering Zaanse Schans that I see the cutest, most unique building ever – and this is The Netherlands with awesome architecture.

This cute building happens to be the Zaanse Schans Clock Museum which grants free entry with an iamsterdam card and you know how I absolutely cannot pass up a museum. I go into what is a cramped Dutch space full of clocks and their histories and I am in awe of the history of Zaanse Schans and the firsts that this little town spawns over the centuries.

Pendulum Clock.

A scientist, Christiaan Huygens, invents the pendulum clock in 1656 and a couple of years later, Kornelis Volger, Zaanse clockmaker starts mass-producing pendulum clocks for domestic use. Entrepreneurs in the Zaanse area create cheap clocks for market thus inventing the famous Zaanse clock.

 

Wall Clock

Another famous Dutch invention is the wall clock, said to have been invented prior to the pendulum clock. The wall clock is so well crafted with birdcage movement that it is very expensive in its time. Add to it pendulum movement and music, it is a very unique sight to locals at the time.

 

Foliot and Balance Wheel

The mechanical clock, where these cogs and wheels feature, is introduced in the 13th century to churches and monasteries. They are powered by weights and coiled spring and the dial has only an hour hand. The oldest example of a foliot and wheel mechanical clock is the tower clock at the Salisbury Cathedral, England.

 

 

Netherlands Travel Stories: Windmills

In 1592, a farm boy called Cornelis Cornelisz, invents a wood-sawing windmill, which he sells to a Zaandam miller. The Zaanse area is already booming with the timber industry and this unique invention helps in simplifying the labour-intensive work that is wood sawing.

Thus, you can imagine the wealthy entrepreneurs that show interest in this new-fangled invention. They form a cooperative to improve the mechanics and development of the windmill and from there, spawn the creation of hundreds of Zaanse windmills.

 

 

Stock Market : VOC Dutch Trading Company

The Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, or the Dutch East Indian Trading Company, was founded in 1602 at the beginning of the Dutch Golden Age & the founding of the VOC shows how Dutch were at the forefront of stocks and markets before they existed… Click To Tweet

In the 17th century, the Dutch flourish in seafaring, trade (spices and tropical goods from Africa and Asia) and art, to the envy of their European brethren.

Since seafaring is a treacherous occupation – enslavement and colonization of land and people was oftentimes fraught with piracy, diseases and loss – the VOC offers to spread these commodity risks for its wealthy patrons.

They offer noblemen the opportunity to buy a part of an expedition instead of funding the whole thing, to minimize risk in the event of losses. That way, noblemens’ investments are still recouped with the high demand for spices and produce from pillaged regions of the globe.

 

 

Thus spawns the stock market! This Netherlands travel story reminds me of exchange traded funds (ETFs) – of which I own – where you buy a “basket” of variety stocks instead of risking it all on a single corporation stock. In fact, a good financial advisor will advise on ETFs instead of single corporation stocks.

You can imagine the fortune the VOC generates with noblemen financing their expeditions and reaping dividends in return. One can even argue that the idea of a diversified portfolio starts from The Netherlands!

For example, the VOC trades heavily in Java (the name for Indonesia at the time) spices, they touch Papua New Guinea, “discover” New Zealand – pretty sure Polynesians were settled here – and definitely transport enslaved Africans from West Africa to Dutch Guiana (Suriname) and the former Netherlands Antilles.

 

 

 

Netherlands Travel Stories: New Zealand

All through my Amsterdam stay, I see the word “Zeeland” referring to a province bordering Belgium that is sparsely populated but I do not actively connect it with anything. So, imagine my surprise when I read on one of my many museum tours that New Zealand, the land of Jacinda Ardern and Lord of the Rings, was discovered by a Dutch seafaring captain.

As we know with all colonized regions, native people are present when the first European, a Dutch captain named Abel Tasman, “discover” what we know now as New Zealand in 1642. Even though he is the first European to see it, he doesn’t land on the island but charts its coast. James Cook is the first European to set foot ashore New Zealand in the 1760s.

 

Netherlands Travel Stories:

Bonus “First”

There is a Mauritshuis House in The Hague and I have the same idea as Zeeland and wonder if the Dutch have anything to do with the island of Mauritius. Apparently, they do! The Dutch discover Mauritius in the 1590s but abandon it in the 1700s.

An aside: Mauritshuis House has permanent displays of famous art from the Golden Age including the Anatomy Lesson of Nicholas Tulp. Remember him? He’s the Mayor of Amsterdam that lost money in the Tulipmania economic crash.

 

Last Word

I thoroughly enjoy discovering and devouring these Netherlands travel stories from the inventions of Zaanse Schans windmills and clocks to the European discovery of two new islands. These have certainly whet my appetite for more travel stories in The Netherlands and other countries I visit.

There is so much to see and experience beyond Amsterdam and I get ideas of what unique Dutch towns to explore and enjoy from iamsterdam. I’m definitely returning to explore a lot more of The Netherlands travel stories on many more “firsts” they’ve championed.

If you’re a history and culture amateur like me, do same on your travels. You’ll be surprised at the number of things and events we attribute to one country that belong to another, like tulips.

 

Musings and Adventures is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and is a Booking affiliate to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and Booking.com sites.

Sharing is caring! xx