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161-746: In the Netherlands , a water board , water council or water authority ( Dutch : waterschap or heemraadschap ) is a regional governing body solely charged with the management of surface water in the environment. Water boards are independent of administrative governing bodies like provinces and municipalities. In general, they are responsible for managing rivers and canals, issues with the flow of watercourses and drainage issues, water collection, flood and erosion prevention and provision of potable water. They manage polder systems, water levels, water barriers and locks , enforcements, water quality and sewage treatment in their respective regions. The concept of

322-462: A king's commissioner in provincial government. Typically, a water board's territory is made up of one or more polders or watersheds . The territory of a water board generally covers several municipalities and may include areas located in two or more provinces. As of 2018, there are 21 water boards in the Netherlands. Anyone who is aged 18 or over and is registered with a local authority in

483-527: A utility . In addition to taxes raised by water boards, central government contributes to their finances by paying construction and maintenance costs of water barriers and main waterways. The costs of waste water treatment are financed by a water pollution levy, which is based on the polluter pays principle . Water boards hold elections, levy taxes and function independently from other government bodies. Water board structures vary, but they each have an elected general administrative body, an executive board and

644-637: A waterschap . The Water Board Act ( Waterschapswet ), the Dutch statute that governs regional water authorities, only uses the word waterschap . A Dutch water board that still uses hoogheemraadschap in its name (e.g. the Hoogheemraadschap van Delfland ) may have chosen to do so because hoogheemraadschap was part of the historical name. However, a waterschap that styles itself as a hoogheemraadschap no longer has its traditional structure with subordinate waterschappen , as these have been merged into

805-458: A Spanish prisoner, nailed it on a vessel's prow, and invited the townsmen to come and fasten their teeth in it, which many did with savage satisfaction. The Duke of Alba attempted to suppress the Protestant movement in the Netherlands. Netherlanders were "burned, strangled, beheaded, or buried alive" by his " Blood Council " and Spanish soldiers. Bodies were displayed along roads to terrorise

966-514: A chair. Most of the members of the general administrative body of the water boards (the hoofdingelanden ) are elected democratically, although some stakeholders (e.g. agrarian interests) may have the power to appoint members. Members of the general administrative body are elected for a period of four years. The constituencies of members of the general administrative body are the various categories of stakeholders: landholders, leaseholders, owners of buildings, companies and all residents. The nature of

1127-652: A coordinating "High Water Authority" ( Hoogheemraadschap ) originated in what now is the province of South Holland in the 12th century. Since the settlement of the Netherlands, large parts of the land have been constantly threatened by rivers and the sea. Fertile soil and peatlands often were located near rivers, thus engineering water courses was part of daily life for farmers, landowners and peat extractors. Rivers and canals were also important ways for transportation that had to be dug and kept navigable. Ancient Roman settlements from 50 - 350 AD built harbours, riverside enforcements, waterdraining canals, dikes and mounds. From

1288-684: A distinct governmental structure of their own. They were utilized as a buffer zone between the Republic and the Spanish-controlled Southern Netherlands . In the Dutch Golden Age , spanning much of the 17th century, the Dutch Empire grew to become one of the major seafaring and economic powers. Science, military and art (especially painting ) were among the most acclaimed in the world. By 1650,

1449-429: A hollow-post mill, the post on which the body is mounted is hollowed out, to accommodate the drive shaft. This makes it possible to drive machinery below or outside the body while still being able to rotate the body into the wind. Hollow-post mills driving scoop wheels were used in the Netherlands to drain wetlands since the early 15th century onwards. By the end of the 13th century, the masonry tower mill, on which only

1610-687: A huge waste problem in Denmark and countries Denmark, to a greater and greater extent, export its many produced wind turbines. " The reason why many wings end up in landfill is that they are incredibly difficult to separate from each other, which you will have to do if you hope to be able to recycle the fiberglass ", says Lykke Margot Ricard, Associate Professor in Innovation and Technological Foresight and education leader for civil engineering in Product Development and Innovation at

1771-539: A landfill at Gerringe in the middle of Lolland in 2020. In the United States , worn-out wind turbine blades made of fiberglass go to the handful of landfills that accept them (e.g., in Lake Mills , Iowa; Sioux Falls , South Dakota; Casper ). Windpumps were used to pump water since at least the 9th century in what is now Afghanistan , Iran , and Pakistan . The use of windpumps became widespread across

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1932-551: A mercantile middle class began to develop in these urban areas, especially in Flanders, and later Brabant. Wealthy cities started to buy certain privileges for themselves from the sovereign. Around 1100 AD, farmers from Flanders and Utrecht began draining and cultivating uninhabited swampy land in the western Netherlands, making the emergence of the County of Holland as the centre of power possible. The title of Count of Holland

2093-420: A permit) and treatment of sewage and by-products. The various municipalities within the geographic area covered by a water board are responsible for collecting sewage from households and industries, but water boards transport and treat the sewage. In its territory a water board is responsible for: Dutch water boards are not responsible for the water supply to the general public and are therefore not considered

2254-437: A polder within bounds. Hoogheemraadschappen were coordinating bodies, responsible for protecting the land against the sea and for regulating water levels of various canals and lakes into which water was pumped from polders and waterschappen . Dikes were maintained by individuals who benefited from their existence, every farmer was designated a part of a dike to maintain, with reviews by the water board directors. The old rule

2415-407: A small turbine in the back that helped the main mill to face the direction of the wind. Common sails consist of a lattice framework on which the sailcloth is spread. The miller can adjust the amount of cloth spread according to the wind and the power needed. In medieval mills, the sailcloth was wound in and out of a ladder-type arrangement of sails. Later mill sails had a lattice framework over which

2576-433: A state of almost continual war or paradoxically formed personal unions. As Frankish settlement progressed from Flanders and Brabant, the area quickly became Old Low Franconian (or Old Dutch). Around 1000 AD, due to several agricultural developments, the economy started to develop at a fast pace, and the higher productivity allowed workers to farm more land or become tradesmen. Towns grew around monasteries and castles , and

2737-497: A total area of 41,543 km (16,040 sq mi), including water bodies, and a land area of 33,481 km (12,927 sq mi). The Caribbean Netherlands has a total area of 328 km (127 sq mi) It lies between latitudes 50° and 54° N , and longitudes 3° and 8° E . The Netherlands is geographically very low relative to sea level and is considered a flat country, with about 26% of its area and 21% of its population below sea level. The European part of

2898-519: Is a windmill-like structure specifically developed to generate electricity. They can be seen as the next step in the development of the windmill. The first wind turbines were built by the end of the nineteenth century by James Blyth in Scotland (1887), Charles F. Brush in Cleveland, Ohio (1887–1888) and Poul la Cour in Denmark (1890s). La Cour's mill from 1896 later became the local power of

3059-462: Is ambiguity in the text and issues with the design. Another early example of a wind-driven wheel was the prayer wheel , which is believed to have been first used in Tibet and China , though there is uncertainty over the date of its first appearance, which could have been either c.  400 , the 7th century, or after the 9th century. One of the earliest recorded working windmill designs found

3220-406: Is believed that many floods would be prevented or mitigated if dikes had been maintained within another governing and financing system. Punishments meted out by water boards were fines for misdemeanors such as emptying waste in the nearest canal; according to various historical documents, the death penalty was used more than once for serious offenders who threatened dike safety or water quality. In

