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Dutch History Timeline (Part 9)

Netherlands: Amersfoort - Amsterdam - Apeldoorn - Arnhem - Breda - Dordrecht - Eindhoven - Enschede - Groningen - Haarlem - Hertogenbosch - Leiden - Maastricht - Netherlands Antilles - Nijmegen - Rotterdam - The Hague - Tilburg - Utrecht - Zeeland - Zwolle

Today in Dutch History

Events in Dutch History

Events 1601 - 1,791 of 1,791

  • 1975-11-25 Netherlands grants Suriname independence (National Day)
  • 1976-01-08 Franklin Mint strikes 1st gold coins for Netherlands Antilles
  • 1976-04-29 Minister Irene Vorrink begins fluoridating Dutch drinking water
  • 1976-05-05 Train collision at Schiedam, Netherlands, kills 24
  • 1976-07-14 USSR banishes dissident Andrei Amalrik to Netherlands
  • 1976-09-29 2nd Chamber recognizes Dutch Liberals/social democratic abortion law
  • 1976-10-01 1st Dutch casino opens

Menten Captured

1976-11-14 Dutch war criminal Pieter Menten captured one day after fleeing

  • 1976-12-06 Dutch war criminal Pieter Menten arrested in Zurich, Switzerland
  • 1976-12-14 Dutch 1st Chamber condemns Dutch Liberal/social dem abortion laws
  • 1977-03-22 Dutch coalition government under Labour Party (PvdA) leader Joop den Uyl falls
  • 1977-04-03 Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg adopt summer time
  • 1977-04-27 HCC, Hobby Computer Club, forms in Netherlands
  • 1977-05-14 Netherlands State Delta Kappa Gamma Society forms
  • 1977-05-25 Dutch social democratic party wins parliamentary election
  • 1977-06-11 Dutch marines rescued hostages from a Moluccan held train in Holland
  • 1977-09-30 Dutch Antillean government of Juancho Evertsz resigns
  • 1977-11-12 New Orleans elects 1st black mayor, Ernest "Dutch" Morial
  • 1977-12-14 Dutch war criminal Pieter Menten sentenced in Amsterdam to 15 years
  • 1977-12-19 Dutch government of Van Agt/Wiegel forms
  • 1978-03-07 Dutch 2nd Chamber votes against neutron bomb
  • 1978-05-24 Dutch Investment bill (WIR) law goes into effect
  • 1978-06-01 High Council destroys judgment against Dutch war criminal Pieter Menten
  • 1978-09-24 Dutch women hockey team wins world championship
  • 1978-10-20 US dollar devalued below Dutch Ÿ2
  • 1978-12-04 Dutch war criminal Pieter Menten freed
  • 1979-03-22 Provisional Irish Republican Army assassinates Richard Sykes, the British ambassador to the Netherlands, in The Hague
  • 1979-07-08 Don Martina's MAN party wins election in Dutch Antilles

Queen Abdicates

1980-04-30 Juliana, Queen of the Netherlands, abdicates; Princess Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard (42) becomes Queen Beatrix

  • 1980-06-18 Dutch 2nd Chamber joins oil boycott of South Africa
  • 1980-07-09 Dutch war criminal Pieter Menten sentenced to 10 years in prison
  • 1980-09-01 Dutch embassy in Israel moves from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv
  • 1980-12-18 Dutch 2nd Chamber accepts minister Van Agts abortion laws
  • 1981-02-01 Dutch Antilles census is 231,932
  • 1981-02-28 People's Republic of China throws out the Netherlands ambassador due to Dutch sales of submarines to Taiwan
  • 1981-06-11 Cannibal Issei Sagawa kills Dutch student
  • 1981-09-11 Second government of Dries van Agt forms in the Netherlands
  • 1981-10-05 Dutch guilder/Deutsche mark revalued up 5.5%
  • 1981-10-06 Fokker Fellowship plane crashes at Moerdijk, Netherlands, killing all 17 passengers
  • 1981-10-16 2nd Dutch government of Van Agt resigns
  • 1981-11-14 Old Dutch Windmill in Golden Gate Park repaired and working again
  • 1981-12-16 Dutch Van Agt's 2nd government falls
  • 1981-12-31 Netherlands unemployment stands at record 475,000
  • 1982-02-05 President of Suriname Hendrick Chin A Sen resigns and flees to the Netherlands
  • 1982-03-17 4 Dutch TV crew members shot dead in El Salvador
  • 1982-04-21 Dutch Queen Beatrice addresses US Congress
  • 1982-09-06 Dutch Internal minister Mr M Red assigns BVD to spy on communists
  • 1982-09-08 Dutch social democratic party wins elections, fascist enters Dutch parliament
  • 1982-11-04 Ruud Lubbers becomes Dutch premier
  • 1983-01-15 Dutch political party DS'70 disbands
  • 1983-01-26 Dutch British infrared satellite IRAS launched from California
  • 1983-02-17 Netherlands adopts constitution
  • 1983-07-31 Dutch July average temperature is 20.1°C; warmest July since 1852

