Dutch people

This article is about the ethnic group known as the Dutch and their descendants world wide. For information on the population of the Netherlands, see Demographics of the Netherlands.

The Dutch
(Nederlanders)

Dutch small city scene
Regions with significant populations
Netherlands	13,186,600 (Ethnic Dutch) 472,600 (Dutch Eurasians)
United States	5,087,191 (110,000)
South Africa	est. 7,000,000 (45,000)
Canada	923,310 (120,000)
Australia	est. 270,000 (85,000)
Germany	est. 164,000, of which 41,000 in the border region
Suriname	est. 151,000
Belgium	116,970
New Zealand	est. 100,000 (25,000)
France	est. 83,000 (30,000)
Chile	est. 50,000
United Kingdom	est. 40,438
Denmark	est. 27,000
Spain	est. 21,000
Turkey	est. 20,000
Indonesia	est. 14,000
Norway	est. 12,089
Switzerland	est. 12,000
Sweden	est. 5,600
Ireland	est. 4,100
Austria	est. 3,200
Israel	est. 2,900
Czech Republic	est. 2,600
China	est. 1,400
Russia	est. 400
various others	140,000
Languages
Dutch
Religion
Catholicism, Protestantism, Atheism, Agnosticism
Related ethnic groups
Afrikaners Flemish Frisians

The Dutch people (Dutch: ) are the dominant ethnic group of the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language.

Dutch people, or descendants of Dutch people, are also found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and the United States.

The traditional art and culture of the Dutch encompasses various forms of traditional music, dances, architectural styles and clothing, some of which are globally recognizable. Internationally, Dutch painters such as Rembrandt, Vermeer and van Gogh are held in high regard.

The dominant religion of the Dutch is Christianity (both Catholic and Protestant), although in modern times the majority is no longer (openly) religious. Significant percentages of the Dutch are adherents of humanism, agnosticism, atheism or individual spirituality.

In the Middle Ages the Northern Low Countries were part of the periphery of the Holy Roman Empire, and the various territories of which they consisted had de facto become virtually autonomous by the 13th century. Under the Habsburgs, the Netherlands were organised into a single administrative unit, and in the 16th and 17th centuries the Northern Netherlands gained independence from Spain as the Dutch Republic. The high degree of urbanization characteristic of Dutch society was attained at a relatively early date. During the Republic the first series of large scale Dutch migrations outside of Europe took place.

The absence of most natural riches in the region traditionally inhabited by the Dutch, led to a trade-oriented, and trade-dependent, society. Positioned among some of the most important rivers of Western Europe and near the sea, Dutch cities dominated European and even world trade for more than a century, lending the Dutch themselves a reputation for being excellent merchants, and, at times, even being synonomous with the word itself.

History

Emergence

As with all ethnic groups the ethnogenesis of the Dutch (and their predecessors) has been a lengthy and complex process. Though the majority of the defining characteristics (such as language, religion, architecture or cuisine) of the Dutch ethnic group have accumulated over the ages, it is difficult (if not impossible) to clearly pinpoint the exact emergence of the Dutch people; the interpretation of which is often highly personal. To provide some structure, this article distinguishes between three concepts; "ethnic categories", "ethnic networks" and "ethnic communities", these will be explained in each section.

The text below hence focuses on the history of the Dutch ethnic group; for Dutch national history, please see the history-articles of the Netherlands. For Dutch colonial history, see the article on the Dutch Empire.

General

Further information: Germanic tribes, Migration Period, and Foederati

The first stage of Dutch ethnogenesis falls within the frame of an ethnic category. This essentially means that though certain characteristics of the Dutch ethnic group start to appear, the people displaying these traits did not have any, or a very limited, awareness of belonging to this specific group.

Following the end of the migration period in the West around 500 CE, with large federations (such as the Franks, Vandals, Alamanni and Saxons) settling the decaying Roman Empire, great changes occur among the Germanic peoples, who inhabited much of Northwestern Europe at the time.

Prior to this, the Germanic tribes formed tribal societies with no apparent form of autocracy (chiefs only being elected in times of war), beliefs based Germanic paganism and speaking a dialect still closely resembling Common Germanic. Yet following their incursions into (and eventual overthrow of) the Roman Empire, a series of monumental changes took place within these Germanic societies. Among the most important of these are their conversion from Germanic paganism to Christianity, the new emerging of a political system, centered on kings, and a continuing process of emerging mutual unintelligibility of their various dialects.

Specific

Further information: Franks, Frankish, and Old Dutch

As the general situation described above is applicable to most if not all modern European ethnic groups with origins among the Germanic tribes, such as the Frisians, Germans, English and the North-Germanic peoples, this paragraph will detail the specific process for the Dutch.

In the Low Countries, this phase began when the Franks, themselves a union of multiple smaller tribes (many of them, such as the Batavi, Chauci, Chamavi and Chattuarii, were already living in the Low Countries prior to the forming of the Frankish confederation), began to incur the northwestern provinces of the Roman Empire. Eventually, in 358 CE, the Salian Franks, one of the three main subdivisions among the Frankish alliance settled the area's Southern lands as a foederati; Roman allies in charge of border defense.