3381-492: Is headed by a chair ( dijkgraaf , literally: "dike count", but sometimes called "dike reeve" or "dike warden" in English). The chair is appointed by the king on the recommendation of the board for a period of six years. The chair presides over the executive board and the general administrative body and has certain ceremonial duties as well. The chair of a water board is at the same level as a mayor in municipality government and

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3542-404: Is no clear evidence of windmills before the 9th century. Hero of Alexandria (Heron) in first-century Roman Egypt described what appears to be a wind-driven wheel to power a machine. His description of a wind-powered organ is not a practical windmill but was either an early wind-powered toy or a design concept for a wind-powered machine that may or may not have been a working device, as there

3703-706: Is now the southern Netherlands: the Menapii and the Eburones . Under Augustus , the Roman Empire would conquer the entirety of the modern day Netherlands, incorporating it into the province of Germania Antiqua in 7 BC, but would be repelled back across the Rhine after the Battle of Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, with the Rhine becoming fixed as Rome's permanent northern frontier around 12 AD. Notable towns would arise along

3864-404: Is that the earliest type of European windmill was the post mill, so named because of the large upright post on which the mill's main structure (the "body" or "buck") is balanced. By mounting the body this way, the mill can rotate to face the wind direction; an essential requirement for windmills to operate economically in north-western Europe, where wind directions are variable. The body contains all

4025-414: Is the world's second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products by value, owing to its fertile soil , mild climate, intensive agriculture , and inventiveness . The four largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam , Rotterdam , The Hague and Utrecht . Amsterdam is the country's most populous city and the nominal capital , though the primary national political institutions are located in

4186-739: The Batavian rebellion of 69 AD but were eventually defeated. The Batavi later merged with other tribes into the confederation of the Salian Franks, whose identity emerged in the first half of the third century. Salian Franks appear in Roman texts as both allies and enemies. They were forced by the confederation of the Saxons from the east to move over the Rhine into Roman territory in the fourth century. From their new base in West Flanders and

4347-878: The Cape Colony in the seventeenth century. The early tower mills did not survive the gales of the Cape Peninsula , so in 1717 the Heeren XVII sent carpenters, masons, and materials to construct a durable mill. The mill, completed in 1718, became known as the Oude Molen and was located between Pinelands Station and the Black River. Long since demolished, its name lives on as that of a Technical school in Pinelands . By 1863, Cape Town had 11 mills stretching from Paarden Eiland to Mowbray . A wind turbine

4508-485: The Dutch context, as water boards and regional water authorities in other countries are often responsible for water supply . A waterschap or hoogheemraadschap in the Netherlands is charged with the control and management of water as well as treatment of waste water, but not with water supply. Water boards act independently from administrative governing bodies to manage the continuously needed control and improvement of

4669-626: The Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company , established colonies and trading posts all over the world. With a population of over 18 million people, all living within a total area of 41,850 km (16,160 sq mi)—of which the land area is 33,500 km (12,900 sq mi)—the Netherlands is the 33rd most densely populated country, with a density of 535 people per square kilometre (1,390 people/sq mi). Nevertheless, it

4830-517: The Eighty Years' War between the Provinces and their Spanish ruler began. The level of ferocity exhibited by both sides can be gleaned from a Dutch chronicler's report: On more than one occasion men were seen hanging their own brothers, who had been taken prisoners in the enemy's ranks... A Spaniard had ceased to be human in their eyes. On one occasion, a surgeon at Veer cut the heart from

4991-776: The Enercon E-126 capable of delivering up to 7 MW, while wind turbine production has expanded to many countries. As the 21st century began, rising concerns over energy security , global warming , and eventual fossil fuel depletion led to an expansion of interest in all available forms of renewable energy . Worldwide, many thousands of wind turbines are now operating, with a total nameplate capacity of 591 GW as of 2018. In an attempt to make wind turbines more efficient and increase their energy output, they are being built bigger, with taller towers and longer blades, and being increasingly deployed in offshore locations. While such changes increase their power output, they subject

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5152-703: The European Economic Community and European Atomic Energy Community . In 1993, the former two were incorporated into the European Union . Government-encouraged emigration efforts to reduce population density prompted some 500,000 Dutch to leave the country after the war. The 1960s and 1970s were a time of great social and cultural change, such as rapid de- pillarisation . Students and other youth rejected traditional mores and pushed for change in matters such as women's rights , sexuality , disarmament and environmental issues . In 2002

5313-584: The European Union  (light green) The Netherlands , informally Holland , is a country in Northwestern Europe , with overseas territories in the Caribbean . It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands . The Netherlands consists of twelve provinces ; it borders Germany to the east and Belgium to the south, with a North Sea coastline to

5474-581: The Hilversum culture . Iron ore brought a measure of prosperity and was available throughout the country. Smiths travelled from settlement to settlement with bronze and iron, fabricating tools on demand. The King's grave of Oss (700 BC) was found in a burial mound, the largest of its kind in Western Europe. The deteriorating climate in Scandinavia from 850 BC and 650 BC might have triggered

5635-753: The Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies . In 1944–45, the First Canadian Army liberated much of the Netherlands. Soon after VE Day , the Dutch fought a colonial war against the new Republic of Indonesia . In 1954, the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands reformed the political structure as a result of international pressure to carry out decolonisation . The Dutch colonies of Surinam and Curaçao and Dependencies and

5796-632: The Jurchen Jin dynasty in the north), introduced by the travels of Yelü Chucai to Turkestan in 1219. Vertical-axle windmills were built, in small numbers, in Europe during the 18th and nineteenth centuries, for example Fowler's Mill at Battersea in London, and Hooper's Mill at Margate in Kent . These early modern examples seem not to have been directly influenced by the vertical-axle windmills of

5957-787: The Limes Germanicus : Nijmegen and Voorburg . In the first part of Gallia Belgica , the area south of the Limes became part of the Roman province of Germania Inferior . The area to the north of the Rhine, inhabited by the Frisii, remained outside Roman rule, while the Germanic border tribes of the Batavi and Cananefates served in the Roman cavalry . The Batavi rose against the Romans in

6118-512: The Muslim world and later spread to East Asia ( China ) and South Asia ( India ). Windmills were later used extensively in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands and the East Anglia area of Great Britain , from the late Middle Ages onwards, to drain land for agricultural or building purposes. The "American windmill", or "wind engine", was invented by Daniel Halladay in 1854 and

6279-680: The Nordwestblock culture. The first author to describe the coast of Holland and Flanders was the geographer Pytheas , who noted in c. 325 BC that in these regions, "more people died in the struggle against water than in the struggle against men." During the Gallic Wars , the area south and west of the Rhine was conquered by Roman forces under Julius Caesar from 57 BC to 53 BC. Caesar describes two main Celtic tribes living in what

6440-467: The Rhine - Meuse river estuary . In the east of the Netherlands, remains are found of the last ice age , which ended approximately ten thousand years ago. As the continental ice sheet moved in from the north, it pushed moraine forward. The ice sheet halted as it covered the eastern half of the Netherlands. After the ice age ended, the moraine remained in the form of a long hill-line. The cities of Arnhem and Nijmegen are built on these hills. Over

6601-628: The States General , was headquartered in The Hague and comprised representatives from each of the seven provinces. The sparsely populated region of Drenthe was part of the republic, albeit not considered a province in its own right. Moreover, during the Eighty Years' War , the Republic came to occupy a number of Generality Lands located in Flanders , Brabant and Limburg . These areas were primarily inhabited by Roman Catholics and lacked