Appointment of Interest

1983-10-21 Pope John Paul II names 3 new Dutch bishops

  • 1983-10-29 550,000 Dutch demonstrate against cruise missiles
  • 1984-02-01 China & Netherlands regain diplomatic relations
  • 1984-06-01 Netherlands' Lubbers government gives 48 sites for cruise missiles
  • 1984-06-22 Jolande van de Meer swims Dutch record 800 m freestyle (8:39.30)
  • 1984-08-11 Men's choir Maranatha Netherlands forms
  • 1984-09-26 Dutch Queen Beatrice opens University
  • 1984-10-15 Dutch Centrum Party expels 2nd Member of parliament Hans Janmaat due to fraud
  • 1985-01-02 Leg-spin bowler Bob "Dutchy" Holland takes 4/90 for match figures of 10/144 as Australia beats the West Indies by innings in 5th Test in Sydney; Windies take series, 3-1
  • 1985-02-27 US dollar is worth Ÿ3.9355 (Netherlands)
  • 1985-05-11 Pope John Paul II arrival in Netherlands marred by violent protest
  • 1985-06-06 Dutch 2nd Chamber accepts "status" of Aruba
  • 1985-07-09 South Africa police arrested Dutch ANC'er Klaas de Jong

The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior

1985-07-10 French foreign intelligence agents blow up the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbor, New Zealand, to prevent it interfering with French nuclear tests in the South Pacific. Dutch photographer Fernando Pereira is killed.

  • 1985-07-20 The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles
  • 1985-11-01 Netherlands decides definitive sites for cruise missiles
  • 1986-01-07 Netherlands Bank issues 250 guilder notes

Peres in The Netherlands

1986-01-19 Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres visits Netherlands

  • 1986-04-17 Netherlands & Scilly Islands sign peace treaty (war of 1651)

Historic Publication

1986-05-14 Netherlands Institute for War Documentation publishes Anne Frank's complete diary

  • 1986-06-22 Pirate Radio Euro Weekend (Holland) begins transmitting
  • 1986-06-28 West European leaders, meeting in the Netherlands, delay indefinitely imposing economic sanctions against South Africa
  • 1986-07-14 Second Lubbers government formed in the Netherlands
  • 1987-06-27 In South Africa, the Afrikaans Protestant Church, a breakaway faction of Dutch Reformed Church, is formed
  • 1987-09-07 Netherlands sends 2 minesweepers to Persian Gulf
  • 1987-09-07 South Africa frees Dutch anthropologist/Anc'er Klaas de Young
  • 1987-10-23 Dutch government gives Fokker's Aircraft Ÿ212 million credit
  • 1988-04-07 Murderer of Gerrit Jan Heijns, Ferdi Elsas, arrested in the Netherlands
  • 1988-05-01 Two IRA attacks in and near Roermond, Netherlands, kills 3 British servicemen and wounds 3 more
  • 1988-06-01 Train crash kills two in Zeeland, Netherlands
  • 1988-11-15 The first Fairtrade label, Max Havelaar, is launched in the Netherlands.
  • 1989-02-25 Lowest baramotric pressure in Netherlands (956.7 mbar at De Bilt)
  • 1989-02-26 Lowest barometric pressure in Netherlands (95.5 hPa)
  • 1989-02-27 German war criminals Aus der Funten and Fischer freed in Holland
  • 1989-03-02 GreenLeft (GroenLinks) political party forms from merger of four left-wing parties: the Communist Party, the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party of Radicals, and the Evangelical People's Party in the Netherlands
  • 1989-04-29 Second Lubbers government falls in the Netherlands
  • 1990-02-28 Dutch police seize 3,000 kg of cocaine
  • 1990-04-28 Last issue of Dutch communist daily De Waarheid (The Truth)
  • 1990-08-04 95.5°F (35.3°C) in De Bilt Netherlands (highest Aug temperature in Netherlands)