The conversion of the Frankish king Clovis to Christianity would have great significance in helping shape the identity of the future Dutch people.

As mentioned before, at this time no Dutch identity existed, but its first outlines emerged. Linguistically the Frankish language gradually evolved into Old Dutch, which was first attested in the 6th century, whereas religiously the Franks (beginning with the upper class) converted to Christianity from around 500 to 700 CE. On a political level, the Frankish warlords abandoned tribalism (thus beginning the process of de-identification as 'Frank' among the Franks) and founded a number of kingdoms, eventually culminating in the Frankish Empire of Charlemagne.

However, the population make up of the Frankish Empire, or even early Frankish kingdoms such as Neustria and Austrasia, was not dominated by Franks. Though the Frankish leaders controlled most of Western Europe, the Franks themselves were confined to the Northwestern part (i.e the Low Countries and Northern France) of the Empire. Eventually, the Franks in Northern France were assimilated by the general Gallo-Roman population, and took over their dialects (which became French), whereas the Franks in the Low Countries retained their language, which would evolve into Dutch. The current Dutch-French language border has (with the exception of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais in France) remained virtually identical ever since, and could be seen as marking the furthest pale of gallicization among the Franks.

Convergence

Further information: History of urban centers in the Dutch Low Countries, Burgundian Netherlands, and Middle Dutch

During the second stage; an ethnic network starts to appear; signaling growing ties between the people exhibiting the traits described in the first stage; among the Dutch this mainly focuses on the political and cultural preeminence of the emerging burghers in the Dutch medieval cities and the consolidation of the Dutch fiefs under the Dukes of Burgundy.

These cities, who experienced major growth during the 11th and 12th century, were instrumental in breaking down (the already relatively loose form of) feudalism in the Low Countries. As they became increasingly powerful, they used their economical strength to influence the politics of their nobility. During the early 14th century, beginning in and inspired by the County of Flanders, the cities in the Low Countries gained huge autonomy and generally dominated or greatly influenced the various political affairs of the fief, including marriage succession.

While the cities were of great political importance, they also formed catalysts for medieval Dutch culture. Trade flourished, population numbers increased dramatically, and (advanced) education was no longer limited to the clergy; Dutch epic literature such as Elegast (1150 CE), the Roelantslied and Van den vos Reynaerde (1200 CE) were widely enjoyed. The various city guilds as well as the necessity of water boards (in charge of dikes, canals, etc.) in the Dutch delta and coastal regions resulted in an exceptionally high degree of communal organization. It is also around this time, that ethnonyms such as Diets and Nederlands emerge.

In the second half of the 14th century, the dukes of Burgundy gained a foothold in the Low Countries through the marriage in 1369 of Philip the Bold of Burgundy to the heiress of the Count of Flanders. This was followed by a series of marriages, wars, and inheritances among the other Dutch fiefs and around 1450 the most important fiefs are under Burgundian rule, while complete control is achieved in 1503, thereby unifying the Dutch fiefs under one ruler. This process marks a new episode in the development of the Dutch ethnic group, as now political unity starts to emerge, consolidating the strengthened cultural and linguistic unity.

Consolidation

Further information: Timeline of Burgundian and Habsburg acquisitions in the Low Countries, Dutch Revolt, and Early Dutch painting

The Act of Abjuration, signed on July 26, 1581, was the formal declaration of independence of the Dutch Low Countries.

During the final phase an ethnic community, in which the members themselves have clear conceptions of being a named human population with common ancestry, shared historical memories, common elements of culture, solidarity and an association with a homeland, emerged. Among the Dutch, the last underdeveloped factor was that of solidarity. Despite the linguistic and cultural unity, and (in the case of Flanders, Brabant and Holland) economical similarities; there was still little sense of political unity among the Dutch.

However, the centralist policies of Burgundy in the 14th and 15th century, at first violently opposed by the Dutch cities, had a profound impact and changed this. During Charles the Bold's many wars, which were a major economic burden for the Burgundian Netherlands, tensions slowly increased. In 1477, the year of Charles' sudden death at Nancy, the Low Countries rebeled against their new liege, Mary of Burgundy and presented her with a set of demands.

The subsequently issued great privilege met a lot of these demands (which included that Dutch, not French, should be the administrative language and that the states general had the right to hold meetings without the monarch's permission or presence) and despite the fact that the overall tenure of the document (which was declared void by her son, and successor, Philip IV) aimed for more autonomy for the Dutch counties and duchies, the fact that all Dutch fiefs presented their demands together, rather than separately, are evidence that by this time a sense of political unity had clearly emerged.

Following Mary's marriage to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, the Netherlands were now part of the Habsburg lands. Further centralized policies by the Habsburgs (like their Burgundian predecessors) again met with resistance, but, peaking with the formation of the collateral councils of 1531 and the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549, were still implemented. The rule of Philip II of Spain sought even further centralist reforms, which, accompanied by religious dictates and excessive taxation, resulted in the Dutch Revolt. The Dutch provinces, though fighting alone now, for the first time in their history found themselves fighting a common enemy. This, together with the growing number of Dutch intelligentsia and the Dutch Golden Age in which Dutch culture, as a whole, would get unprecedented international prestige, consolidated the Dutch as an ethnic group.