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6762-626: The University of Southern Denmark (SDU). According to Dakofa, the Danish Competence Center for Waste and Resources, there is nothing specific in the Danish waste order about how to handle discarded fiberglass. Several scrap dealers tell Ingeniøren that they have handled wind turbine blades (wings) that have been pulverized after being taken to a recycling station. One of them is the recycling company H.J. Hansen, where

6923-682: The euro was introduced as fiat money , and in 2010 the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved . Referendums were held on each island. As a result, Bonaire , Sint Eustatius and Saba (the BES islands) were incorporated as special municipalities upon the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles. The special municipalities are collectively known as the Caribbean Netherlands . The European Netherlands has

7084-452: The high medieval and early modern periods ; the horizontal or panemone windmill first appeared in Persia during the 9th century, and the vertical windmill first appeared in northwestern Europe in the 12th century. Regarded as an icon of Dutch culture , there are approximately 1,000 windmills in the Netherlands today. Wind-powered machines may have been known earlier, but there

7245-489: The hoogheemraadschap itself. Some water boards chose the name hoogheemraadschap after a merger of a number of waterschappen into a larger one (e.g. Hoogheemraadschap De Stichtse Rijnlanden ). When used in this sense, the word hoogheemraadschap refers to a large regional waterschap . When referring to the administrative body, English translations of waterschap are "water board", "water council", "water control board", "district water board" or "regional water authority",

7406-474: The product manager informed, that they have transported approximately half of the wings they have received since 2012 to Reno Nord's landfill in Aalborg. A total of around 1,000 wings have ended up there, he estimates - and today up to 99 percent of the wings the company receives end up in a landfill. Since 1996, according to an estimate made by Lykke Margot Ricard ( SDU ) in 2020, at least 8,810 tonnes of

7567-400: The water household in the Netherlands. Water boards levy taxes to finance the work, they have the authority to penalize offenders through means of administrative measures. To control quality of surface water (canals, lakes, ponds and streams), water boards fulfill several tasks: policy making, planning and building of projects, maintenance, innovation, issuing permits (sewage discharge requires

7728-571: The wind turbine design technologies in use today, including steel tube towers, variable-speed generators, composite blade materials, and partial-span pitch control, as well as aerodynamic, structural, and acoustic engineering design capabilities. The modern wind power industry began in 1979 with the serial production of wind turbines by Danish manufacturers Kuriant, Vestas , Nordtank , and Bonus . These early turbines were small by today's standards, with capacities of 20–30 kW each. Since then, commercial turbines have increased greatly in size, with

7889-505: The 12th century the right to build a sea dike was granted, and in the area around Leiden a water household managing collaboration has been established. Nowadays around 26 percent of the Netherlands' surface is at or below mean sea level and several branches of the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta run through this relatively small country. Historically there always was a good deal of coastal and river flooding . Flood control in

8050-636: The 17th century there were many of these independent local bodies levying their own taxes and administering justice. This early form of local government played a role in the development of a political system in the Netherlands that was decentralised and dependent on communal cooperation. Widespread experience with decentralized government was a factor in the formation of the Dutch Republic in the 16th and 17th centuries. The mandate of Rijkswaterstaat (English: Directorate General for Public Works and Water Management), established in 1798 under French rule,

8211-549: The 490s, Clovis I had conquered and united all these territories in the southern Netherlands in one Frankish kingdom , and from there continued his conquests into Gaul . During this expansion, Franks migrating to the south (modern territory of France and Walloon part of Belgium) eventually adopted the Vulgar Latin of the local population. A widening cultural divide grew with the Franks remaining in their original homeland in

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8372-460: The 72 km (28 sq mi) Biesbosch tidal floodplains. The huge North Sea flood of February 1953 caused the collapse of several dikes in the southwest Netherlands; more than 1,800 people drowned. The Dutch government subsequently instituted a large-scale programme, the " Delta Works ", to protect the country against future flooding, which was completed over a period of more than 40 years. Windmill Windmills were used throughout

8533-712: The 9th century. Such windmills were in widespread use across the Middle East and Central Asia and later spread to Europe, China, and India from there. By the 11th century, the vertical-axle windmill had reached parts of Southern Europe, including the Iberian Peninsula (via Al-Andalus ) and the Aegean Sea (in the Balkans ). A similar type of horizontal windmill with rectangular blades, used for irrigation, can also be found in thirteenth-century China (during

8694-623: The Dutch Republic was attacked by France, England and three German Bishoprics simultaneously, in what would become known as the Franco-Dutch War . At sea , it could successfully prevent the English and French navies from blockading the western shores. On land, however, it was almost taken over by the advancing French and German armies from the east. It managed to turn the tide by inundating parts of Holland . From 1672 to 1712,

8855-661: The Dutch established a presence in India , the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia ), Formosa (now Taiwan ), and the only western trading post in Japan, Dejima . During the period of Proto-industrialisation , the empire received 50% of textiles and 80% of silks import from the India's Mughal Empire . Many economic historians regard the Netherlands as the first thoroughly capitalist country. In early modern Europe, it had

9016-517: The Dutch government officially has preferred the Netherlands instead of Holland when talking about the country . Often Holland or Hollanders is used by the Flemish to refer to the Dutch in the Netherlands, and by the Southern Dutch (Dutch living " below the great rivers ", a natural cultural, social and religious boundary formed by the rivers Rhine and Meuse ) to refer to

9177-424: The Dutch in the 17th century to overcome the limitations of tower windmills, which were expensive to build and could not be erected on wet surfaces. The lower half of the smock windmill was made of brick, while the upper half was made of wood, with a sloping tower shape that added structural strength to the design. This made them lightweight and able to be erected on unstable ground. The smock windmill design included

9338-485: The Dutch owned 16,000 merchant ships. The Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company established colonies and trading posts all over the world. The Dutch settlement in North America began with the founding of New Amsterdam in 1614. In South Africa, the Dutch settled the Cape Colony in 1652. Dutch colonies in South America were established along the many rivers in the fertile Guyana plains, among them Colony of Surinam (now Suriname ). In Asia,

9499-402: The Dutch victims of the 2014 Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 shootdown . Gears inside a windmill convey power from the rotary motion of the sails to a mechanical device. The sails are carried on the horizontal windshaft. Windshafts can be wholly made of wood, wood with a cast iron pole end (where the sails are mounted), or entirely of cast iron. The brake wheel is fitted onto the windshaft between

9660-457: The European country all became countries within the Kingdom, on a basis of equality. Indonesia had declared its independence in August 1945. Suriname followed in 1975. The Netherlands was one of the founding members of Benelux and NATO . In the 1950s, the Netherlands became one of the six founding countries of the European Communities , following the 1952 establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community , and subsequent 1958 creations of

9821-507: The Frisians were defeated after a series of wars . With the approval of the Franks, the Anglo-Saxon missionary Willibrord converted the Frisian people to Christianity and established the Archdiocese of Utrecht . However, his successor Boniface was murdered by the Frisians in 754. The Frankish Carolingian empire controlled much of Western Europe. In 843, it was divided into three parts— East , Middle , and West Francia . Most of present-day Netherlands became part of Middle Francia, which

