The Netherlands

The Netherlands, officially United Kingdom of the Netherlands (UKN), is a nation in the second and third season of GeoFacts Earth. It got founded by the players of Guinea, season one, but since then many other people who have much influence in the Netherlands joined their community. The current King is fnn05, the PM is Gerard.

Current towns are the capital Amsterdam, as well as the towns Brussels, Groningen, Maastricht, Groothertogdom Kleve, Freistadt Frankfurt, Oldenburg, Cologne, Rhine, Bergland, Aachen, New Doggerland, Hannover, Namur, Luxembourg (new), Tiny Lithuania, Lahore, Capetown, Dutch Bahia and Rhodesia.

Former dutch towns were Madagascar, Quebec, Colombo, Calais, The Boer Republic, Netherlands Colony (Libya), Luxemburg, Dutch Goldcoast, Kaapstad, Trinidad, Jutland, Jylland, Charleroi, Berlin-Lübeck, Bahamas, Aruba, Pucalipa, Roy, San Marino, Lanzarote and New Batavia. They were removed from the nation due to inactivity, disputes with other nations or self proclaimed independence. Some of these towns just joined temporarily to gain the national claim bonus of 140 chunks.

Future towns are planned in Germany and France as the Benelux nations are already fully claimed.

## Hanseatic League

The Netherlands were part of the (old) Hanseatic League, an alliance and union between the (former Nordic-) Caleic-Hanoverian Empire, Norway, the North German Bund (former Kleve, later Dutch) and the Netherlands, as well as two planned nations that were deleted before the start of Season 2: Novgorod and the Baltics. This alliance was based on the Hansa Teutonica/Hanseatic League, a trade union in the late medieval times and worked like the European Union, in some regards like the NATO. The nation didn't have other deep alliances due to their neutrality in these times.

The membership of many former Hanseatic players and towns made the Netherlands the successor of some Hanseatic plans until on the 17/08/2022, when the Hanseatic League was recreated after the battle of Ljubljana, with the mostly same principles as the old one, this time including the member states of Bavaria, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Denmark, Königsberg, Pannonia, Sweden and the Netherlands. The Hanseatic League could still be described as a mix of the EU and NATO. The UKN takes part in some infrastructure projects of the Hansa including European icetracks, the recreation of deleted Stockholm and sport events.

## Claims

The Netherlands claims the entire territory of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg as well as parts of western Germany, northern France, other central European territories and the Doggerland island created by dutch players. Africa, South America, southern Europe and Asia are home to some oversea territories, there might be some in other continents in the future, but the dutch government isn't planning to expand outside of Central Europe and the Maldives at all. An important note is that the dutch also claim Paris.

## History

Amsterdam was the second town founded in season 2 and is also the oldest still existing. It was the second town to reach 640 chunks (maximum). The Netherlands is the second nation that got created in season 2, a few moments after the creation of the Gulf Coast Republic, unfortunately its not listed anymore as that old, because foreign people used an exploit to delete nations temporarily. The original town 'Bellingwolde' got never created and the territory became Groningen but under another leadership.

On 11th April the Netherlands merged with Caleic-Hanover but the merge got reversed later because parts of the Union 'Elysium' left the server. The merge happened after two dutch oversea territories - Goldcoast and New Batavia - got sieged and lost after just 30 hours into the war against a coalition of different nations which weren't happy with the colonial policy of the Dutch Empire. The lost war caused the Netherlands to kick a few colonial towns, rename the nation to The Netherlands and reform the colonies as oversea territories. The Dutch government refers to this as the decolonization period.

The Netherlands were involved in three large wars: the Rhine War, the defense of Ljubljana, and the already mentioned colonial wars. There was also a small conflict in Granada, which thankfully never escalated to a war.

In late July the Netherlands has become a constitutional monarchy and the Parliament was founded. Before that the system was "friendocracy" or a flat hierarchy.

## Political system

The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy with most power being in the hands of the Parliament. The monarchy is still intact and has political power, however not in the Parliament decisions. Below the elected parliament are the mayors, who don't have direct political influence in the Netherlands, but they can rule their town how they please, the Netherlands won't force mayors to decisions if the related issue isn't violating national rules or is a danger to national security. There are also some non parliamentarian positions like the political advisor and the judge.

