We're starting Europe by learning about the Netherlands (it's hard not to say Holland).
Here are some links for now. I'll be adding more to this post later.
Great site on the Netherlands (hat tip Men-a-Men)
The Dutch Windmill
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I learned some interesting things about the Netherlands today that I didn't know before.
The first is that Holland is just a part of the Netherlands - the two westernmost provinces, as a matter of fact.
The Netherlands are a part of what is still called "The Low Countries" (because of how low they are in relation to sea level). The Low Countries include the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. They got this name from the Romans (who called it Terra Inferior) over 2000 years ago.
The Netherlands are famous for their tulips, but they haven't always been. Tulips were first brought to the Netherlands in 1593 from Turkey.
Did you know that tulips are true clones? That is how they reproduce: the bulb "buds off" a little tiny bulb, which is NOT its child, but part of itself! Yes, but that part grows into a COMPLETE version of its, uh, older "brother". That is why they stay the same in their color and shape. Tulips can be grown from seed but it takes a long time, and often they do not lok like their (real) parents, because some of the curious effects (like the "parrot" tulips) are caused by a virus which is NOT tranmitted to the children, but IS transmitted by cloning.
Another REALLY strange thing about tulips is that, measuring by total DNA, they are the dominant species on earth. We humans have about 3 billion DNA characters (the right term is "bases") in our DNA, but tulips have around 100 billion....
What a great cartoon it might make...
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