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9982-431: The Hague. The Netherlands has been a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a unitary structure since 1848. The country has a tradition of pillarisation (separation of citizens into groups by religion and political beliefs) and a long record of social tolerance , having legalised prostitution and euthanasia , along with maintaining a liberal drug policy . The Netherlands allowed women's suffrage in 1919 and

10143-403: The Low Countries from 1384 to 1581. The new rulers defended Dutch trading interests. The fleets of the County of Holland defeated the fleets of the Hanseatic League several times. Amsterdam grew and in the 15th century became the primary trading port in Europe for grain from the Baltic region . Amsterdam distributed grain to the major cities of Belgium, Northern France and England. This trade

10304-413: The Low Countries south of the great rivers. These tribes would eventually develop into the Salian Franks . The Celtic La Tène culture (c. 450 BC to the Roman conquest) expanded over a wide range, including the southern area of the Low Countries . Some scholars have speculated that even a third ethnic identity and language, neither Germanic nor Celtic, survived in the Netherlands until the Roman period,

10465-447: The Low Countries. Under Habsburg rule , this became pays d'embas ("lands down-here"). This was translated as Neder-landen in contemporary Dutch official documents. From a regional point of view, Niderlant was also the area between the Meuse and the lower Rhine in the late Middle Ages. From the mid-sixteenth century, the "Low Countries" and the "Netherlands" lost their original deictic meaning . In most Romance languages ,

10626-505: The Mediterranean Sea, tower mills with fixed caps were built because the wind's direction varied little most of the time. The smock mill is a later development of the tower mill, where the masonry tower is replaced by a wooden framework, called the "smock", which is thatched, boarded, or covered by other materials, such as slate , sheet metal , or tar paper . The smock is commonly of octagonal plan, though there are examples with different numbers of sides. Smock windmills were introduced by

10787-409: The Meuse. These rivers functioned as a natural barrier between fiefdoms and hence historically created a cultural divide, as is evident in some phonetic traits that are recognisable on either side of what the Dutch call their "Great Rivers" ( de Grote Rivieren ). Another significant branch of the Rhine, the IJssel river, discharges into Lake IJssel , the former Zuiderzee ('southern sea'). Just like

10948-449: The Netherlands is a national policy priority, since about two-thirds of the country is vulnerable to flooding and the whole country is densely populated. Natural and man-made sand dunes along the sea coast, man-made dikes , dams and floodgates , among which the Delta Works , ( Dutch : Deltawerken ) provide defense against high-tide and storm surges from the sea and water overflow from the rivers. River dikes prevent flooding of land by

11109-401: The Netherlands can vote in the water board elections, which are held every four years on the same day as the provincial elections. Prior to the vote, the local council mails each voter a list of candidates, a ballot paper and details of their local polling stations. The Unie van Waterschappen (the union of Dutch regional water authorities, referring to itself as Dutch Water Authorities) promotes

11270-422: The Netherlands is a founding member of the European Union , Eurozone , G10 , NATO , OECD , and WTO , as well as a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. It hosts intergovernmental organisations and international courts , many of which are in The Hague. The countries that comprise the region called the Low Countries (Netherlands, Belgium , and Luxembourg ) all have comparatively

11431-476: The Netherlands to the brink of bankruptcy. However, the Cultivation System was introduced in 1830; in the Dutch East Indies, 20% of village land had to be devoted to government crops for export. The policy brought the Dutch enormous wealth and made the colony self-sufficient. The Netherlands abolished slavery in its colonies in 1863. Enslaved people in Suriname would be fully free only in 1873. The Netherlands remained neutral during World War I, in part because

11592-408: The Netherlands, through various taxes. The methodical organisation of surface water household management emerged as lowlands were drained for agriculture. Dikes and water control structures were built and maintained by those directly benefiting from them, mostly farmers and landowners. As the structures got more extensive and complex, councils were formed by people with a common interest in controlling

11753-567: The Northern Dutch (Dutch living North of these rivers). In the Southern province of Limburg, the term is used for the Dutch from the other 11 provinces. The use of the term in this context by the Southern Dutch is in a derogatory fashion. Dutch is used as the adjective for the Netherlands, as well as the demonym . The origins of the word go back to Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz , Latinised into Theodiscus , meaning "popular" or "of

11914-534: The Northern Netherlands in 1839 as the Kingdom of the Netherlands was created by decree), while the personal union between Luxembourg and the Netherlands was severed in 1890, when William III died with no surviving male heirs. Ascendancy laws prevented his daughter Queen Wilhelmina from becoming the next Grand Duchess. The Belgian Revolution and the Java War in the Dutch East Indies brought

12075-732: The Republic, led by William III of Orange and Anthonie Heinsius would regularly clash with France in what some historians have come to call the Forty Years' War . In the Nine Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession , the Republic was at the centre of anti-French coalitions. The Dutch ultimately successfully defended the Spanish Netherlands , established a barrier there, and their troops proved central to

12236-686: The Silent in driving out Spanish troops and forming a new government for the Netherlands. Don Juan of Austria , the new Spanish governor, was forced to concede initially, but within months returned to active hostilities. The Dutch looked for help from the Protestant Elizabeth I of England, but she initially stood by her commitments to the Spanish in the Treaty of Bristol of 1574. When the next large-scale battle occurred at Gembloux in 1578,

12397-681: The Southwest Netherlands, they were raiding the English Channel . Roman forces pacified the region but did not expel the Franks, who continued to be feared at least until the time of Julian the Apostate (358) when Salian Franks were allowed to settle as foederati in Texandria . After the Roman government in the area collapsed in roughly the year 406, the Franks expanded their territories into numerous kingdoms. By

12558-528: The Spanish forces won easily. In light of the defeat at Gembloux , the southern states of the Seventeen Provinces distanced themselves from the rebels in the north with the 1579 Union of Arras . Opposing them, the northern half of the Seventeen Provinces forged the Union of Utrecht in which they committed to support each other against the Spanish. The Union of Utrecht is seen as the foundation of

12719-532: The Spanish in the Netherlands under the Duke of Parma in a series of largely indecisive actions that tied down significant numbers of Spanish troops and bought time for the Dutch to reorganise their defences. The war continued until 1648, when Spain under King Philip IV recognised the independence of the seven north-western provinces in the Peace of Münster . Parts of the southern provinces became de facto colonies of

12880-545: The United Provinces consistently possessed one of Europe's largest and most capable armies. However, following the conclusion of the War of the Spanish Succession , other major powers such as Prussia, Austria, Britain, and Russia significantly expanded their military forces. The Republic struggled to match these developments, and gradually assumed the status of a mid-tier power. However, historians have sometimes overstated

13041-512: The United States, Canada, Southern Africa, and Australia. They feature a large number of blades, so they turn slowly with considerable torque in low winds and are self-regulating in high winds. A tower-top gearbox and crankshaft convert the rotary motion into reciprocating strokes carried downward through a rod to the pump cylinder below. Such mills pumped water and powered feed mills, sawmills, and agricultural machinery. In Australia,

13202-682: The WIME-3D in service in Balaklava , USSR , from 1931 until 1942, a 100 kW generator on a 30-metre (98 ft) tower, the Smith–Putnam wind turbine built in 1941 on the mountain known as Grandpa's Knob in Castleton, Vermont , United States, of 1.25 MW, and the NASA wind turbines developed from 1974 through the mid-1980s. The development of these 13 experimental wind turbines pioneered many of

