People often call the Netherlands "the country of windmills". The Netherlands is a country with a population of only over 1 million in western Europe. Its real country name is "Netherlands". "Ned" means low, "Lan" means land, which is collectively called "low-lying country". One-third of the Netherlands is only 1 meter above the sea level of the North Sea, and nearly one-quarter is below the sea level, which is really a veritable "Netherlands".

The Netherlands is located in the prevailing westerly belt of the earth, where westerly winds blow all year round. At the same time, it is close to the Atlantic Ocean, and it is also a typical maritime climate country, with land and sea winds all the year round. This gives Holland, which lacks water power and power resources, generous compensation for using wind power.

Dutch windmills were first introduced from Germany. At first, windmills were only used for grinding and the like. In the sixteenth and seventh centuries, windmills were of great significance to the Dutch economy. At that time, all kinds of raw materials, which occupied the primary position in the world's commerce, were transported from various waterways to windmills for processing, including: wood from Nordic countries and Baltic countries, hemp seeds and flax seeds from Germany, cinnamon and pepper from India and Southeast Asia. There are many windmills, sawmills and paper mills in the suburbs of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, the big ports in the Netherlands.

With the large-scale development of the Dutch people's reclamation project, windmills have played a huge role in this arduous project. According to the local humid and rainy climate and changeable wind direction, they reformed the windmill. The first is to equip the windmill with a movable canopy. In addition, in order to be windward in all directions, they installed the roof of the windmill on the rollers. This kind of windmill is called Dutch windmill.

Dutch windmills, the largest of which are several stories high, have wings as long as 2 meters. Some windmills are made of a whole piece of oak. At the end of the 18th century, there were about 12, windmills in the Netherlands, each with 6, horsepower. These windmills are used to grind grain, coarse salt, tobacco leaves, press oil, roll woolen cloth, felt, make paper, and drain water from marshes. It is these windmills that constantly absorb water and drain water, which ensures that two-thirds of the country's land is free from destruction and the threat of artificial fish and turtles.

since the 2th century, due to the development of steam engines, internal combustion engines and turbines, the ancient windmills relying on wind power have once become dim and almost forgotten. However, because the windmill uses natural wind power, there is no danger of pollution and exhaustion, so it has not only been used by the Dutch people until now, but also become a new energy source today, which deeply attracts people.

At present, there are about 2, windmills of all kinds in Holland. The Dutch love their windmills and often praise them in folk songs and proverbs. Windmill buildings are always dressed as beautifully as possible. On grand festivals, windmills are surrounded by garlands, and the sun and stars made of national flags and cardboard are hung.

There is a kind of scenery that stands quietly on the horizon and looks like a fairy tale world from a distance. At that moment, it is doomed that you can't forget the country with its background: this is the windmill, the windmill in the Netherlands.

a long time ago, the Netherlands in western Europe was covered with virgin forests and swamp trees. A vivid description is that until 1 years ago, a squirrel "ran" from one place to another far away, not on the ground, but on the top of a tree. Holland, which is near the North Sea, is a "low-lying country" with many swamps and lakes, and a lot of land is 6 meters below sea level. For example, today's Amsterdam International Airport is located about 4 meters below the sea level of the North Sea. Therefore, the story of the Netherlands is nothing more than the legend of man and nature: windmills, wooden shoes, cheese, and tulips ...

Because of the low terrain, the Netherlands always faces the erosion of the tides, and the instinct of survival gives the Dutch motivation. They build dams and dikes to compete for land in the sea, creating pumping windmills as high as 9 meters and creating a home to live in. In 1229, the Dutch invented the world's first windmill to provide power for human beings. For a long time, people used primitive methods to process and grind grains, first by manual operation, then by horse-drawn treadmills and waterwheels driven by water, and then by windmills. Because Holland is flat and windy, windmills quickly gained popularity. The rapid increase in demand has led to the transformation of windmill technology. The use of windmills is no longer limited to grinding grains, but developed into processing barley, sawing logs into beams and boards, making paper, squeezing oil from various oil crops such as flax seeds and rapeseed, and grinding spices into mustard. Despite its many uses, people prefer to remember the old European saying: "God created man, and Dutch windmills created land." Indeed, without these towering pumping windmills, the Netherlands could not get nearly one-third of its land from the sea, and there would be no fragrance of cheese and tulips later ...

