On 20/12/2010 11:22 PM, andrel wrote:
>
>> Maybe it is just Hollanders that do not have a sense of
>> history. ;-)
>>
>
> I think it is much broader them just the main cities in the west. Ask a
> Dutchman to cite a bit of Joost van den Vondel and you probably have to
> explain that he is for Dutch literature what Shakespeare is for the
> English. Ask to name the Dutch Nobel prize winner at the beginning of
> the 20th century 'were there any?'.

I'm sure that the same goes, here.

> In short: I am Dutch, I can't cite any Dutch poems or other literature,
> I don't know any influential Dutch people from before I was born outside
> my own field, I assume that the industrial revolution started in
> England,

We think so but prefer to say it started in Britian. :-P

> I cannot date when William of Orange lived to within one or two
> centuries, Napoleon wasn't that a French general? etc.
>

They both had a profound influence on British culture and history so we 
know a bit about them.

> In my experience English people often know more from Dutch history than
> we do.

That could be that the Brits you have met took the trouble to find out 
about the country they were visiting. I did when I worked for Philips in 
Eindhoven and did the same in other countries. The only exception was 
when I was working in Zagreb, I thought it best not to know :-)

> I know other countries are also in the process of loosing
> historical knowledge in the young generation.

True. :-(

> Yet I think are still
> better than the others because we have a much longer experience with it.
> (Or have we?)

Do you?

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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