13363-425: The advantage of being able to run with a damaged sail by removing both the damaged sail and the one opposite, which does not unbalance the mill. In the Netherlands, the stationary position of the sails, i.e. when the mill is not working, has long been used to give signals. If the blades are stopped in a "+" sign (3-6-9-12 o'clock), the windmill is open for business. When the blades are stopped in an "X" configuration,

13524-542: The alliance which halted French territorial expansion in Europe until a new cycle began in 1792 with the French Revolutionary Wars . However, the wars left them effectively bankrupt, and inflicted permanent damage on the Dutch merchant navy; while they remained the dominant economic power in the Far East, Britain took over as the pre-eminent global commercial and maritime power. Between 1590 and 1713,

13685-671: The area under the name "High Water Council", in Dutch Hoogheemraadschap . Early works were the building of draining canals around the city of Leiden. From 1408 on, with the first at Zoeterwoude, wind-operated machines (windmills) are being installed along the Old Rhine, to pump water from the lowlands into the river and drainage canals. Water councils were also granted the right to constitute bylaws . The ever-present threat of loss of life, land, animals and goods required short lines of communication between authorities and

13846-472: The areas below sea level, known as polders , are the result of land reclamation that began in the 14th century . In the Republican period , which began in 1588, the Netherlands entered a unique era of political, economic, and cultural greatness, ranked among the most powerful and influential in Europe and the world; this period is known as the Dutch Golden Age . During this time, its trading companies,

14007-631: The armed support of revolutionary France , Dutch republicans proclaimed the Batavian Republic , modelled after the French Republic and rendering the Netherlands a unitary state on 19 January 1795. The stadtholder William V of Orange had fled to England. From 1806 to 1810, the Kingdom of Holland was set up by Napoleon Bonaparte as a puppet kingdom governed by his brother Louis Bonaparte . However, King Louis Bonaparte tried to serve Dutch interests instead of his brother's, and he

14168-440: The blade, and together, the system of the webs and spars resist the flapwise loading. Flapwise loading, one of the two different types of loading that blades are subject to, is caused by the wind pressure, and edgewise loading (the second type of loading) is caused by the gravitational force and torque load. The former loading subjects the spar laminate on the pressure (upwind) side of the blade to cyclic tension-tension loading, while

14329-500: The cap is rotated rather than the whole body of the mill, had been introduced. The spread of tower mills came with a growing economy that called for larger and more stable sources of power, though they were more expensive to build. In contrast to the post mill, only the cap of the tower mill needs to be turned into the wind, so the main structure can be made much taller, allowing the sails to be made longer, which enables them to provide useful work even in low winds. The cap can be turned into

14490-478: The case of the Low Countries and the Netherlands, the geographical location of this lower region is more or less downstream and near the sea, compared to that of the upper region of Germania Superior. The designation 'Low' returned in the 10th-century Duchy of Lower Lorraine , which covered much of the Low Countries. The Dukes of Burgundy used the term les pays de par deçà ("the lands over here") for

14651-418: The centuries, the Dutch coastline has changed considerably as a result of natural disasters and human intervention. On 14 December 1287, St. Lucia's flood affected the Netherlands and Germany, killing more than 50,000 people in one of the most destructive floods in recorded history. The St. Elizabeth flood of 1421 and the mismanagement in its aftermath destroyed a newly reclaimed polder , replacing it with

14812-407: The components must be chosen appropriately. The blade of a wind turbine consists of 4 main elements: the root, spar, aerodynamic fairing, and surfacing. The fairing is composed of two shells (one on the pressure side, and one on the suction side), connected by one or more webs linking the upper and lower shells. The webs connect to the spar laminates, which are enclosed within the skins (surfacing) of

14973-401: The components of the windmills to stronger forces and consequently put them at a greater risk of failure. Taller towers and longer blades suffer from higher fatigue, and offshore windfarms are subject to greater forces due to higher wind speeds and accelerated corrosion due to the proximity to seawater. To ensure a long enough lifetime to make the return on the investment viable, the materials for

15134-561: The country being referred to as Holland instead of the Netherlands , on much the same grounds as many Welsh or Scottish people object to the United Kingdom being referred to as England. In particular, those from regions other than Holland find it undesirable or misrepresentative to use the term Holland for the whole country, as the Holland region only comprises two of the twelve provinces, and 38% of Dutch citizens. As of 2019,

15295-546: The country is for the most part flat, with the exception of foothills in the far southeast, up to a height of no more than 322 m (1,056 ft) at the Vaalserberg , and some low hill ranges in the central parts. Most of the areas below sea level are caused by peat extraction or achieved through land reclamation . Since the late 16th century, large polder areas are preserved through elaborate drainage systems that include dikes , canals and pumping stations. Much of

15456-640: The country was originally formed by the estuaries of three large European rivers: the Rhine ( Rijn ), the Meuse ( Maas ) and the Scheldt ( Schelde ), as well as their tributaries . The south-western part of the Netherlands is a river delta of these rivers, the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta . The European Netherlands is divided into north and south parts by the Rhine, the Waal , its main tributary branch, and

15617-527: The countryside was plundered for food. Although there were thousands of Dutch who risked their lives by hiding Jews from the Germans, over 20,000 Dutch fascists joined the Waffen SS . Political collaborators were members of the fascist NSB , the only legal political party in the occupied Netherlands. On 8 December 1941, the Dutch government-in-exile in London declared war on Japan, but could not prevent

15778-634: The development of the airplane led to further improvements in efficiency by German engineer Bilau and several Dutch millwrights. The majority of windmills have four sails. Multiple-sailed mills, with five, six, or eight sails, were built in Great Britain (especially in and around the counties of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire ), Germany, and less commonly elsewhere. Earlier multiple-sailed mills are found in Spain, Portugal, Greece, parts of Romania, Bulgaria, and Russia. A mill with an even number of sails has

15939-456: The drainage mills have been appointed as a backup to the modern pumping stations. The Zaan district has been said to have been the first industrialized region of the world with around 600 operating wind-powered industries by the end of the eighteenth century. Economic fluctuations and the industrial revolution had a much greater impact on these industries than on grain and drainage mills, so only very few are left. Construction of mills spread to

16100-599: The end of the Ice Age , the nomadic late Upper Palaeolithic Hamburg culture (13,000–10,000 BC) hunted reindeer in the area, using spears. The later Ahrensburg culture (11,200–9,500 BC) used bow and arrow . From Mesolithic Maglemosian-like tribes (c. 8000 BC), the world's oldest canoe was found in Drenthe . Indigenous late Mesolithic hunter-gatherers from the Swifterbant culture (c. 5600 BC), related to

16261-470: The extent of this decline, especially when considering the period up to the 1750s. In the 18th century the Dutch Republic had seen a state of a general decline, with economic competition from England and long-standing rivalries between the two main factions in Dutch society, the republican Staatsgezinden and the supporters of the stadtholder the Prinsgezinden as main political factions. With

16422-407: The front and rear bearings. It has the brake around the outside of the rim and teeth in the side of the rim which drives the horizontal gearwheel called wallower on the top end of the vertical upright shaft. In grist mills , the great spur wheel, lower down the upright shaft, drives one or more stone nuts on the shafts driving each millstone . Post mills sometimes have a head and/or tail wheel driving

