HISTORY - Amsterdam Bruges and Brussels - page 451

1945 Holland and Belgium are liberated by Allied
troops.

1949 Indonesia gains its independence from Holland.

1953 Major floods in Holland kill almost 2,000
people, prompting more dams and storm barriers
(the Delta Project, 1958-1997).

1957 Belgium and the Netherlands join the EEC
(Common Market)—the forerunner of today's
European Union—with headquarters in Brussels.

1960 The Benelux economic union between Belgium,

the Netherlands, and Luxembourg—first
proposed in 1944—becomes fully operational.
After years of protests in the Belgian Congo,
Belgium grants independence to the African
nation.

1967 Amsterdam is Europe's center for hippies and the
youth movement.

1975 Suriname (Dutch Guyana) gains its
independence from Holland, and many emigrants
flock to Holland.

1980 Queen Beatrix (b. 1938) becomes ruler of
Holland.

1992 Belgium and the Netherlands sign the Treaty of
Maastricht, which creates the European Union
(EU).

1995 Floods in the Netherlands cause a billion dollars
in damage.

2005 Dutch voters speak for all of Europe by voting
for a referendum that slows the adoption of a
European Constitution.

Today You arrive in Amsterdam, Bruges, and Brussels
and make your own history.