Identity

Ethnic identity

Among the Dutch their ethnic identity becomes salient only in a limited number of situations. However, the (re)definition of Dutch cultural identity has become a subject of public debate in recent years following the increasing influence of the European Union and the influx of non-Western immigrants in the post-World War II period. In this debate 'typically Dutch traditions' have been put to the foreground.

In sociological studies and governmental reports, ethnicity is often referred to with the terms autochtoon and allochtoon. These legal concepts refer to place of birth and citizenship rather than cultural background and do not coincide with the more fluid concepts of ethnicity used by cultural anthropologists.

Ethnic nationalism

As did many European ethnicities during the 19th century, the Dutch also saw the emerging of various Greater Netherlands- and Pan-Movements seeking to unite the Dutch across the continent. During the first half of the 20th century there was a prolific surge in writings concerning the subject. One of its most active proponents was the acclaimed historian Pieter Geyl, who wrote De Geschiedenis van de Nederlandsche stam (Dutch: The History of the Dutch tribe/people) as well as numerous essays on the subject.

During World War II, when both Belgium and the Netherlands fell to German occupation, fascist elements (such as the NSB and Verdinaso) tried to convince the Nazis into combining the Netherlands and Flanders. The Germans however refused to do so, as this conflicted with their ultimate goal of a 'Germanic Europe'. During the entire Nazi occupation the Germans denied any assistance to Greater Dutch ethnic nationalism, and, by decree of Hitler himself, actively opposed it.

The 1970s mark the beginning of a cultural and linguistic cooperation between Belgium (Flanders) and the Netherlands which continues to this day.

National identity

By the middle of the 16th century an overarching, 'national' (rather than 'ethnic') identity seemed in development in the Habsburg Netherlands, when inhabitants began to refer to it as their 'fatherland' and were beginning to be seen as a collective entity abroad; however, the persistence of language barriers, traditional strife between towns, and provincial particularism continued to form an impediment to more thorough unification. Following excessive taxation together with attempts at diminishing the autonomy of the Dutch, followed by the religious oppression after being transferred to Habsburg Spain, the Dutch revolted, in what would become the Eighty Years' War. For the first time in their history, the Dutch established their independence from foreign rule. However, during the war it became apparent that the goal of the revolts leaders (the liberation of all Dutch Low Countries, as agreed upon in the Union of Utrecht) was unreachable. The Northern provinces were free, but during the 1580s the South was recaptured by Spain, and, despite various attempts, the armies of the Republic were unable to expel them. In 1648, the Peace of Münster, ending the Eighty Years' War, acknowledged the independence of the Dutch Republic, but maintained Spanish control of the Southern Netherlands. Apart from a brief reunification from 1815 till 1830, within the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (which included the Francophones/Walloons) the Dutch have been separated from the ethnically closely related Flemings to this day.

The Netherlands

Further information: Pillarisation

The Belgian Revolt was a traumatizing experience. The Dutch King William I would abdicate in 1840 after a decade desperately trying to reunite his kingdom both militarily and diplomatically, dying disillusioned 4 years later. The Netherlands then became heavily pillarized (a process to a lesser degree also found in Belgium) which lasted well into the 1960s, and continued its policy of diplomatic isolation.

The ideologies associated with (Romantic) Nationalism of the 19th century and 20th century never really caught on in the Netherlands, and this, together with being a practically mono-ethnic society up until the late 1950s, has led to a relatively obscure use of the terms nation and ethnicity as both were identical in practice. Today, despite other ethnicities making up 19,6% of the Netherlands' population, this obscurity continues in colloquial use, in which Nederlander sometimes refers to the ethnic Dutch, sometimes to anyone possessing Dutch citizenship.

Belgium

Further information: Belgian Revolution, Languages of Belgium, Flemings, and Taalstrijd

In Belgium, the process of creating a nation was much slower than in the Netherlands. This was caused by the fact that rather than being a mono-ethnic independent state, like the Dutch Republic, the territories which would become Belgium remained part of large multi-ethnic, empires until the Napoleonic Wars drew to a close. In 1815, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands was founded, largely corresponding to the modern Benelux in territory, which now also contained Walloons and a Southern Francized Dutch elite.

This short lived kingdom soon collapsed under religious, economic and linguistic strife. The Catholic Church did not like the Protestant domination of the north and of the monarchy, and wanted to create a homogeneous Roman Catholic State. While at the same time, as was the case in the Dutch Republic, the new state used Dutch in both political and social life, and wanted to impose this language on the southern provinces. Yet the southern half present day Belgium, as well as its Dutch upper classes were Francophone, and strongly resisted this policy. Another important factor was the economic structure of the Northern and Southern Netherlands in 1815, as the latter was much more industrialized and interested in economic protection wheareas the Northern Netherlands favored free trade. In 1830 Belgium was established, which was recognized by the Netherlands in 1839.

Immediately following after the Belgian revolt however, came the oppression of the Dutch language and culture by the largely Francophone government. Dissatisfied with the political direction that the Belgian state had taken, a popular movement (later called the Flemish Movement) arose which sought to protect the Dutch language and demanded equal rights for its speakers; with the recognition of Dutch being achieved with 1898, sixty eight years after Belgian proclamation of independence.

