The Netherlands in Ten Questions Quiz

Answer: Seals

Pieterburen is a small village in the Dutch province of Groningen, on the shore of the Wadden Sea. As seals occasionally get astray in the Wadden Sea, Lenie 't Hart founded in 1971 a centre to rescue these animals. Since then it grew from just a day care centre to a fully equipped animal hospital, including a laboratory and a quarantine facility.
Lenie 't Hart and the other directors of the Seal Rehabilitation and Research Centre had serious differences, and so 't Hart left her foundation in 2014.

Answer: Friesland

"Chips" is the English synonym for (French) fries, and "country" is of course a synonym for land. Put these two together and you get Friesland.
Friesland is one of the 16 Dutch provinces, and lies in the north of the country. There are 18 municipalities in Friesland, including four of the Wadden islands: Terschellling, Vlieland, Schiermonnikoog and Ameland.
The West Frisian language (related to old English) is a compulsory subject in the Friesian primary and secondary schools, but without the necessary focus on writing in Friesian. The literacy in Friesian is thus already threatened.
Friesland is well known for the Elfstedentocht, a speed skating event on natural ice starting and finishing in Leeuwarden (the capital city) and visiting ten of the other cities in Friesland. Whenever the winter is severe enough to obtain a thick pack of ice on the canals, the Elfstedentocht is organized. Alas, this event is quite rare, with only fifteen events during the 20th Century.

Answer: Efteling

The Efteling in Kaatsheuvel (province of North Brabant) started out as a park for walking and sports. But one of the first attractions when the park opened in 1952, and perhaps still one of the main trumps of the park, was the Fairy Tale Forest - a number of enactments of various fairy tales. Most of the decors of the first ten fairy tales were designed by the famed illustrator Anton Pieck (1895-1987), and later designers have adopted his style (romantic and a bit grim, using only top-quality materials).
Meanwhile several other attractions have been added: roller coasters, tow boat rides, a musical fountain, several ghost trains...
Walibi Holland (originally the Flevohof) is in Biddinghuizen, in the province Flevoland.
Attractiepark Slagharen (in the village Slagharen, province of Overijssel) started as a park with pony rides.
Toverland in Sevenum (province of Limburg) has many indoor attractions.

Answer: Jip and Janneke

Jip was a boy, a toddler, and Janneke was a girl from next door from about the same age. They became best friends. The stories were written for toddlers. The authors published eight stories between 1953 and 1960. The language was very clear and aimed at toddlers, which gave the origin for the expression "jip and janneke language" - clear and simple language to be used by politicians and authorities.
Annie MG Schmidt (1911-1995) was a prolific children's author. Fiep Westendorp (1916-2004) was a famed illustrator of children's stories.
Pim and Pom were two cats in the stories by Fiona van Heemstra and Tingue Donglemans, illustrated by Fiep Westendorp.

Answer: Vaalserberg

The Vaalserberg (literally: Vaals Mountain) is situated in the Dutch province Limburg, exactly at the border with Belgium (more specifically the Walloon part) and Germany. The top thus is also named the drielandenpunt (tripoint). As that location also was the border with Neutral Moresnet up to 1919, the road to the top is named the Viergrenzenweg (quadripoint way) in Dutch, while the French and German translations only refer to three borders.
After the Dutch Antilles lost their relative autonomy within the Netherlands in 2010, the highest point of the Netherlands is considered to be the Mount Scenery (reaching 887 m) on the island Saba.
The Brandberg is the highest elevation in Namibia, at 2 573 m. The Julianatop is the highest point in Suriname, at 1 280 m. The highest mountains in South Africa are the Drakensberg Mountains, with as peak the Mafadi at 3 451 m.

Answer: Act of Abjuration

The Battle of Heiligerlee in 1568 is generally considered the start of the Eighty-Years War, which opposed a number of Dutch noblemen to the Spanish King Philip II (1527-1598).
The latter ruled the Low Countries (today's area of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) with a certain disdain, and with the determination of eradicating all Protestants in the territory. To do as he sought, he needed a relatively large army, paid by (for that time) heavy taxes. William of Orange (1533-1584) called upon several other Dutch noblemen to join forces, and as negotiations did not relieve the tensions, many Dutch noblemen took up arms. A Dutch army invaded Friesland and defeated the local governor appointed by King Philip II in the Battle of Heiligerlee. This was the start of the Eighty Years War, in which both sides committed many atrocities.
In 1579 the provinces that now are part of Belgium, signed the Union of Arras (a pledge to King Philip II), and most of the other provinces signed the Union of Utrecht (a military confederation). In 1581 the Dutch provinces convened the Act of Abjuration, in which they declared unilaterally their independence from Spain.
Battles with mixed outcome succeeded one another, but, in 1609, the Spanish King Philip III and the leaders of the Dutch Confederation signed the Treaty of Antwerp, a truce for twelve years. After this truce, the atrocities started again. It was only the Peace of Munster in 1648 that ended the war and by which Spain acknowledged the Dutch independence.

Answer: Pea soup

Snert is the Dutch word for pea soup. It is a thick soup made with split peas, and usually served with a piece of meat (either a smoked sausage - rookworst in Dutch, or a thick slice of bacon). You need (besides the peas) also pork and several other vegetables, as the soup must have a very thick consistency. Some sources mention that the soup has to be so thick that a spoon can stand upright in it. A quick search on the internet showed me some recipes, with cooking times varying between 75 minutes and 7 hours.
The grilled oysters are "angels on horseback", not typically Dutch.
The oven stew is "hete bliksem" - the Dutch for "hot lightning".
The dried apricots are named "boerenmeisjes", which translates literally to "farmer girls".

Answer: Turks fruit

Paul Verhoeven (born 1938) started his directing career with a few TV productions and short movies. "Turks fruit" ("Turkish Delight", 1973) was his first success.
In "Turks fruit", Rutger Hauer played a womanizing sculptor named Eric. When he met Olga (role by Monique van de Ven), he felt head over heels for her. Eric and Olga married, but they separated and Eric relapsed in his womanizing. When they met again several months later, it became clear they had only a few months to relive the past...

Answer: Gigliola Cinquetti

The Dutch female singers Corry Brokken (1957, with the song "Net als toen"), Teddy Scholten (1959, with the song "Een beetje") and Lenny Kuhr (1969, singing "De troubadour") have all won the Eurovision Song Contest once. In Lenny Kuhr's case, it was a tie with Spain, France and the UK, but the organization of the next Eurovision Song Contest was entrusted to the Netherlands.
The fourth Dutch winner was the band Teach-in with the song "Ding-a-Dong" in 1975.
Gigliola Cinquetti sang "Non ho l'eta" for Italy in 1964 and won.

Answer: Eindhoven

Gerard Philips and his father Frederik founded in 1891 a factory in Eindhoven to produce lightbulbs. The company soon diversified to radio and television, consumer electronics and medical technology. Meanwhile the lightbulb production has ceased, and the lighting division (production of LED technology instead of the obsolete lightbulbs) was split off in 2016. The headquarters was moved to Amsterdam, the city where we also find the headquarters of the liqueur company Lucas Bols.

The headquarters of Verkade (a cookie company) is in Zaandam. And Heerlen houses the headquarters of DSM, a company involved with nutrition, health and materials.