The Netherlands Armed Forces are the military services of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The core of the armed forces consists of the four service branches: the Royal Netherlands Navy, the Royal Netherlands Army, the Royal Netherlands Air Force and the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. The service branches are supplemented by various joint support organisations. In addition, local conscript forces exist on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba (AruMil) and Curaçao (CurMil). These operate under the auspices of the Royal Netherlands Navy and the Netherlands Marine Corps. The armed forces are organisationally part of the Ministry of Defence.
Approximately 5 million of the 17 million people in the Netherlands are registered to one of the 35,000 sports clubs in the country. About two thirds of the population older than 15 years participates in sports weekly.
The Dutch public broadcasting system is a group of organizations that are responsible for public service television and radio broadcasting in the Netherlands. It is composed of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO) foundation, which acts as its governing body, and a number of public broadcasters. The Dutch Media Act 2008 regulates how air time is divided and puts the administration of the public broadcasting system in the hands of the NPO Board of Directors.
The Royal Dutch Football Association is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues, the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch men's and women's national teams.
The International Four Day Marches Nijmegen is the largest multiple day marching event in the world. It is organised every year in Nijmegen, Netherlands in mid-July as a means of promoting sport and exercise. Participants walk 30 km (19 mi), 40 km (25 mi) or 50 km (31 mi) daily, depending on their age and gender and, on completion, receive a royally approved medal (Vierdaagsekruis). The participants are mostly civilians, but there are also a few thousand military participants. Military participants' distance is 40 km, in uniform, carrying at least 10 kg (22 lb) marching weight for men aged 18–49; for women, the weight is optional.
The Royal Dutch Hockey Association is the official governing body of Field hockey in the Netherlands. It governs both the indoor and outdoor field hockey leagues, as well as the Netherlands national field hockey team and the Netherlands women's national field hockey team.
The Netherlands national men's field hockey team represents the Netherlands in international men's field hockey and is controlled by the Koninklijke Nederlandse Hockey Bond, the governing body for field hockey in the Netherlands.
Willem Johan Herman Mulier, known as Pim Mulier was one of the leading figures in the sporting history of the Netherlands.
In the Dutch honours system, most orders are the responsibility of ministers of the Netherlands Government. The house orders, however, are awarded at the discretion of the Dutch monarch alone.
The avondvierdaagse is an annual Dutch and Surinamese walking event where the participants walk every evening for four days.
The Dutch Olympic Committee*Dutch Sports Federation, generally abbreviated NOC*NSF, is the overall coordinating Dutch sports organisation that also functions as the Dutch National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee. NOC*NSF, based at the National Sports Centre Papendal in Arnhem, is the umbrella organisation for sports in the Netherlands, representing more than 23,000 sports clubs and 5,2 million Dutch people involved in sports.
The Cross for the Four Day Marches is a Dutch Royal decoration awarded for successful participation in the International Four Days Marches Nijmegen held annually at Nijmegen, The Netherlands. The full title of the decoration is Kruis Voor Betoonde Marsvaardigheid. It is more commonly referred to as the Vierdaagse Cross or Vierdaagsekruis.
The Group Medal of the Four Day Marches is a non wearable bronze presentation medal awarded to each registered group who successfully completes all four days of the International Four Days Marches Nijmegen held annually at Nijmegen, Netherlands.
The Orderly Medal of the Four Day Marches was awarded between in 1965 and 2016 by the KNBLO, or Royal Dutch League for Physical Education, to those who gave support to walkers participating in the International Four Days Marches held annually at Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Agneta Wilhelmina Johanna van Marken-Matthes was a Dutch entrepreneur. She and her husband Jacques van Marken were involved in the manufacture of yeast throughout their lives, and were engaged in the co-operative movement, taking care of their workers. Matthes and Van Marken created living quarters for workers in her hometown, Delft in South Holland, named Agnetapark after her. These are considered a model for the co-operative development and construction of garden cities for workers. Matthes founded and ran a Delft perfume factory, Maison Neuve, to take advantage of a by-product from the yeast factory.
Cornelis "Cees" Vervoorn is a retired swimmer from the Netherlands. He competed at the 1976, 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics in seven events; in 1980, he finished fourth, sixth and seventh in the 100 m and 200 m butterfly and 4 × 100 m medley relay, respectively. In the 100 m butterfly final, he clocked 55.25, missing the bronze medal by 0.12 s. In the semifinal he swam 55.02, qualifying first for the final.
The Royal Dutch Swimming Federation is the official governing body for swimming, in the Netherlands. The federation overlooks several other sports including competition swimming, open water swimming, water polo, diving and synchronized swimming. The federation is based in Nieuwegein and affiliated with the national sports body NOC*NSF. The responsibility of the KNZB is to organize and track various events. When a new organization from one of the water sports joins the KNZB they can participate in the competitions governed by the KNZB. They will then be placed on a ranking list.
As of 2018, Wolters Kluwer ranks as the Dutch biggest publisher of books in terms of revenue. Other notable Dutch houses include Brill and Elsevier.
Countess Anne Philippine Madeleine van Heerdt tot Eversberg-Quarles van Ufford was a Dutch feminist, artist, and peace activist. She was involved, among other things, as a board member of the Dutch Association for Women's Suffrage and as acting president of the World Union of Women for International Peace.
Albertus Antonius Smijers, was a Dutch musicologist who served as Professor of Musicology at the University of Utrecht. As one of the first Dutch musicologists to receive a doctorate, he chaired several organisations such as the International Musicological Society. Smijers was also a noted authority on Josquin des Pres; he published 44 volumes of Werken van Josquin des Prez from 1941 until his death, while another 11 volumes were published posthumously by his students.