16583-524: The heart of many Dutch towns. Historically, the name hoogheemraadschap was used for a large area comprising a number of smaller waterschappen within its jurisdiction. Hoogheemraadschap was also traditionally the word used for water boards located along the Rijn and the Vecht . The term waterschap refers to the jurisdiction or to the administrative body. This also applies to hoogheemraadschap . In Dutch,

16744-787: The horizontal windmill from Persia-Middle East to Southern Europe in the preceding century. The earliest certain reference to a windmill in Northern Europe (assumed to have been of the vertical type) dates from 1185, in the former village of Weedley in Yorkshire which was located at the southern tip of the Wold overlooking the Humber Estuary . Several earlier, but less certainly dated, 12th-century European sources referring to windmills have also been found. These earliest mills were used to grind cereals . The evidence at present

16905-737: The import of goods through the Netherlands proved essential to German survival until the blockade by the British Royal Navy in 1916. That changed in World War II, when Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940. The Rotterdam Blitz forced most of the Dutch army to surrender. During the occupation, over 100,000 Dutch Jews were transported to Nazi extermination camps ; only a few survived. Dutch workers were conscripted for forced labour in Germany, civilians who resisted were killed in reprisal for attacks on German soldiers, and

17066-648: The interest and financial contribution are factors in determining how many representatives each category may have on the water board. The general administrative body elects some of its own members to sit on the executive board, called the college van dijkgraaf en heemraden . Except for the chairperson (the dijkgraaf , see below) these executive board members, called heemraden or hoogheemraden in Dutch, represent five types of stake holders: local residents, industry (factories and industrial buildings), municipalities (urban areas), farmers and land-owners of agricultural land, and natureconservation parks. Each water board

17227-549: The interests of Dutch water boards at a national and international level. All 21 water boards are member of this association. The Unie van Waterschappen acts collaboratively with other appropriate bodies or institutions to pursue the Association's objectives. It is a member of the European Union of Water Management Associations (EUWMA). Netherlands – in Europe  (light green & dark grey) – in

17388-459: The last word being recently adopted by the water boards as a preferred English translation on grounds that it is less ambiguous. The jurisdiction of a Dutch regional water authority is generally referred to as the "water board district" or "regional water authority district". These translations also apply to hoogheemraadschap , which is translated in the same way as waterschap . The term "water board" or "regional water authority" may be confusing in

17549-521: The late 19th century, steel blades and towers replaced wooden construction. At their peak in 1930, an estimated 600,000 units were in use. Firms such as U.S. Wind Engine and Pump Company, Challenge Wind Mill and Feed Mill Company, Appleton Manufacturing Company, Star, Eclipse , Fairbanks-Morse , Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company , and Aermotor became the main suppliers in North and South America. These windpumps are used extensively on farms and ranches in

17710-435: The major rivers Rhine and Meuse , while a system of drainage ditches, canals and pumping stations (historically: windmills ) keep the low-lying parts available for habitation and agriculture. Water councils are regional governing bodies organised along a specific water-household system, responsible for maintenance and improvement of the system. All organisations and their works are financed by citizens and companies based in

17871-417: The medieval period, but to have been independent inventions by 18th-century engineers. The horizontal-axis or vertical windmill (so called due to the plane of the movement of its sails) is a development of the 12th century, first used in northwestern Europe, in the triangle of northern France , eastern England and Flanders . It is unclear whether the vertical windmill was influenced by the introduction of

18032-541: The migration of Germanic tribes from the North. By the time this migration was complete, around 250 BC, a few general cultural and linguistic groups had emerged. The North Sea Germanic Ingaevones inhabited the northern part of the Low Countries . They would later develop into the Frisii and the early Saxons . The Weser–Rhine Germanic (or Istvaeones ) extended along the middle Rhine and Weser and inhabited

18193-456: The milling machinery. The first post mills were of the sunken type, where the post was buried in an earth mound to support it. Later, a wooden support was developed called the trestle . This was often covered over or surrounded by a roundhouse to protect the trestle from the weather and to provide storage space. This type of windmill was the most common in Europe until the 19th century when more powerful tower and smock mills replaced them. In

18354-561: The modern Netherlands. Spanish troops sacked Maastricht in 1579, killing over 10,000 civilians. In 1581, the northern provinces adopted the Act of Abjuration , the declaration of independence in which the provinces officially deposed Philip II. Against the rebels Philip could draw on the resources of the Spanish Empire . Elizabeth I sympathised with the Dutch struggle and sent an army of 7,600 soldiers to aid them. English forces faced

18515-657: The much greater figure of merit of CFRP. When the Vindeby Offshore Wind Farm was taken down in Denmark in 2017, 99% of the not- degradable fiberglass from 33 wind turbine blades ended as cut up at the Rærup Controlled Landfill near Aalborg and in 2020, with considerably larger fiberglass quantities, even though it is the least environmentally friendly way of handling waste . Scrapped wind turbine blades are set to become

18676-490: The new republican-mercantile empire. Following the declaration of independence, the provinces of Holland , Zeeland , Groningen , Friesland , Utrecht , Overijssel , and Gelderland entered into a confederation . All these duchies, lordships and counties enjoyed a significant degree of autonomy and was governed by its own administrative body known as the States-Provincial . The confederal government, known as

18837-438: The nineteenth century. More recently, windmills have been preserved for their historic value, in some cases as static exhibits when the antique machinery is too fragile to be put in motion, and other cases as fully working mills. Of the 10,000 windmills in use in the Netherlands around 1850, about 1,000 are still standing. Most of these are being run by volunteers, though some grist mills are still operating commercially. Many of

18998-646: The north (i.e. the southern Netherlands and Flanders), who kept on speaking Old Frankish , which by the ninth century had evolved into Old Low Franconian or Old Dutch. A Dutch-French language boundary hence came into existence. To the north of the Franks, climatic conditions improved, and during the Migration Period Saxons , the closely related Angles , Jutes , and Frisii settled the coast. Many moved on to England and came to be known as Anglo-Saxons , but those who stayed would be referred to as Frisians and their language as Frisian . Frisian

19159-501: The north and west. It shares maritime borders with the United Kingdom , Germany, and Belgium. The official language is Dutch, with West Frisian as a secondary official language in the province of Friesland . Dutch, English, and Papiamento are official in the Caribbean territories . Netherlands literally means "lower countries" in reference to its low elevation and flat topography, with 26% below sea level . Most of

19320-536: The north to create a strong country on the northern border of France. William Frederick raised this United Netherlands to the status of a kingdom and proclaimed himself as King William I in 1815. William became hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg in exchange for his German possessions. However, the Southern Netherlands had been culturally separate from the north since 1581, and rebelled . The south gained independence in 1830 as Belgium (recognised by

19481-467: The number to 25 water boards in 2011. The tasks of water boards remain basically unchanged. They belong to the historically grown structure of governing bodies and are one of the oldest democratic institutions in the Netherlands. Dutch water boards have their own coat of arms , a colourful reminder of their importance in Dutch governing. The historic buildings that used to house the water boards, called gemeenlandshuis or waterschaphuis , can be found at

19642-516: The people who did design, build and maintain the infrastructure. The threat of flooding in a heerlijkheid was dealt with by authorities organised around a certain water household system and water boards were chaired by the local nobility. Water boards were set up to maintain integrity of water drainage and defences around local polders , to maintain waterways inside polders and to control various water levels in and outside local polders. The mandate of these water boards (which remains largely unchanged)

