"Historians are storytellers, as far as I'm concerned," Professor Ran Hennes remarked, by way of introduction and, perhaps, even persuasion to listen to his lecture on the history of Amsterdam and the Netherlands. For those of us who are geographically challenged, he smiled and provided a semi-topographical map of the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. With a wink, he explained: "This green, waterlogged place in Northeastern Europe, that's Holland."
"You see," he began, "1/4 of the country is below sea level, 1/4 is at sea level, and most of the citizens live in the West where they are face to face with the lapping waters of the North Sea." No wonder they wear wooden shoes - at least they would slog through the marsh and float through the wetlands... right? He goes on to describe the Dutch as "Merchants, pure and simple, no one mistook them for philosophers, these were hard-headed business men!" Throughout their colonial phase, the Dutch territories were not colonized to amass land or unite citizens, these lands were collected, invaded and occupied for profit. "At one time, the Dutch not only had the Netherlands but also what is now Belgium and Luxembourg. The Benaluxe states? Now you know!"
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