Event of Interest

1990-09-24 Iraq invades the French and Dutch missions in Kuwait; French President François Mitterrand calls the action a violation of international law; US warship boards an Iraqi-flagged tanker bound for the port of Basrah

  • 1991-01-05 Edwin Jongejans of Netherlands wins 1-metre springboard diving title
  • 1991-01-27 Dutch Pacifist Socialistic Party disbands
  • 1991-02-11 Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) forms in The Hague, Netherlands
  • 1991-02-16 Dutch PPR, Political Party Radicals, disbands
  • 1991-03-30 Last issue of Dutch Newspaper "Vr˜e Folk" (Free People)
  • 1991-04-15 Dutch checker Ton Sijbrands improves world record blind checker games (15 wins)
  • 1991-04-21 French underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio discovers the San Diego, Dutch galleon sunk in 1600 off Fortune Island in the Philippines
  • 1991-09-22 ABN & AMRO Dutch banks merge
  • 1991-11-01 New Dutch Regulations Traffic rules & Traffic signs enforced
  • 1991-11-13 Bomb destroys Dutch Labour party politician Aad Kosto's house in a failed assassination attempt, he survives and in a famous image finds and cuddles his cat
  • 1992-01-01 Curacao becomes 1st in Dutch Antilles to have compulsory education
  • 1992-02-11 F-16 jet crashes at residential district of Hengelo, Netherlands (No deaths)
  • 1992-02-20 Orthodox patriarch Shenouda III visits Netherlands
  • 1992-04-10 Floriade (Flower Show) opens at The Hague, Netherlands
  • 1992-04-13 Magnitude 5.5 earthquake hits Netherlands
  • 1992-10-10 Floriade (Flower Show) closes at Hague, Netherlands
  • 1992-12-21 Dutch DC-10 in fire at landing on Faro Portugal, 56 die
  • 1993-05-10 Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers opens Terminal West at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
  • 1993-06-24 Arab terrorist group planning bombing of Holland and Lincoln Tunnels caught
  • 1993-10-28 Dutch Antilles government of Liberia-Peters resigns
  • 1993-11-19 Curacaose vote to remain part of Dutch Antilles
  • 1993-11-25 Dutch Antilles government of Liberia-Peters falls
  • 1993-12-28 Dutch Antilles government of Yandi Paula forms
  • 1994-01-15 Hague motorist with .51% alcohol in blood, breaks Dutch record (.47%)
  • 1994-03-19 2,500 kilograms of cocaine intercepted in Zeewolde, Netherlands
  • 1994-03-22 Dutch Ambassador to US christens a new tulip (the Hillary Clinton)
  • 1994-04-04 KLM Saab 340B crashes at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 3 killed
  • 1994-05-03 D66/Dutch Liberal Party win Dutch 2nd Parliamentary election
  • 1994-07-31 Netherlands' warmest July since 1783 - average 21.4°C
  • 1994-08-22 Wim Cook government forms in Netherlands
  • 1994-11-03 Dutch & British astronomers find spiral nebula Dwingeloo 1
  • 1994-11-15 Nepal Communist party Dutch Communist Party-UML wins election
  • 1994-12-29 Last Dutch electro-magnetic telephone exchange shuts down
  • 1994-12-31 Anti Apartheid Group of Netherlands (AABN) disbands
  • 1995-03-07 US dollar worth record 1.5330 Dutch guilders
  • 1995-03-08 Dutch Liberal Party wins Provincial-National elections
  • 1995-03-17 British pound hits 2.4545 to Dutch guilder (record)
  • 1995-06-27 Holland's debut in English domestic comp (v Northants, NatWest)
  • 1995-10-10 Most Dutch telephone numbers increase to 10 digits
  • 1996-04-30 Dutch Itallian Beppo-SAX launches from Cape Canaveral
  • 1996-07-15 A Belgian Air Force C-130 Hercules carrying the Royal Netherlands Army marching band crashes on landing at Eindhoven Airport
  • 1998-01-29 Thick Fog causes highway carnage in Belgium and Netherlands, 6 die
  • 1998-08-24 The Netherlands is selected as the site for the trial of the two Libyan suspects of the 1988 Pan Am bombing.