19803-512: The people", akin to Old Dutch Dietsch or Old English þeodisc , meaning "(of) the common ( Germanic ) people". At first, the English language used Dutch to refer to any or all speakers of West Germanic languages . Gradually its meaning shifted to the West Germanic people they had the most contact with. The oldest human ( Neanderthal ) traces in the Netherlands, believed to be about 250,000 years old, were found near Maastricht . At

19964-418: The plural of waterschap is waterschappen . The plural of hoogheemraadschap is hoogheemraadschappen . In present-day usage, the official term is waterschap . However, the word hoogheemraadschap is still used by some Dutch water boards for historical reasons or when several waterschappen are grouped together into a larger regional body. Officially there is no difference between a hoogheemraadschap and

20125-406: The population into submission. Alba boasted of having executed 18,600; this figure does not include those who perished by war and famine. The first great siege was Alba's effort to capture Haarlem and thereby cut Holland in half. It dragged on from December 1572 to the next summer, when Haarlemers finally surrendered on 13 July upon the promise that the city would be spared from being sacked. It

20286-461: The previous, this river forms a linguistic divide: people to the northeast of this river speak Dutch Low Saxon dialects (except for the province of Friesland , which has its own language). The Netherlands is mostly composed of deltaic , coastal and aeolian derived sediments during the Pleistocene glacial and interglacial periods. Almost the entire west Netherlands is composed of

20447-513: The sailcloth was spread, while in colder climates, the cloth was replaced by wooden slats, which were easier to handle in freezing conditions. The jib sail is commonly found in Mediterranean countries and consists of a simple triangle of cloth wound round a spar. In all cases, the mill needs to be stopped to adjust the sails. Inventions in Great Britain in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries led to sails that automatically adjust to

20608-598: The same toponymy . Place names with Neder , Nieder , Nedre , Nether , Lage(r) or Low(er) (in Germanic languages ) and Bas or Inferior (in Romance languages ) are in use in low-lying places all over Europe. The Romans made a distinction between the Roman provinces of downstream Germania Inferior (nowadays part of Belgium and the Netherlands) and upstream Germania Superior . Thus, in

20769-446: The saws. Windmills have been used to power many other industrial processes, including papermills , threshing mills, and to process oil seeds, wool, paints, and stone products. In the 14th century, windmills became popular in Europe; the total number of wind-powered mills is estimated to have been around 200,000 at the peak in 1850, which is close to half of the some 500,000 water wheels . Windmills were applied in regions where there

20930-465: The southern Scandinavian Ertebølle culture , were strongly linked to rivers and open water. Between 4800 and 4500 BC, the Swifterbant people started to adopt from the neighbouring Linear Pottery culture the practice of animal husbandry , and between 4300 and 4000 BC agriculture. The Funnelbeaker culture (4300–2800 BC) erected the dolmens , large stone grave monuments found in Drenthe . There

21091-538: The stiffness, strength, and toughness requirements determined by the loading, the blade needs to be lightweight, and the weight of the blade scales with the cube of its radius. To determine which materials fit the criteria described above, a parameter known as the beam merit index is defined: Mb = E^1/2 / rho, where E is Young's modulus and rho is the density. The best blade materials are carbon fiber and glass fiber reinforced polymers ( CFRP and GFRP ). Currently, GFRP materials are chosen for their lower cost, despite

21252-415: The stone nuts directly, instead of the spur gear arrangement. Additional gear wheels drive a sack hoist or other machinery. The machinery differs if the windmill is used for other applications than milling grain. A drainage mill uses another set of gear wheels on the bottom end of the upright shaft to drive a scoop wheel or Archimedes' screw . Sawmills uses a crankshaft to provide a reciprocating motion to

21413-428: The suction (downwind) side of the blade is subject to cyclic compression-compression loading. Edgewise bending subjects the leading edge to a tensile load, and the trailing edge to a compressive load. The remainder of the shell, not supported by the spars or laminated at the leading and trailing edges, is designed as a sandwiched structure, consisting of multiple layers to prevent elastic buckling. In addition to meeting

21574-402: The term "Low Countries" is officially used as the name for the Netherlands. The term Holland has frequently been used informally to refer to the whole of the modern country of the Netherlands in various languages, including Dutch and English. In some languages, Holland is used as the formal name for the Netherlands. However, Holland is a region within the Netherlands that consists of

21735-540: The two provinces of North and South Holland . Formerly these were a single province, and earlier the County of Holland , which included parts of present-day Utrecht . The emphasis on Holland during the formation of the Dutch Republic , the Eighty Years' War , and the Anglo-Dutch Wars in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, made Holland a pars pro toto for the entire country. Many Dutch people object to

21896-608: The village of Askov. By 1908, there were 72 wind-driven electric generators in Denmark, ranging from 5 to 25 kW. By the 1930s, windmills were widely used to generate electricity on farms in the United States where distribution systems had not yet been installed, built by companies such as Jacobs Wind , Wincharger, Miller Airlite, Universal Aeroelectric, Paris-Dunn, Airline, and Winpower. The Dunlite Corporation produced turbines for similar locations in Australia. Forerunners of modern horizontal-axis utility-scale wind generators were

22057-498: The water levels of their land. The first water councils were formed in the 12th century, often controlling a single polder or dike. As these collaborative groups became better organised, the counts of Holland began granting charters to the boards. In 1255 a cooperating group of water boards in the Old Rhine area was appointed by Count William II of Holland and Zeeland to become central coordinator of all water course works in

22218-520: The wealthiest trading city in Amsterdam , and the first full-time stock exchange . The inventiveness of the traders led to insurance and retirement funds as well as phenomena such as the boom-bust cycle , the world's first asset-inflation bubble , the tulip mania of 1636–1637, and the world's first bear raider , Isaac le Maire . In 1672 – known in Dutch history as the Rampjaar (Disaster Year) –

22379-489: The wind either by winches or gearing inside the cap or from a winch on the tail pole outside the mill. A method of keeping the cap and sails into the wind automatically is by using a fantail , a small windmill mounted at right angles to the sails, at the rear of the windmill. These are also fitted to tail poles of post mills and are common in Great Britain and English-speaking countries of the former British Empire, Denmark, and Germany but rare in other places. Around some parts of

22540-450: The wind speed without the need for the miller to intervene, culminating in patent sails invented by William Cubitt in 1807. In these sails, the cloth is replaced by a mechanism of connected shutters. In France, Pierre-Théophile Berton invented a system consisting of longitudinal wooden slats connected by a mechanism that lets the miller open them while the mill is turning. In the twentieth century, increased knowledge of aerodynamics from

22701-400: The windmill is closed or not functional. A slight tilt of the sails (top blade at 1 o'clock) signals joy, such as the birth of a healthy baby. A tilt of the blades to 11-2-5-8 o'clock signals mourning, or warning. It was used to signal the local region during Nazi operations in World War II, such as searches for Jews. Across the Netherlands, windmills were placed in mourning positions in honor of

22862-521: The wing scrap have been disposed of in Denmark, and the waste problem will grow significantly in the coming years when more and more wind turbines have reached their end of life. According to the SDU lecturer's calculations, the waste sector in Denmark will have to receive 46,400 tonnes of fiberglass from wind turbine blades over the next 20–25 years. As so, at the island , Lolland , in Denmark, 250 tonnes of fiberglass from wind turbine waste also pours up on