It have been these (and subsequent, often language-related, conflicts) that have estranged many Dutch speaking Belgians (Flemings) from the Belgian state, and have led them to, following its federalization in 1970, see the Flemish Region as the state institution housing their nation.

Statistics

The total number of Dutch can be defined in roughly two ways. By taking the total of all people with full Dutch ancestry, according to the current CBS definition, resulting in an estimated 16.000.000 Dutch people, or by the sum of all people with both full and partial Dutch ancestry, which would result in a number around 25.000.000.

Dutch-speakers in Europe.

File:Dutchmen in countries other than the Netherlands and Belgium.png People of Dutch ancestry outside the Netherlands and Belgium.

Linguistics

Language

File:Comparison of English, Dutch and German sentence.png

A comparison of (identical) English, Dutch and German sentences. With IPA symbols added for pronunciation comparison.

A simplified scheme of the linguistic relation between English, Dutch and German.

Main article: Dutch language

Dutch is the language spoken by most Dutch people. It is a West Germanic language spoken by around 22 million people. The language was first attested around 500 AD, in a Frankish legal text, the Lex Salica, and has a written record of more than 1500 years, although the material before ca. 1200 is fragmentary and discontinuous.

As a West Germanic language, Dutch is related to other languages in that group such as Frisian, English and German. Many West Germanic dialects experienced a series of sound shifts. The Anglo-Frisian nasal spirant law and Anglo-Frisian brightening resulted in certain early Germanic languages evolving into what are now English and Frisian, while the Second Germanic sound shift resulted in what would become German. Dutch experienced none of these sound changes and can thus be said to occupy a central position within the West Germanic languages.

Standard Dutch has a sound inventory of 13 vowels, 6 diphthongs and 23 consonants, of which the voiceless velar fricative (hard ch) is considered a well known sound, perceived as typical for the language. Other relatively well known features of the Dutch language and use are the frequent use digraphs like Oo, Ee, Uu and Aa, the ability to form long compounds and the use of diseases as profanity.

General consensus among linguists is that the Dutch language has 28 main dialects. These dialects are usually grouped into 6 main categories; Hollandic, West-Flemish/Zealandic, East Flemish, Brabantic, Limburgish and Dutch Saxon. Of these dialects, Brabantic and East Flemish are spoken exclusively by the Southern Dutch, whereas Hollandic and Dutch Saxon are solely spoken by Northerners. West-Flemish/Zealandic and Limburgish are cross border dialects in this respect. Lastly, the dialectal situation is characterised by the major distinction between 'Hard G' and 'Soft G' speaking areas (see also Dutch phonology).

Dutch immigrants also exported the Dutch language. Dutch was spoken in United States as a native language from the arrival of the first permanent Dutch settlers in 1615, surviving in isolated ethnic pockets until ~1900, when it ceased to be spoken with the exception of 1st generation Dutch immigrants. The Dutch language nevertheless had a significant impact on the region around New York. For example, the first language of American president Martin Van Buren was Dutch. Most of the Dutch immigrants of the 20th century quickly began to speak the language of their new country. For example, of the inhabitants of New Zealand, 0.7% say their home language is Dutch, despite the percentage of Dutch heritage being considerably higher.

Dutch is currently an official language of the Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname, Aruba, the Netherlands Antilles, the European Union and the Union of South American Nations (due to Suriname being a member). In South Africa, Afrikaans is spoken, a descendant of Dutch, which itself was an official language of South Africa until 1925. The Dutch, Flemish and Surinamese governments coordinate their language activities in the Nederlandse Taalunie (Dutch Language Union), an institution also responsible for governing the Dutch Standard language, for example in matters of orthography.

Etymology of autonym and exonym

Further information: Dietsch

The origins of the word Dutch go back to Proto-Germanic, the ancestor of all Germanic languages, *theudo (meaning "national/popular"); akin to Old Dutch dietsc, Old High German diutsch, Old English þeodisc and Gothic þiuda all meaning "(of) the common (Germanic) people". As the tribes among the Germanic peoples began to differentiate its meaning began to change. The Anglo-Saxons of England for example gradually stopped referring to themselves as þeodisc and instead started to use Englisc, after their tribe. On the continent *theudo evolved into two meanings: Diets (meaning "Dutch (people)" (archaic)) and Deutsch (German, meaning "German (people)"). At first the English language used (the contemporary form of) Dutch to refer to any or all of the Germanic speakers on the European mainland (e.g. the Dutch, the Frisians and the -various- Germans). Gradually its meaning shifted to the Germanic people they had most contact with, both because of their geographical proximity, but also because of the rivalry in trade and overseas territories: the people from the Republic of the Netherlands, the Dutch.

In the Dutch language, the Dutch refer to themselves as Nederlanders. Nederlanders derives from the Dutch word "Neder", a cognate of English "Nether" both meaning "low", and "near the sea" (same meaning in both English and Dutch), a reference to the geographical texture of the Dutch homeland; the western portion of the Northern European plain. Although not as old as Diets, the term Nederlands has been in continuous use since 1250.

