The Hague as the disputed showcase of the Dutch State and Dutch national identity 1814–1917

The central question of this article is What does the urban and architectural design of The Hague tell us about the Dutch political and administrative ambitions in representing the state and national identity from 1814–1917? In this period many European capital cities grew fast, governmentas acquired new ambitions and new powers, and nationalism spread. Many governments developed impressive national building activities. In The Netherlands there was hardly any urge to emphasize the state power by transforming the urban landscape even in its governmental center The Hague. One reason is that the dominant liberal politics refrained from social and economic interventions. A second reason is that the various population groups had difficulty to agree on one national building style. Accompanied by a strong ideological discussion, the Dutch polity finally succeeded in producing a governmental architecture (from ca. 1880–1815) in the so-called Dutch Renaissance style. Although the different population groups (orthodox Protestants, Liberals, Catholics) could, each for their own reasons, accept this national style, its characteristics (picturesque, simple and small) lent itself poorly to public governmental commissions on a grand scale.     

Holland as other place and other time: alterity in projected tourist images of the Netherlands

Geographers show keen interest in projected images employed in tourism as these images both reflect the ideas of the image producers and influence tourists’ perceptions and (spatial) behaviour. This article focuses on intentional and unintentional projected images of the Netherlands. The former is especially selective: it relies on stereotypes and presents Holland. The unintentional projected image created in four travel guides is less stereotyped. While the focus is still on Holland, other areas of the country are presented as well. Both intentional and unintentional projected images rely on ’othering’ and ’alterity’ to make the Netherlands a unique destination and to offer the tourists a trip that is far from everyday life. However travel guides use ’alterity’ in different ways and at different levels of scale to create a regional geography of the Netherlands as well.

Microstructural evolution of deformation-modified primary halite from the Middle Triassic Röt Formation at Hengelo, The Netherlands

The microstructure of halite from the subhorizontal, bedded Main Röt Evaporite Member at Hengelo, The Netherlands (AKZO well 382, depth interval of 420–460 m), was studied by transmitted and reflected light microscopy of gamma-irradiation decorated samples. Primary microstructures compare favourably with those found in recent ephemeral salt pans. Large, blocky, fluid-inclusion-poor halite grains and elongated chevrons are interpreted to have formed in the saline lake stage, while void-filling clear halite is interpreted to have formed during the desiccation stage of the salt pan. In addition, in all layers the grains are rich in deformation-related substructures such as slip bands and subgrains indicating strains of a few percent. The study of gamma-irradiation decorated thin sections shows that the main recrystallization mechanism is grain boundary migration. Grain boundary migration removes primary fluid inclusions and produces clear, strain-free new grains. Differential stresses as determined by subgrain size piezometry were 0.45–0.97 MPa. The deformation of the salt layers is probably related to Cretaceous inversion in the area.     

Analysis of input data and seismic hazard assessment for the low seismicity area ‘Belgium,The Netherlands and NW Germany’

From the earthquake catalogue of the region of interest 2–8°E, 49–52°N, only events with intensity > 3 are considered. The fore/aftershocks and the induced seismicity are removed. The completeness and other properties of the remaining data set are investigated. The seismic data, as well as the geological, tectonic, and other geophysical data of the area are used for the determination of the seismotectonic zones. For each zone, the cumulative intensity-frequency relation (taking into account the completeness of the catalogue), the attenuation depending on the direction, the upper bound of intensity and the average depth are calculated. When the seismic activity is changing within a zone, this zone is divided into subzones with an almost constant activity and a b value equal to the value of the whole zone. When necessary for each subzone, a different attenuation coefficient can be used, to take into account more regional effects. Then the seismic hazard is assessed with the modified McGuire program. Annual probability versus intensity for several sites and hazard intensity and probability maps are calculated. Finally, an error discussion of the whole procedure for one test site is given.