About Netherlands

    The Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland (help·info), IPA: [ˈne:dərlɑnt]) is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba. The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy, located in Western Europe. It is bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east.

     The Netherlands is often called Holland. This is formally incorrect as North and South Holland in the western Netherlands are only two of the country's twelve provinces (for more on this and other naming issues see Netherlands (terminology)).

     The Netherlands is a geographically low-lying and densely populated country. It is popularly known for its windmills, cheese, clogs (wooden shoes), delftware and gouda pottery, dikes, tulips, bicycles, and social tolerance. A Parliamentary democracy, the country is also known for its somewhat liberal policies toward drugs, prostitution, gay rights, abortion, and euthanasia.

    The Netherlands has an international outlook; among other affiliations the country is a member of the European Union (EU), NATO, the OECD, and has signed the Kyoto protocol. Along with Belgium and Luxembourg, the Netherlands is also one of three member nations of the Benelux economic union. The country is host to four international courts: the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and the International Criminal Court. All of these courts, as well as the EU's criminal intelligence agency (Europol) are situated in The Hague, which has led to the city being referred to as "the world's legal capital."

About Enschede

     Enschede or Eanske in the local dialect (Twents) is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel, in the Twente region. The municipality of Enschede consisted of the city of Enschede until 1935, when the rural municipality of Lonneker, which completely enclosed the city, was annexed after the rapid industrial expansion of Enschede, which had begun in the 1860's and involved the building of railways and the digging of the Twentekanaal.

     Enschede's latitude and longitude are 52°13'12.51" North, 6°53'47.27" East

     The city is a former centre of textile production. When this industry left the area for cheaper production centers in South-East Asia, Enschede became one of the poorest municipalities in the Netherlands. The biggest challenge of the city is to prevent higher educated (wealthy) citizens from moving to the west (Randstad). Decades of renovation work in the city center have been carried out with the goal of making Enschede more attractive to this group. Modern shopping centers and department stores that until now were only found in much larger cities have been opened. Enschede is host to many yearly festivals and the Old Market Square is often the venue for events, live music and other activities on the weekend. After some hesitation on the part of the city council, Enschede was able to host Roze Zaterdag in the summer of 2004 which was a huge success. This not only gave the local economy a boost, but also drew positive attention to Enschede's gay community, the largest in the east of the Netherlands. In many aspects, Enschede is admittedly trying to present itself as the Amsterdam of the east. In reality Enschede has more in common with Berlin. Like the German capital Enschede has a troubled urban economy, but is still home to a vibrant artistic scene. Also the city's laid-back attitude, by some contributed to the relatively low economic activity of it's inhabitants (labour participation was about 57% in 2006) and the large numbers of students, artists and (semi-) government employees, make for a 'Berlinesque' athmosphere.

     The proximity to Germany has, historically, been another major factor in economic activity, ranging from the smuggling of coffee and tobacco in the 19th and 20th century, to large numbers of Germans, who visit the cities shops and (especially) the weekly markets. Natives of Enschede can therefore be expected to speak German more or less fluently.

     The city is cooperating with the nearby municipalities of Almelo, Borne and Hengelo as Netwerkstad Twente. A governmental plan to merge with Hengelo was discarded by local opposition.

     There are several museums in Enschede, among them the Rijksmuseum Twenthe for art. A museum of natural history and a museum dedicated to the history of the textiles industry, both closed in January 2007, have merged, and will reopen in December 2007 on a new location under the name Twentse Welle ( Wave of Twente). The new location is situated in Roombeek, where a fireworks disaster took place in 2000. The new museum is being placed in partly an old textile factory, due to the textile history Enschede has, and partly in a new building next to the old factory.