Names

Main article: Dutch name

Dutch surnames (and surnames of Dutch origin) are generally easily recognizable. There are several main types of surnames in Dutch:

• Patronymic surnames; the name is based on the personal name of the father of the bearer. Historically this has been by far the most dominant form. These type of names fluctuated in form as the surname was not constant. If a man called Willem Janssen (William, John's son) had a son named Jacob, he would be known as Jacob Willemsen (Jacob, Williams' son). Following civil registry, the form at time of registry became permanent. Hence today many Dutch people are named after ancestors living in the early 1800s when civil registry was introduced to the Low Countries. These names rarely feature tussenvoegsels.
• Surnames relating to geographical origin; the name is based on the location on which the bearer lives or lived. In Dutch this form of surname nearly always includes one or several tussenvoegsels, mainly van, van de and variants. Many immigrants removed the spacing, leading to derived names for well known people like Cornelius Vanderbilt. While "van" denotes "of", Dutch surnames are sometimes associated with the upper class of society or aristocracy (cf. William of Orange). However, in Dutch van often reflects the original place of origin (Van Der Bilt - He who comes from De Bilt); rather than denote any aristocratic status.
• Surnames relating to Occupation; the name is based on the occupation of the bearer. Well known examples include Molenaar, Visser and Smit. This practice is similar to English surnames (the example names translate perfectly to Miller, Fisher and Smith).
• Surnames relating to physical appearance/other features; the name is based on the appearance or character of the bearer (at least at the time of registration). For example "De Lange" (the tall one), "De Groot" (the big one), "De Dappere" (the brave one).
• Other surnames may relate to animals. For example; De Leeuw (The Lion), Vogels (Birds), Koekkoek (Cuckoo) and Devalck (The Falcon); to a desired social status; e.g., Prins (Prince), De Koninck (King), De Keyzer (Emperor). There is also a set of made up or descriptive names; e.g. Naaktgeboren (born naked).

Dutch names can differ greatly in spelling. The surname Baks, for example is also recorded as Backs, Bacxs, Bakx, Baxs, Bacx Backx, Bakxs and Baxcs. Though written differently, pronunciation remains identical. Dialectal variety also commonly occurs, with De Smet and De Smit both meaning Smith for example. Surnames of Dutch migrants in foreign environments (mainly the Anglosphere and Francophonie) are often adapted, not only in pronunciation but also in spelling.

Culture

Main article: Dutch culture

Further information: Dutch architecture, Dutch customs and etiquette, Dutch cuisine, Dutch festivities, Dutch literature, Dutch music, Dutch art, and Dutch folklore

Religion

Main article: History of Dutch religion

Further information: Religion in the Netherlands

Prior to the arrival of Christianity, the ancestors of the Dutch adhered to a form of Germanic paganism augmented with various Celtic elements. At the start of the 6th century the first (Hiberno-Scottish) missionaries arrived. They were later replaced by Anglo-Saxon missionaries, who eventually succeeded in converting most of the inhabitants by the 8th century. Since then Christianity has been the dominant religion in the region. In the early 16th century the Protestant Reformation began to form and soon spread in the Westhoek and the County of Flanders, where secret open-air sermons were held, called hagenpreken ("hedgerow orations") in Dutch. The ruler of the Dutch regions, Philip II of Spain, felt it was his duty to fight Protestantism, and, after the wave of iconoclasm, sent troops to crush the rebellion and make the Low Countries a Catholic region once more. The Protestants in the Southern Low Countries fled North en masse. Most of the Dutch Protestants were now concentrated in the free Dutch provinces North of the river Rhine, while the Catholic Dutch were situated in the Spanish occupied or dominated South. After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, Protestantism did not spread South, resulting in a difference in religious situations that lasts to this day.

Traditional religion within the Netherlands and Flanders:

  Roman Catholicism

  Protestantism (Calvinist)

  No traditional religion

Contemporary Dutch are generally nominally Christians. People of Dutch ancestry in the United States are generally more religious than their European counterparts; for example the numerous Dutch communities of western Michigan remain strongholds of the Reformed Church in America, and the Christian Reformed Church, both descendants of the Dutch Reformed Church.

Cultural divergences

Although the actual differences are often exaggerated, internal divergences play a part in the daily life within the Dutch-speaking region and are factors in personal identification among its inhabitants. One division is that between the Protestant North and the Catholic South, which encompasses various cultural differences between the Northern Dutch on one side and the Southern Dutch on the other. This subject has historically received attention from historians, notably Pieter Geyl (1887–1966) and Carel Gerretson (1884–1958). The historical pluriformity of the Dutch cultural landscape has given rise to several theories aimed at both identifying and explaining cultural divergences between different regions. One theory, proposed by A.J. Wichers in 1965, sees differences in mentality between the southeastern, or 'higher', and northwestern, or 'lower' regions within the Netherlands, and seeks to explain these by referring to the different degrees to which these areas were feudalised during the Middle Ages. Another, more recent cultural divide is that between the Randstad, the urban agglomeration in the West of the country, and the other provinces of the Netherlands.