23023-477: The year 1000 onward, continuing problems in water management in wide areas along the Rhine river between Utrecht and the North Sea caused farmers, landowners and civilians with administrative responsibilities to collaborate. Around 1122 in the area around Wijk bij Duurstede , south of Utrecht , a collaborative water household organisation was founded to build and maintain a dam in the Rhine. In Friesland in

23184-491: Was Gerolf of Holland , who assumed lordship in Frisia, and Viking rule came to an end. The Holy Roman Empire ruled much of the Low Countries in the 10th and 11th century but was not able to maintain political unity. Powerful local nobles turned their cities, counties and duchies into private kingdoms that felt little sense of obligation to the emperor. Holland , Hainaut , Flanders , Gelre , Brabant , and Utrecht were in

23345-417: Was "Whom the water harms stops the water" (Dutch: Wie het water deert, die het water keert ). This meant that those living at the dike had to pay and care for it. Those people could go bankrupt from having to repair a breached dike. Those living further inland often refused to pay for or assist upkeep of dikes, even though they were just as much affected by floods. This system led to haphazard maintenance and it

23506-864: Was a quick transition from the Funnelbeaker farming culture to the pan-European Corded Ware pastoralist culture (c. 2950 BC). In the southwest, the Seine-Oise-Marne culture —related to the Vlaardingen culture (c. 2600 BC)—survived well into the Neolithic period, until it too was succeeded by the Corded Ware culture. The subsequent Bell Beaker culture (2700–2100 BC) introduced metalwork in copper, gold and later bronze and opened new international trade routes, reflected in copper artefacts . Finds of rare bronze objects suggest that Drenthe

23667-571: Was a stipulation Don Fadrique was unable to honour, when his soldiers mutinied, angered over pay owed and the miserable conditions of the campaign. On 4 November 1576, Spanish tercios seized Antwerp and subjected it to the worst pillage in the Netherlands' history. The citizens resisted but were overcome; seven thousand were killed and a thousand buildings were torched. Following the sack of Antwerp , delegates from Catholic Brabant, Protestant Holland and Zeeland agreed to join Utrecht and William

23828-687: Was a trading centre in the Bronze Age (2000–800 BC). The Bell Beaker culture developed locally into the Barbed-Wire Beaker culture (2100–1800 BC) and later the Elp culture (1800–800 BC), a Middle Bronze Age culture marked by earthenware pottery. The southern region became dominated by the related Hilversum culture (1800–800 BC). From 800 BC onwards, the Iron Age Celtic Hallstatt culture became influential, replacing

23989-500: Was a weak kingdom and subject to numerous partitions and annexation attempts by its stronger neighbours. It comprised territories from Frisia in the north to the Kingdom of Italy in the south. Around 850, Lothair I of Middle Francia acknowledged the Viking Rorik of Dorestad as ruler of most of Frisia. When the kingdom of Middle Francia was partitioned in 855, the lands north of the Alps passed to Lothair II and subsequently were named Lotharingia . After he died in 869, Lotharingia

24150-405: Was forced to abdicate on 1 July 1810. The Emperor sent in an army and the Netherlands became part of the French Empire until November 1813, when Napoleon was defeated in the Battle of Leipzig . William Frederick , son of the last stadtholder, returned to the Netherlands in 1813 and proclaimed himself Sovereign Prince . Two years later, the Congress of Vienna added the southern Netherlands to

24311-483: Was fought over in the Hook and Cod Wars between 1350 and 1490. The Cod faction consisted of the more progressive cities, while the Hook faction consisted of the conservative noblemen. These noblemen invited Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy to conquer Holland. Most of the Imperial and French fiefs in what is now the Netherlands and Belgium were united in a personal union by Philip the Good in 1433. The House of Valois-Burgundy and their Habsburg heirs would rule

24472-585: Was invented sometime around 700–900 AD in Persia . This design was the panemone, with vertical lightweight wooden sails attached by horizontal struts to a central vertical shaft. It was first built to pump water and subsequently modified to grind grain as well. The first practical windmills were panemone windmills , using sails that rotated in a horizontal plane, around a vertical axis. Made of six to 12 sails covered in reed matting or cloth material, these windmills were used to grind grain or draw up water. A medieval account reports that windmill technology

24633-411: Was maintenance of dikes, dunes and waterways (and roads too, in several municipalities), control of water level and quality of all surface water (including punishment of polluters). The original water boards varied much in organisation, power and area they managed. The differences were often caused by different circumstances, whether they had to defend a sea dike against a storm surge or keep water level in

24794-453: Was partitioned, into Upper and Lower Lotharingia , the latter comprising the Low Countries that became part of East Francia in 870. Around 879, another Viking expedition led by Godfrid, Duke of Frisia , raided the Frisian lands. Resistance to the Vikings, if any, came from local nobles, who gained in stature as a result, and that laid the basis for the disintegration of Lower Lotharingia into semi-independent states. One of these local nobles

24955-399: Was spoken along the entire southern North Sea coast. By the seventh century, a Frisian Kingdom (650–734) under King Aldegisel and King Redbad emerged with Traiectum ( Utrecht ) as its centre of power, while Dorestad was a flourishing trading place. Between 600 and around 719 the cities were often fought over between the Frisians and the Franks. In 734, at the Battle of the Boarn ,

25116-413: Was the first country to legalise same-sex marriage in 2001. Its mixed-market advanced economy has the eleventh-highest per capita income globally. The Hague holds the seat of the States General , Cabinet , and Supreme Court . The Port of Rotterdam is the busiest in Europe . Schiphol is the busiest airport in the Netherlands , and the fourth busiest in Europe . Being a developed country ,

25277-499: Was to centralise water control in the Netherlands. Local water boards refused to give up their autonomy however, so Rijkswaterstaat ended up working alongside the local water boards. Today Rijkswaterstaat has responsibility for major water control structures and other infrastructure like bike- and motorways. By 1850 there were about 3,500 water boards in the country. In modern times water boards merged as they dealt with joint (and sometimes conflicting) interests. Mergers eventually reduced

25438-439: Was too little water, where rivers freeze in winter and in flat lands where the flow of the river was too slow to provide the required power. With the coming of the Industrial Revolution , the importance of wind and water as primary industrial energy sources declined, and they were eventually replaced by steam (in steam mills ) and internal combustion engines, although windmills continued to be built in large numbers until late in

25599-457: Was used in Persia and the Middle East during the reign of Rashidun caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab ( r.  634–644 ), based on the caliph's conversation with a Persian builder slave. The authenticity of part of the anecdote involving the caliph Umar is questioned because it was recorded only in the 10th century. The Persian geographer Estakhri reported windmills being operated in Khorasan (Eastern Iran and Western Afghanistan) already in

25760-401: Was used mostly for lifting water from wells. Larger versions were also used for tasks such as sawing wood, chopping hay, and shelling and grinding grain. In early California and some other states, the windmill was part of a self-contained domestic water system which included a hand-dug well and a wooden water tower supporting a redwood tank enclosed by wooden siding known as a tankhouse . During

25921-443: Was vital because Holland could no longer produce enough grain to feed itself. Land drainage had caused the peat of the former wetlands to reduce to a level that was too low for drainage to be maintained. Under Habsburg Charles V , all fiefs in the current Netherlands region were united into the Seventeen Provinces , which included most of present-day Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of France and Germany. In 1568, under Phillip II,

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