The leader of the Netherlands is fnn05, ruling monarch of the House of Rhine / Holland. The heir to the throne is IndevM, since LOLyeeet left the server. The government also consists of a parlament with a seat for every 10 citizens in the Netherlands rounded up to the closest 10 (currently 7) the September elections were won by gerarD\_de\_Grote (pm), Niiox (vice pm), mete44\_hd, Teplapus, MyNameisEzpaii, IndevM and woli1woli2. These people are the Dutch parliament in September and early October of 2022.

Dutch Political Parties: Carbonara (members:Grand Carbonara ✝️), Toilet Party (members:Aco the lithuanian axolotl), Dutch Nationalist Party (members:GerarD\_de\_Grote, IndevM, Gomma\_tt), Dutch Peace and Neutrality Party (members:mete44\_hd, Teplapus, The\_dark\_luis55, sat6678z), Social Democratic Party (members:MyNameisEzpaii), Dutch constitution party (members:deefooter), Anarchist Party (members:Fuzzycow42), Aachen Party (members:Niiox, woli1woli2, xL3onxo6), Icelandic Representation Party (members:ButtonMC), Koworean Dutch Party (members:LiamSavage(Phantai1)), Dutch Reform Party of the Netherlands (members:Wolfanise). As of 11.09.2022 the Koworean Party is banned as a terrorist organization.

Despite the official capital being in Amsterdam, the Parliament is seated in the town of Maastricht, Southeast of the capital.

## Politics

Since late July the Netherlands has had a lot of internal politics. **Note that his is written by a participant and might be biased.**

### July-August

After Apocolips joined, Gerard started sieging inactive towns for money, and tried to siege the Avocado Republic in retaliation for the murder of Apocolips by one of Avocado's members. Unhappy with Gerard's actions, which they described as aggression, and afraid of further conflicts being provoked by the sieges, Teplapus and Luis made the DPNP, Dutch Neutrality and Peace party, for the upcoming election. Mete44\_hd and Sat6678z joined the party. A few hours later, the DNP, Dutch Nationalist Party, was founded by Gerard and IndevM, with its main agenda being "making the Netherlands stronger". Gomma\_tt later joined the DNP, but without supporting sieges. Meanwhile, the DPNP and Maharcuja's Hanseatic Party formed the NHC, the Neutralist-Hanseatic Coalition.

   In Discord an all-out poster war broke out between the NHC and DNP, with both sides making posters against each other. The posters sometimes reached complete absurdity, with things like "Stop the Teplapus regime" or comparisons between DNP and the Russian government.

Gerard won the election, with all of DNP passing into the Parliament. Luis became the Vice PM, while Maharcuja and Saturn became members of Parliament.

### August-September

The September election was a bit less heated than the August one. The NHC fell apart and the Hanseatic Party was deleted. A minor scandal happened during the election, as it was revealed that Granada, a town Gerard sieged, was active. The two sides also engaged in a poster war, however this one was less heated and the posters were less absurd. Both sides also made videos. Right before the election, the town of Aachen joined, forming the Aachen party in alliance with the DNP.

A funny thing during the election was the reveal that Gerard, this entire time... was called Gerad. In all seriousness though, all the Aachen votes for Gerard were instead placed on "Gerad" which could be explained with most of Aachen not being able to speak English to read the electoral campaigns, so they were just told who to vote for. And whoever told them that made a typo in the name Gerard.

    Gerard once again won the election. The rest of the Parliament split into two coalitions, the opposition DPNP-DSDP being against sieges and the establishment DNP-Aachen supporting sieges. Due to a 4-3 imbalance, DNP-Aachen is capable of cancelling any proposal by the opposition, as well as approving every single one of their own.

Gerard, with some input from the rest of DNP-Aachen, made the first official constitution of the Netherlands, which was approved with 4/7 of the Parliament's votes (as usual, DNP-Aachen for and DPNP-DSDP against). The Constitution is very controversial due to laws about "second-class citizens", the PM's power to veto Parliament decisions, represent the UKN internationally and start sieges, as well as protests requiring approval. However, the Constitution was accepted and is official.