In Dutch, the cultural division between North and South is also referred to by the colloquialism "below/above the great rivers" as the rivers Rhine and Meuse roughly form a natural boundary between the Northern Dutch (those Dutch living North of these rivers), and the Southern Dutch (those living South of them) and Flemings. The cultural boundary between the Dutch hence lies partly in the Netherlands, and not solely between the Netherlands and Flanders. The division is partially caused by (traditional) religious differences, with the North predominantly Protestant and the South having a majority of Catholics. Linguistic (dialectal) differences (positioned along the Rhine/Meuse rivers [sic].) and to a lesser extent, historical economic development of both regions are also important elements in any dissimilarity. Even though the modern economic model of both Northern Belgium and the Netherlands is rather similar (focusing on the major, agglomerating, ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp and with their respective GDP per capita being fairly close.)

On a smaller scale cultural pluriformity can also be found; be it in local architecture or (perceived) character. For example; though the Southern Dutch as a whole are often ascribed such features as being jovial, laid-back and bon vivants, within the region itself the people or certain areas; such as West-Flemmings, are generally perceived as rustic, whereas Limburgers are seen as slow. This wide array of regional identities positioned within such a relatively small area, has often been attributed to the fact that many of the current Dutch and Belgian provinces were de-facto independent states for much of their history, as well as the importance of local Dutch dialects (which often largely correspond with the provinces themselves) to the people who speak them.

Northern Dutch culture

Northern Dutch cultural area.

Northern Dutch culture is marked by Protestantism. Though today many do not adhere to Protestantism anymore, or are only nominally part of a congregation, Protestant (influenced) values and custom are present. Generally, it can be said the Northern Dutch are more pragmatic, favor a direct approach and display a less exuberant lifestyle when compared to Southerners. On a global scale, the Northern Dutch have formed the dominant vanguard of the Dutch language and culture since the fall of Antwerp, exemplified by the use of 'Dutch' itself as the demonym for the country in which they form a majority; the Netherlands. Linguistically, Northerners speak any of the Hollandic, Zealandic and Dutch Low Saxon dialects natively, or are influenced by them when they speak the Standard form of Dutch. Economically and culturally the traditional center of the region have been the provinces of North and South Holland, or today; the Randstad, although for a brief period during the 1200s/1300s it lay in east, when various eastern towns and cities aligned themselves with the emerging Hanseatic League. The entire Northern Dutch cultural area is located in the Netherlands, its ethnically Dutch population is estimated to be just under 10,000,000.

Southern Dutch culture

Southern Dutch cultural area.

The Southern Dutch sphere generally consists of the areas in which the population was traditionally Catholic. During the early Middle Ages up until the Dutch Revolt, the Southern regions were more powerful, as well as more culturally and economically developed. At the end of the Dutch Revolt, it became clear the Habsburgs were unable to reconquer the North, while the North's military was too weak to conquer the South, which, under the influence of the Counter-Reformation, had started to develop a political and cultural identity of its own. The Southern Dutch, including Dutch Brabant and Limburg, remained Catholic or returned to Catholicism. The Dutch dialects spoken by this group are Brabantic, Limburgish and East and West Flemish. Unlike the Northern Dutch, Southerners are spread out between three countries; Belgium (where they are known as Flemings), the Netherlands and a small (~20,000) minority living in France. In the Netherlands, an oft-used adage used for indicating this cultural boundary is the phrase boven/onder de rivieren (Dutch: above/below the rivers), in which 'the rivers' refer to the river Rhine and Meuse. The total population of the Southern Dutch cultural sphere is estimated to be at 9,500,000.

Dutch diaspora

Main article: Dutch diaspora

Since World War II, Dutch Emigrants mainly went to the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and (until the 1970s) to South Africa. Today Dutch immigrants can be found in most developed countries. In several former Dutch colonies and trading settlements, there are isolated ethnic groups of full or partial Dutch ancestry.

Eastern Europe

During the German eastward expansion (mainly taking place between the 10th and 13th century AD) a number of Dutchmen also moved east of their traditional homelands. Mainly settling east of the Elbe and Saale rivers, regions largely inhabited by Polabian Slavs After the capture of territory along the Elbe and Havel Rivers in the 1160s, Dutch settlers from flooded regions in Holland used their expertise to build dikes in Brandenburg, but also settled in and around major German cities such as Bremen and Hamburg and German regions of Mecklenburg and Brandenburg. From the 13th to the 15th centuries, Prussia invited several waves of Dutch and Frisians to settle throughout the country (mainly along the Baltic Sea coast)

In the early-to-mid 1500s, Mennonites began to move from the Low Countries (especially Friesland and Flanders) to the Vistula delta region in Royal Prussia, seeking religious freedom and exemption from military service. When the Prussian government eliminated exemption from military service on religious grounds, the Mennonites emigrated to Russia. They were offered land along the Volga River. Some settlers left for Siberia in search for fertile land. The Russian capital itself, Moscow, also had a number of Dutch immigrants, mostly working as craftsmen. Arguably the most famous of which was Anna Mons, the mistress of Peter the Great.

