This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: Ten subjects have been replaced in June 2020.[1]. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (June 2020)

The Canon of the Netherlands (Dutch: Canon van Nederland; also known as the Canon of Dutch History) is a list of fifty topics that aims to provide a chronological summary of Dutch history to be taught in primary schools and the first two years of secondary school in the Netherlands.[2][3] The fifty topics are divided into fourteen sections.

Canon

The Canon of Dutch History was prepared by a committee headed by Frits van Oostrom and presented to the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Maria van der Hoeven, on 16 October 2006.

A revised version was presented to the Dutch government on 3 October 2007 and in October 2008 it was agreed to include the canon in the school curriculum by 1 August 2009. An updated version was presented in June 2020, with ten topics replaced, parts rewritten and other modifications made to make the canon more diverse and accessible.[4][5]

The canon was designed to provide an overview of "what everyone ought to know, at the very least, about the history and culture of the Netherlands", as well as providing a framework for the teaching of History in Dutch schools.[6] Schools are not obliged to teach the canon, in accordance with the Freedom of education principle incorporated in the Dutch constitution (article 23) that guarantees the right of parents to have their children educated in accordance with their religious and other views.

The website entoen.nu is responsible for developing the canon for use in schools and in society in general.[7]

The 14 sections

  1. The Low Countries by the Sea
  2. On the outer edges of Europe
  3. Conversion to Christianity
  4. The Dutch language
  5. An urban center and trading centre at the confluence of the Rhine, the Meuse and the Scheldt rivers
  6. The Dutch Republic emerges from an uprising
  7. The flowering of the Golden Age
  8. A trading nation and colonial power
  9. A nation-state under a constitutional monarchy
  10. The rise of modern society
  11. The Netherlands during the time of the world wars from 1914 to 1945
  12. The welfare state, democratisation and secularisation
  13. The diversification of the Netherlands
  14. The Netherlands in Europe

The 50 topics

Topic Section Date Description
1 Dolmens 3 c. 3000 BCE Early farmers
2 The Roman limes 2, 3 47 - c. 400 On the borders of the Roman empire
3 Willibrord 3 658 - 739 Spread of Christianity
4 Charlemagne 2 742 - 814 Emperor of the Western world
5 Hebban olla vogala ... 4 c. 1100 Earliest fragment of Old Dutch script
6 Floris V, Count of Holland 6 1254 - 1296 A Dutch Graaf and a discontented nobility
7 The Hanseatic League 5 1356 - c. 1450 Trading cities in the Low Countries
The 'Printing press' was originally at No. 8 in the first version. In the revised version it was replaced by 'Christiaan Huygens', now at No. 21 in the list. 4 c. 1450 Printing Revolution
8 Erasmus 3 1466? - 1536 An international humanist
9 Charles V 2, 6 1500 - 1558 The Low Countries as an administrative unit
10 The Beeldenstorm 3, 6 1566 Religious conflict
11 William the Silent 6 1533 - 1584 From rebellious nobleman to 'Father of the Nation'
12 The Dutch Republic 6 1588 - 1795 An exceptional federal republic
13 The Dutch East India Company 8 1602 - 1799 Expansion overseas
14 The Beemster polder 1, 6 1612 The Netherlands and water
15 The Grachtengordel 5, 6 1613 - 1662 Urban expansion in the seventeenth century
16 Hugo Grotius 6, 7 1583 - 1645 A pioneer of modern international law
17 The Statenbijbel 3, 4 1637 The Book of Books
18 Rembrandt 7 1606? - 1669 The great painters
19 The Atlas Maior of Joan Blaeu 7, 8 1662 Mapping the world
20 Michiel de Ruyter 7 1607 - 1676 Naval heroes and Dutch naval power
21 Christiaan Huygens 7 1629-1695 Science in the Dutch Golden Age
22 Spinoza 7 1632 - 1677 Seeking the truth
23 Slavery 8 c. 1637 - 1863 Trafficking and forced labour in the New World
24 Buitenplaatsen 7, 9 17th and 18th century Summer residences in the country
25 Eise Eisinga 9 1744 - 1828 The Enlightenment in the Netherlands
26 The Patriots 9 1780 - 1795 Crisis in the Republic
27 Napoleon Bonaparte 9 1769 - 1821 The Kingdom of Holland
28 William I 9 1772 - 1843 The United Kingdom of the Netherlands
29 The first railway 10 1839 The Industrial Revolution
30 The Dutch constitution 9 1848 A state's most important law
31 Max Havelaar 4, 8 1860 Protest against colonial abuse in the Dutch East Indies
32 Opposition to child labour 10 19th century Out of factories and into schools
33 Vincent van Gogh 10 1853 - 1890 Modern art
34 Aletta Jacobs 10, 12 1854 - 1929 Emancipation of women
35 The First World War 10, 11 1914 - 1918 War and neutrality
36 De Stijl 11 1917 - 1931 Revolution in Design
37 Crisis years 11 1929 - 1940 Society in the Great Depression
38 The Second World War 11 1940 - 1945 Occupation, resistance and liberation
39 Anne Frank 11 1929 - 1945 The Holocaust in the Netherlands
40 Indonesia 11, 13 1945 - 1949 A colony wrests itself free
41 Willem Drees 12 1886 - 1988 The welfare state
42 The watersnood 1, 12 1 February 1953 The perils of a low-lying country
43 Television 12 from 1948 A breakthrough in media technologies
44 Port of Rotterdam 12 from c. 1880 Gateway to the world
45 Annie M.G. Schmidt 4, 12 1911 - 1995 Going against the grain in a bourgeois society
46 Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles 13 from 1945 The West decolonises
47 Srebrenica 14 1995 The dilemmas of peacekeeping
48 Veelkleurig Nederland 13 from 1945 A multicultural society
49 Natural gas 12 1959 - 2030? A dwindling resource
50 Europe 14 from 1945 Netherlands and the European Union

Members of the Committee

See also

References

  1. ^ "Floris eruit, Marga Klompé erin: de nieuwe Canon van Nederland". nos.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  2. ^ "Wat is de Canon van Nederland?" [What is the Canon of Dutch History?] (in Dutch). Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (Netherlands). Retrieved 30 May 2011.
  3. ^ Frits van Oostrom, Hubert Slings, ed. (2007). A Key to Dutch History (PDF). Amsterdam University Press. p. 228. ISBN 978-90-5356-498-1.
  4. ^ "New Dutch Canon updated to include more diverse perspectives". NL Times. Retrieved 2022-05-07.
  5. ^ "More Women, More Colour, More Voices: The Netherlands Overhauls the Canon of Dutch History". the low countries. Retrieved 2022-05-07.
  6. ^ "Entoen.nu: Canon van de Nederlandse geschiedenis" [Entoen.nu: Canon of Dutch history]. VKbanen (in Dutch). 2008-10-13. Archived from the original on 2012-03-13.
  7. ^ "entoen.nu". entoen.nu. Retrieved 2011-12-24.
  8. ^ a b "Over entoen.nu" [About entoen.nu].
  9. ^ "Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland" [Online Women's Dictionary of the Netherlands] (in Dutch). Inghist.nl. 2011-04-29. Retrieved 2011-12-24.

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