## Towns

### Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, as well as its most important and built-up city. It has its own *article*.

### Brussels

Brussels is the second oldest town of the Netherlands. It was founded by Zroober in the first days of the server, however he later went inactive and transferred ownership to Teun. For a few months Brussels had been called "Vlaandren". The town is located in Northern Belgium and only has two active members. It only has two streets and a few houses, as well as a metro station.

### Kleve

Kleve is a town located in Germany, East of Amsterdam, on the Rhine river. It was founded by Luis as its own nation, Konigreich Kleve, however it later joined the Netherlands. The town itself is quite rural, with notable builds being the Museum and the Town Hall.

### Groningen

Groningen is a town in Northeastern Netherlands, made by Gomma\_tt. It has a huge cathedral, second in size only to IndevM's Castle, a large shop, a palace (I... think it's a palace) and an airport. It has a unique road style.

### Maastricht

Maastricht is a town on the Meuse river made by Gerard to claim Limburg. The town contains the Dutch Parliament building, a square, a train station, some houses and a sheep farm. There is also a canal going through Maastricht - the same one that goes through Cologne. Maastricht has a large outpost in the Alps, with a dam, a water reserve called the Gerardlake, and mansions for rich people.

### Frankfurt

Frankfurt is a town founded by sat6678z located at the intersection of the Rhine and Main rivers. It currently has a few buildings, with more being planned. Frankfurt was the main battlefield of the Rhine War, and it has a memorial dedicated to it. Frankfurt also has an outpost on the island of Rhodes.

### Bergland

Bergland is a town on the intersection of the Rhine and Moselle rivers, founded by ChoclateMilk. It has a rather unique, and slightly messy, building style.

### Cologne

Cologne is a town made by Mete44\_hd. It owns 2 pieces of the Rhine, however most of the buildings are located further inland. The town has flat straight roads, intended for flying machines. There is a canal going through the city.

### Namur

Namur is a town on the Meuse and Sambre rivers made by Teplapus. The town was originally made in the Maldives, however it was then transferred to Wallonia, leaving the Maldives as an outpost. The town has been fully prepared for building, but for now it only has one house.

### Luxembourg

Luxembourg is a town owning Luxembourg and Belgian Luxembourg, made by TurnArMent. The town is the second Dutch town in Luxembourg; the first one was deleted for inactivity. Luxembourg is the planned location of the Zroober Space Center.

### Aachen

Aachen is a relatively new town in Germany made by a group of friends from Bavaria. It exists rather autonomously from the rest of the Netherlands, because most of its members don't speak English that well, and mostly communicate internally. It is the largest UKN town by the amount of active residents.

### Dutch Bahia

Dutch Bahia is a town made by Espy in Salvador, Brasil, as an overseas territory. It only has a few roads made by Indev and it has no buildings.

### Tiny Lithuania

Tiny Lithuania is a town made by Aco the Lithuanian Axolotl in Western Lithuania. It contains a small but beautiful castle and a wheat farm. Also, it's not tiny. At all.

### Oldenburg

Oldenburg is a one-person town made by Maharcuja. It is one of the most beautiful towns in the Netherlands, featuring a port, a large unidentified building (Palace? Town hall?) and a few houses in progress. It has the largest navy on the entire server. Oldenburg is surrounded by a brick fortress.

### Hannover

Hanover is a town made by BoffageGame. It has a very rich history, having been part of Nordic-Hanover, Caleic-Hanover, Elysium, Sweden, Republic of Hannover, People's Republic of Hannover, and finally the Netherlands. It deserves an article of its own.

### New Doggerland

New Doggerland is an island in the Dogger Bank in the North Sea, based on the last years of the real life Doggerland. The idea initially came to Teplapus as a dream in his sleep. The island was made by Yeiiowduck, Espy and Teplapus. Yeiiowduck is the town's mayor.

New Doggerland worships ducks. It has an entire religion based on ducks. There are at least 4 duck builds in New Doggerland, one of which is a giant godly duck.

### Lahore

Lahore is an autonomous town in India owned by Backed Binkie.

### Berlin-Lubeck

Berlin-Lubeck is a bankrupt town in Germany owned by Sat6678z's inactive brother, Mio\_208. There are currently large plans for the town.