Netherlands. Because the Netherlands and NOT Holland are playing in the final of the World Cup this afternoon. Who are they against? Well if you have been living under a rock and not the one that the famous octopus has chosen, you know that it’s the finals today!
Spain vs. no, not Holland – The Netherlands. I didn’t know the difference either till yesterday. So I thought I would share a few facts to “excite” you with while you wait for the finals to start.
So why not Holland? Because there are twelve provinces in the Netherlands (Holland – North and South – are two of them).
2. The capital? Amsterdam.
But 3. the seat of government is actually in The Hague.
Of course those from the Netherlands have another terminology for themselves – Dutch. Actually it’s also for the language and anything pertaining to the Netherlands.
5. The adjective ‘Dutch’ is derived from the language that was spoken in the area, called ‘Diets’, which equals Middle Dutch.
But where is it? It borders the North Sea to, where else, the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and water borders with Denmark, Norway and United Kingdom.
This country also has a number of firsts for its seventh point- it was one of the first The parliamentary democracies.
8. It helped found the European Union (EU), NATO, OECD and WTO.
9. With its neighbours, Belgium and Luxembourg it forms the Benelux economic union.
There are no villains getting away with anything here, 10. The country is host to five international courts: the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Court and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
BUT!!!! You say, what about their opponents? What about Spain? What don’t we know about this European neighbour?
Did you know it is the second largest country in Europe? Yep it is. After France. It is more than 500,000 square km!
2. Soccer (football) is the most popular spectator sport in Spain.
Which is surprising since sports, apparently, when three: team sports are not part of school programs, so people join private clubs.
But 4. Bullfighting, considered an art and a popular attaction, is the biggest and most controversial sport in Spain and is an integral part of Spanish history, art and culture with bull rings in all major cities and quite a few minor ones.
5. In June 2005, despite strong opposition from the Catholic Church, Spain legalized gay marriage.
6. An incredible feat when 94 percent of the population is Roman Catholic.
7. Spain has 40,217,413 inhabitants.
And it joined 8. the Euro in 2002.
9. Castilian Spanish is the official language nationwide and is spoken by 74% of the population. Catalan is spoken by 17%, Galician is spoken by 7%, Basque is spoken by 2%. These languages are official regionally.
10. Spain did not participate in either the First or Second World War.
So let’s hope they can step-up to the plate today and offer a decent game against….you got it The Netherlands!
Robyn's Wanderings 