Historically Dutch also lived directly East of the German border, most have since been assimilated (apart from ~40,000 recent border migrants), especially since the establishment of Germany itself in 1872. Cultural marks can still be found though. In some villages and towns a Dutch Reformed church is present, and a number of border districts (such as Cleves, Borken and Viersen) have towns and village with an etymologically Dutch origin. In the area around Cleves (Ger.Kleve, Du. Kleef) traditional dialect is Dutch, rather than surrounding (High/Low) German. More to the South, cities historically housing many Dutch traders have retained Dutch exonyms for example Aachen (Aken) and Cologne/Köln (Keulen) to this day.

Southern Africa

The arrival of Jan van Riebeeck, by Charles Bell.

Traditional Cape Dutch architecture (Swellendam).

Main articles: Afrikaner, Afrikaans, Cape Dutch, Boer, and Baster

In South Africa, the Dutch settled the Cape in 1652. Initially the settlement was meant as a re-supply point and way station for Dutch East India Company vessels on their way back and forth between the Netherlands and the East Indies.

The support station gradually became a settler community. However, the rural inhabitants of the colony soon began to dislike the power held by the Dutch India Company (it stopped the colony's policy of open immigration, monopolized trade, combined the administrative, legislative and judicial powers into one body, told the farmers what crops to grow, demanded a large percentage of every farmer's harvest, and harassed them.)

Slowly these farmers moved away from the Cape, eventually becoming known as 'trekboers', and settled deeper into South Africa and eventually Namibia. Today the Boers and Cape Dutch are known collectively as the Afrikaners, while the descendants of Cape Dutch and local black women are known as the Basters.

Their main language is Afrikaans, a language which originated from Dutch and was considered a Dutch dialect until the late 19th century when it became recognised as a distinct language. Although some sources would suggest that they are, the two languages are not quite mutually intelligible, even though speakers of each language can acquire the other with relative ease. Afrikaans is grammatically far simpler than Dutch, and vocabulary items are generally abbreviated in a clearly patterned manner (e.g. vogel becomes voël (bird), and regen becomes reën (rain)).

See also: Differences between Afrikaans and Dutch

Southeast Asia

Main articles: Indo people and Burghers

Since the 16th century, there has been a Dutch presence in South East Asia, Taiwan and Japan. In many cases the Dutch were the first Europeans the natives would encounter. Between 1602 and 1796, the VOC sent almost a million Europeans to work in the Asia. The majority died of disease or made their way back to Europe, but some of them made the Indies their new home. Interaction between the Dutch and native population mainly took place in Sri Lanka and the modern Indonesian Islands. Most of the time Dutch soldiers intermarried with local women and settled down in the colonies. Through the centuries there developed a relatively large Dutch-speaking population of mixed Dutch and Indonesian descent, known as Indos or Dutch-Indonesians. The expulsion of Dutchmen following the Indonesian Revolt, means that currently the majority of this group lives in the Netherlands.

Australia and New Zealand

Main articles: Dutch New Zealanders, Australians of Dutch descent

Perhaps the most successful integration of Dutch people took place in Australia and New Zealand. After World War II, thousands of Dutch people emigrated to Australia, peaking in the late 1950s and early 1960s. There are 24 Dutch language programs around Australia and weekly and monthly Dutch news papers plus many social, community and religious clubs. Despite these figures, in both Australia and New Zealand Dutch people are highly integrated. Apart from the typical Dutch surnames many descendants bear, they are largely indistinguishable from the largest ethnic groups, the Anglo-Celtic Australians (85% ) in Australia and other New Zealand Europeans in New Zealand. One major exception exists though, and this concerns senior citizens of Dutch decent, many of whom (because of old age or dementia) have lost the ability to speak English and fall back on their mother tongue; Dutch. A major social problem as they largely lack a way to communicate. Their children generally do not speak Dutch natively or sufficiently.

North America

File:Dutch2000.png

Percentage of Dutch Americans per U.S. county according to the 2002 U.S. Census.

File:Dutch-Americans.jpg

A Dutch family in New York ^{(c.1880)
(in attire typical of the South Beveland island of Zealand)}

Main articles: Dutch Americans and Dutch Canadians

The Dutch had settled in America long before the establishment of the United States of America. For a long time the Dutch lived in Dutch colonies, owned and regulated by the Dutch Republic, which later became part of the Thirteen Colonies.

Nevertheless, many Dutch communities remained virtually isolated towards the rest of America up until the American Civil War, in which the Dutch fought for the North and adopted many American ways.

Most future waves of Dutch immigrants were quickly assimilated. There have been three American presidents of Dutch descent: Martin Van Buren (8th, first president who was not of British descent, first language was Dutch), Franklin D. Roosevelt (32nd, elected to four terms in office, he served from 1933 to 1945, the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms) and Theodore Roosevelt (26th).

In Canada 923,310 Canadians claim full or partial Dutch ancestry. The first Dutch people to come to Canada were Dutch Americans among the United Empire Loyalists. The largest wave was in the late 19th and early 20th century, when large numbers of Dutch helped settle the Canadian west. During this period significant numbers also settled in major cities like Toronto.

While interrupted by World War I, this migration returned in the 1920s, but again halted during the Great Depression and World War II. After the war a large number of Dutch immigrants moved to Canada, including a number of war brides of the Canadian soldiers who liberated the Low Countries.

