Netherlands, The

Country, northwestern Europe. Area: 16,034 sq mi (41,528 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 16,300,000. Capital: Amsterdam. Seat of government: The Hague. Most of the people are Dutch. Languages: Dutch (official), English. Religions: Christianity (Roman Catholic, Protestant); also Islam. Currency: euro. The Netherlands' southern and eastern region consists mostly of plains and a few high ridges; its western and northern region is lower and includes polders on the site of the Zuiderzee and the common delta of the Rhine, Meuse, and Schelde rivers. Coastal areas are almost completely below sea level and are protected by dunes and artificial dikes. Although densely populated, the country has a low birthrate. Its developed market economy is based largely on financial services, light and heavy industries, and trade. It is a constitutional monarchy with a parliament comprising two legislative houses; its chief of state is the monarch, and the head of government is the prime minister. Celtic and Germanic tribes inhabited the region at the time of the Roman conquest. Under the Romans trade and industry flourished, but by the mid-3rd century AD Roman power had waned, eroded by resurgent Germanic tribes and the encroachment of the sea. A Germanic invasion (406–407) ended Roman control. The Merovingian dynasty followed the Romans but was supplanted in the 7th century by the Carolingian dynasty, which converted the area to Christianity. After Charlemagne's death in 814, the area was increasingly the target of Viking attacks. It became part of the medieval kingdom of Lotharingia (see Lorraine), which avoided incorporation into the Holy Roman Empire by investing its bishops and abbots with secular powers, leading to the establishment of an Imperial Church. Beginning in the 12th century, much land was reclaimed from the sea as dike building occurred on a large scale; Flanders developed as a textiles centre. The dukes of Burgundy gained control in the late 14th century. By the early 16th century the Low Countries came to be ruled by the Spanish Habsburgs. The Dutch had taken the lead in fishing and shipbuilding, which laid the foundation for Holland's remarkable 17th-century prosperity. Culturally, this was the period of Jan van Eyck, Thomas à Kempis, and Desiderius Erasmus. Calvinism and Anabaptist doctrines attracted many followers. In 1581 the seven northern provinces, led by Calvinists, declared their independence from Spain, and in 1648, following the Thirty Years' War, Spain recognized Dutch independence. The 17th century was the golden age of Dutch civilization. Benedict de Spinoza and René Descartes enjoyed the intellectual freedom, and Rembrandt and Johannes Vermeer painted their masterpieces. The Dutch East India Co. secured Asian colonies, and the country's standard of living soared. In the 18th century Dutch maritime power declined; the region was conquered by the French during the French revolutionary wars and became the Kingdom of Holland under Napoleon (1806). The Netherlands remained neutral in World War I and declared neutrality in World War II but was occupied by Germany. After the war it lost the Netherlands Indies (Indonesia from 1949) and Netherlands New Guinea (in 1962; now Irian Jaya). It joined NATO in 1949 and was a founding member of the European Economic Community (later renamed the European Community and now embedded in the European Union). At the outset of the 21st century The Netherlands benefitted from a strong, highly regulated mixed economy but struggled with the social and economic challenges of immigration.

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The Protestant Church in the Netherlands (Dutch: Protestantse Kerk in Nederland, abbreviated PKN) came into being on 1 May 2004 as a merger of the Dutch Reformed Church (Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk, NHK), the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland, GKN) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Evangelisch-Lutherse Kerk in het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden). Since 1961 the churches have been going through an organizational process to this end.

At the time of its formation, the PKN had roughly 2,000 congregations and a membership of some 2,300,000, about 15% of the Dutch population. After the Roman Catholic Church, it is the second largest church body in the Netherlands. The PKN has four different types of congregations:

1. Protestant Congregations are local congregations from different church bodies that have merged.
2. Dutch Reformed congregations
3. Reformed Churches (congregations of the former Reformed Churches in the Netherlands)
4. Lutheran congregations (congregations of the former Evangelical-Lutheran Church)

Lutheran congregations are special in that they are federated in a separate Lutheran Synod, which is an autonomous synod in the PKN, the Lutheran Synod also sends representatives to the PKN Synod.

Congregations staying out of the merger

Some congregation and members in the Dutch Reformed Church did not agree with the merger and have separated. They have organized themselves in the "Restored Reformed Church", "Hersteld Hervormde Kerk" (HHK). Estimations of their membership vary from 35,000 up to 70,000 people in about 120 local congregations. They disagree with the plural constitution of the merged church which contains, as they see it, contradicting Reformed and Lutheran confessions. This group also condemns same-sex marriages and female clergy.

Only those congregations belonging to the former Reformed Churches in the Netherlands have the legal right to secede from the PKN without losing its property and church during a transition period of 10 years. Five congregations have so far decided to form the "Voortgezette Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland" (Continued Reformed Churches in the Netherlands) with about 3,400 members. Two congregations joined one of the other smaller reformed churches in the Netherlands. Some minorities within congregations that joined the PKN decided to leave the church and associated themselves individually with one of the other reformed churches.

The PKN, being, at least partly, a former state church is a denomination which has both liberal and conservative streams. Local congregations have far reaching powers concerning "controversial" matters (such as whether or not women are admitted as members of the congregation's consistory or admittance to holy communion).

External links

• Protestant Church in the Netherlands official website
• Protestant Church in the Netherlands official website (in Dutch)
• Three-way PKN union drastically changes Dutch denominational landscape (May 24, 2004)
• Hersteld Hervormde Kerk (in Dutch)
• Voortgezette Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland (in Dutch)