geography summary chapter 1 BuiteNLand

The Netherlands, a rich distribution country

If you zoom into the Netherlands, you can see that our country belongs to the rich part of the world. You can tell that by:

• The distribution of the labour force;
• The high GNP/capita;
• The high position on the Human Development Index.

You can also tell how prosperous we are from the trade balance. Plus, we have a positive balance of payments (BOP).

The Netherlands is rich, mainly due to its favourable location:

• It’s on the edge of the European continent
• It’s at the mouth of two major rivers: the Rhine and the Maas
• It’s on the North Sea (the most heavily sailed water in the world)
• There is a prosperous and densely populated hinterland
• The Netherlands is very well connected to the rest of Europe and the world, over land and by air.

Due to the good connections of waterways between the sea and the hinterland, the Netherlands has been a real trade and distribution country for a very long time.

We have two mainports. The port of Rotterdam and Schiphol, in order to move all the goods and people to the hinterland. The problem is that our infrastructure is starting to congest due to the high traffic density. One the causes of this is the separation of living and working locations, which results in commuting. Our site location factors for foreign companies are losing their appeal because of this. We future will show whether the Netherlands can keep its role as a trade and transport country or whether it slowly has to change into a knowledge-based economy.

The Netherlands is a rich country, on a national level, the differences are not that large, but if you zoom into neighbourhood differences, you will see large cities have problem areas with high unemployment, low income and mostly non-Western allochtonen. This can lead to spatial segregation.

Labour force: Everybody who is paid to work and the unemployed.

GNP/capita: Entire earnings of a country in a year, divided by the number of inhabitants.

Human Development Index: Indicator showing the quality of life in a country, based on purchasing power, life expectancy and literacy rate of the population.

Trade balance: Overview of the value of goods that are imported and exported.

Balance of Payment: Overview of all the country’s income and expenditure with other countries.

Hinterland: An area that depends on a port for the transportation of goods to and from the area.

Distribution country: A country that plays a major role in supplying good to the hinterland.

Mainports: Harbour or airport that plays a major role in international transport.

Infrastructure: Basic system for all forms of traffic to function.

Commuting: Travelling from home the work and back.

Site location factors: Reason for a company to establish itself in a particular area.

Non-Western allochtonen: People who were born in a non-Western country, or who have at least one parent who was born in a non-Western country.

Spatial segregation: When neighbourhoods are clearly divided into particular population groups based on income and/or origin.