Related ethno-linguistic groups

Frisians

Main articles: Frisians, Friesland, and West Frisian language

Frisians, specifically West Frisians, are an ethnic group; present in the North of the Netherlands; mainly concentrating in the Province of Friesland. Culturally, modern Frisians and the (Northern) Dutch are rather similar; the main and generally most important difference being that Frisians speak West Frisian, one of the three subbranches of the Frisian language, alongside Dutch.

Historically the area that was known as 'Frisia', was much larger than it is now. At its peak around the 720s it stretched from Western Flanders to southern Denmark. A clear Frisian identity did not exist at this time, as during the 8th century, both the people inhabiting the region as well as most of the Germanic dialects they spoke (Old Saxon, Old Dutch and Old Frisian) were still quite similar to each other. After a long period of strife Charlemagne defeated the Frisians and consolidated the Frisian lands into the Frankish Empire. Soon after his death, these territories fell apart again, and, during the Middle Ages, the Frisian territories were autonomous, under the leadership of frequently changing tribal chiefs. After a series of wars with the Dutch, specifically the Counts of Holland, starting in 1272 and ending in 1524, Frisia lost its independence, became part of the Seventeen Provinces in 1579, joined the Dutch revolt against Spain in 1568, and have remained a part of the Netherlands ever since.

Today there exists a tripartite of the original Frisians; namely the North Frisians, East Frisians and West Frisian, caused by the Frisia's constant loss of territory in the Middle Ages, but the West Frisians in the general do not feel or see themselves as part of a larger group of Frisians, and, according to a 1970 inquiry, identify themselves more with the Dutch than with East or North Frisians.

Because of centuries of cohabitation and active participation in Dutch society, as well as being bilingual, the Frisians are not treated as a separate group in Dutch official statistics.

Flemings

Main article: Flemings

With the revolt of 1830 resulting in the creation of the country Belgium, there now existed a strained interplay between the two countries. In the Netherlands the revolt was a traumatic experience and resulted in a reticent and contentious relationship with the newly formed Belgium and a largely indifferent attitude towards its Dutch-speaking inhabitants. In Belgium the Dutch language and culture were oppressed by the new Francophone government. The subsequent social struggle between Dutch-speakers of Belgium, or Flemings, as they began calling themselves (reminiscent of the County of Flanders, a rich and powerful medieval fief known for its struggles with France) and French-speakers would eventually transform Belgium from a unitary into a federal state.

It is a subject of debate as to what extent the Dutch and the Dutch-speaking Belgians/Flemings together form a single cultural community. This can be explained, to some degree, by the popular stereotypes in both the Netherlands and Flanders which are mostly based on the 'cultural extremes' of both Northern and Southern culture and tend to ignore the transitional area formed by the Southern provinces of the Netherlands and most Northern reaches of Belgium.

Until 1980 the current Flemish Community was in fact called the Dutch Cultural Community. Since the end of World War II and the establishment of the European Union, there has been a growing interest in the preservation of what is often called 'Dutch(ophone) Culture' among the various governments of Flanders/Belgium and the Netherlands. The results are various "Cultural treaties" between the Flemish and Dutch governments, an international Dutch-language broadcasting channel (BVN) and linguistic cooperation known as(Taalunie).

See also

• Demographics of the Netherlands
• Dutch Brazil
• Dutch Chilean
• Dutch Surinamese
• Dutch customs and etiquette
• Dutch diaspora
• List of Dutch people
• Netherlands (terminology)
• New Netherlands now called New York.

Further reading

• Four Centuries of Dutch American Relations (1609-2009). Hans Krabbendam, Kees van Minnen and Giles Scott-Smith eds, 2009. SUNY Press
• Die Niederlande. Geschichte und Sprache der Nördlichen und Südlichen Niederlande. J. A Kossmann-Putto and E.H. Kossmann, 1993. Template:De icon
• Dutch South Africa: early settlers at the Cape, 1652 – 1708. By John Hunt, Heather-Ann Campbell. Troubador Publishing Ltd 2005, ISBN 1-904744-95-8. Template:En icon
• Geschiedenis van de Nederlanden. By J.C.H. Blom et al. Template:Nl icon
• Handgeschreven wereld. Nederlandse literatuur en cultuur in de middeleeuwen. By D. Hogenelst and Frits van Oostrom, 1995, Amsterdam. Template:Nl icon
• The Dutch in America, 1609 – 1974. By Gerald Francis De Jong. Twayne Publishers 1975, ISBN 0-8057-3214-4 Template:En icon
• The Dutch in Brazil, 1624-1654. By Charles R. Boxer. The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1957, ISBN 0-208-01338-5 Template:En icon
• The Persistence of Ethnicity: Dutch Calvinist pioneers. By Rob Kroes. University of Illinois Press 1992, ISBN 0-252-01931-8 Template:En icon
• The UnDutchables. By White & Boucke, ISBN 978-1-888580-44-0. Template:En icon
• The Xenophobe's Guide to the Dutch. By Rodney Bolt. Oval Projects Ltd 1999, ISBN 1-902825-25-X Template:En icon
• Voor wie Nederland en Vlaanderen wil leren kennen. By J. Wilmots and J. De Rooij, 1978, Hasselt/Diepenbeek. Template:Nl icon