Although the Netherlands is a modern country, it is surprising that it has not lost its ancient tradition, and the windmill, which symbolizes Dutch national culture, still runs faithfully in every corner of the Netherlands. In this "windmill country", there were nearly 1, windmills in its heyday hundreds of years ago, but the advent of other power machinery, such as steam engines, internal combustion engines and motors, eliminated all these windmills, and now there are nearly a thousand left. The Dutch feel that the windmill is the "hero" of their development, so they decide the second Saturday of May every year as "windmill day", on which the windmill in the whole country rotates together and the whole country celebrates. Because windmills are rare, the Dutch, like tourists from all over the world, have to visit the windmill village reserve or the windmill museum to feast their eyes.

Just 2km away from Amsterdam, there is a folk village of windmill in Sandham. It also retains the old buildings and traditional crafts of the 16th and 17th centuries, and integrates modern production methods. Its environment and architecture are distinctive. Houses and small bridges are all made of wood, completely retaining the wooden structure and style of the early industrialization period. Folk village integrates life and tourism, attracting a large number of tourists every year with its quiet and beautiful natural environment, solemn and simple old-fashioned architectural tradition and ancient windmill. In the folk village, there are workshops that use traditional techniques to make wooden shoes and cheese on the spot. For example, wooden shoes are rarely worn by the Dutch now, but in some rural areas, farmers who work in fields or stables occasionally wear them, which reminds people of the warmth and moisture resistance of wooden shoes. In front of a large group of curious tourists from China, the demonstrators in the folk village said some blunt Chinese words that made you laugh, such as "drying", "polishing" and "Dutch technology". This amazing live demonstration made the "rational" tourists in China buy Dutch wooden shoes crazily, even though they all laughed and said not to give people "little shoes" when they went back. The Dutch continue to make their wooden shoes because they are very popular souvenirs. Almost every souvenir store sells wooden shoes with bright colors and different sizes. It is the millions of tourists from all over the world who make the Netherlands a famous tourist country every year, and this ancient tradition of making wooden shoes in the Netherlands can continue.

The village of Kinddek-Elsholt is about 8km away from Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. There are 19 windmills built in 193s-4s, forming the largest windmill group in the world today. Every windmill is a windmill tower, which is conical and the walls are inclined from top to bottom. The 4l rectangular wings of the windmill are fixed on the windmill at the top of the tower. The tower house is divided into several floors for sleeping and eating, and some families have lived in the windmill tower house for 245 years. The windmill of "Tongdi Town", which is open to the public every Saturday in July and August, is a major landscape of Dutch tourism.

For a long time, people have always seen windmills standing on the horizon, no matter from which angle they watch the scenery in Holland. Windmills are the best in the Netherlands, which has a wide horizon and charming clouds. The windmill is the pride and symbol of the Dutch nation, and it is also the inheritance and publicity of Dutch culture. Seen from the front, the windmill is vertical and cross-shaped. Even if it is resting, it still looks full of movement, as if to turn the earth. This impression left indelible memories for people who came here in person, and finally understood why people called windmills "national trademarks" of the Netherlands.

In the Netherlands, windmills, wooden shoes, cheese and tulips, as well as the painting art of canals and Van Gogh, string together beautiful scenery and bring countless dreams and imaginations to tourists. Although windmills are no longer the scenery, modern wind power plants are now appearing on the horizon, especially along the dam or in open and flat areas. Dutch ancestors turned the sea into mulberry fields by windmills and built beautiful homes; I don't know what kind of legends will be created by Dutch descendants in the special natural environment of "fighting the sea" with the wisdom of their predecessors ...