Lockerbie Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103

1999-04-05 Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands

  • 1999-09-16 1st ever season of "Big Brother" reality show begins on the Veronica channel in The Netherlands
  • 2000-05-02 Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands unveils the Man With Two Hats monument in Apeldoorn and the other in Ottawa on May 11, 2000. Symbolically linking both Netherlands and Canada for their assistance throughout World War II.
  • 2000-05-13 In Enschede, the Netherlands, a fireworks factory explodes, killing 22 people, wounding 950, and resulting in approximately €450 million in damage
  • 2000-09-12 Holland (the Netherlands) passes law allowing same-gender marriage, adoption and divorce.
  • 2001-01-31 In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts a Libyan and acquits another for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crashed into Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988
  • 2001-04-01 Netherlands becomes the first country in the world to make same-sex marriage legal
  • 2002-04-01 The Netherlands legalizes euthanasia, becoming the first nation in the world to do so.
  • 2002-05-06 Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is shot and killed at close range with an illegally purchased pistol by an animal rights activist upset with Fortuyn's policies
  • 2002-05-11 Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands unveils the Man With Two Hats monument in Ottawa and Apeldoorn (May 2), 2000, symbolically linking both the Netherlands and Canada for their assistance throughout the Second World War.
  • 2003-02-27 Former Bosnian Serb leader Biljana Plavsic is sentenced by the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, to 11 years in prison
  • 2005-06-01 The Dutch referendum on the European Constitution results in its rejection
  • 2009-02-13 The Dutch Statistics agency confirms the Netherlands are in recession
  • 2009-04-30 Failed attack on the Dutch Royal Family results in 7 deaths and 17 injured
  • 2009-11-13 The Netherlands officially exits the recession after experiencing 0.4% growth in the third quarter, but recovery for the Netherlands still remains fragile as the country is highly dependent on exports to maintain the recovery
  • 2010-10-10 The Netherlands Antilles are dissolved

Election of Interest

2010-10-14 Mark Rutte sworn in as Prime Minister of the Netherlands after his People's Party for Freedom and Democracy party became the largest party in the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections

  • 2011-04-09 Gunman murders five people, injures eleven, and commits suicide in a mall in the Netherlands
  • 2011-12-11 Mosconi Cup nine-ball pool, Las Vegas, Nevada: Team Europe retains trophy with an 11-7 win over US; MVP: Niels Feijen (Netherlands)
  • 2012-04-21 Two trains in Sloterdijk, Netherlands, injure 117 people in a head on collision
  • 2012-04-23 Netherlands Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, tenders resignation, paving the way for early elections
  • 2012-06-15 Five Dutch banks, including ING, receive credit rating downgrades of one or two notches
  • 2012-09-25 Anouchka van Miltenburg is elected President of the House of Representatives in the Netherlands
  • 2013-01-21 Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Netherlands’ Minister of Finance, becomes the President of the Euro Group

Event of Interest

2013-04-30 Willem-Alexander becomes the first male Monarch of Netherlands in 123 years, following the abdication of his mother, Queen Beatrix

  • 2013-12-04 Mosconi Cup nine-ball pool, Las Vegas, Nevada: 4 consecutive titles for Europe after an 11-2 thrashing of US; MVP: Niels Feijen (Netherlands)
  • 2014-12-04 Mosconi Cup nine-ball pool, Blackpool, England: Team Europe beats US, 11-5 for 5th straight title; MVP: Niels Feijen (Netherlands)
  • 2015-12-10 Mosconi Cup nine-ball pool, Las Vegas, Nevada: Team Europe retains title for 6th consecutive year with an 11-7 win over US; MVP: Niels Feijen (Netherlands - 3rd straight year)
  • 2017-03-15 Dutch elections; Prime Minister Mark Rutte's centre-right VVD party win 33 seats vs against 20 for right wing Geert Wilder's Party of Freedom
  • 2017-05-28 Tom Dumoulin wins the 100th Giro d’Italia in Milan; first Dutchman to win

Event of Interest

2017-06-03 Largest-ever exhibition of works by Piet Mondrian opens at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, Netherlands to mark centenary of De Stijl movement

  • 2017-08-04 Aldi supermarket withdraws all eggs from sale after chemical fipronil found in eggs from The Netherlands
  • 2017-08-06 UEFA Women's Euro Final: Dutch forward Vivianne Miedema scores 2 as the Netherlands beat Denmark 4-2 in Enschede, the Netherlands
  • 2018-08-16 World's first floating dairy farm opens in Merwehaven harbour, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with 40 cows milked by robots
  • 2018-12-03 Dutch court in Arnhem rejects man's request to legally be recognised 20 years younger
  • 2019-01-30 Continuous 24 hr church mass lasting 97 days to prevent deportation of Armenian asylum seekers ends after Dutch authorities reconsider at Protestant Bethel Church in The Hague
  • 2019-03-18 Suspected terrorist attack by shooter aboard a tram in Utrecht, Netherlands kills 3 and injures 5

Event of Interest

2019-03-26 Stolen Pablo Picasso painting "Buste de Femme" (Dora Maar) (1938) recovered after 20 years by Dutch art detective

  • 2019-04-09 Wolves have returned to the Netherlands after 140 years claim ecologists
  • 2019-05-13 Diary of Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt's last days rediscovered and displayed for the 400th anniversary of his execution
  • 2019-06-09 1st UEFA Nations League Final, Porto: Guedes scores as Portugal win inaugural tournament final, 1-0 over the Netherlands
  • 2019-07-04 Notorious Dutch crime boss Willem Holleeder sentenced to life for ordering five murders in Amsterdam
  • 2019-07-24 Second heatwave of the summer in Western Europe sets record temperatures in Belgium in Kleine Brogel 39.9C (102F), for Netherlands in Eindhoven 39.3C (102F) and Germany at Geilenkirchen 40.5C (104F)
  • 2019-07-25 High temperature records set across Europe just one day after previous records set, Paris 42.6C (108.7F), Germany 42.6C (108.6F), Netherlands 40.7C (105.2F), Belgium 40.6C (105.2F)
  • 2019-12-20 Landmark climate justice case as Dutch Supreme Court upholds 2013 decision brought by Urgenda Foundation against Dutch government for not reducing carbon dioxide emissions
  • 2020-08-26 Dutch author Marieke Lucas Rijneveld (29) is the youngest to win the International Booker prize for their debut novel "The Discomfort of Evening"
  • 2021-01-15 Dutch government led by PM Mark Rutte resigns after falsely accusing thousands of families of welfare fraud
  • 2021-05-26 In landmark case oil giant Royal Dutch Shell ordered by a Hague court to cut its global carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 [1]
  • 2021-07-15 Devastating floods linked to climate change sweep through towns in western Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, after record rainfall, killing at least 188 people
  • 2022-03-22 Microplastics found in human blood for first time through new research conducted at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands [1]
  • 2022-12-19 Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte formally apologies for the slave trade on behalf of the Dutch state in a speech at the national archives in The Hague [1]
  • 2023-06-19 Historians' study commissioned by Dutch parliament finds rulers Willem III, Willem IV and Willem V made more than €545m profit from Dutch colonies, including through slavery in Africa and Asia [1]
  • 2023-07-01 Dutch King Willem-Alexander makes formal apology for the country's role in the slave trade, at 160th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the Netherlands [1]
  • 2023-07-08 Dutch government led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte collapses over disagreements between coalition partners over asylum policies [1]
  • 2023-11-22 Right-wing Dutch populist Geert Wilders' Freedom Party unexpectedly wins more seats than any other party in the country's general election [1]