When you walk the streets of Belgium or the Netherlands, you are struck with the age of the place. Most tourists who stop in Belgium want to visit Brughe and walk along the medieval streets. In Amsterdam, one can enjoy the 16th, 17th and 18th century buildings along the canals. Americans will often comment that there is nothing of this age back in the US.
And yet, both of these countries are younger than the United States of America. Although the Dutch formed a republic in the 16th century, they were not free from Spain until the 17th century. The Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed first in 1815. A short 15 years later the southern section of this kingdom rebelled and became the Kingdom of Belgium (recognized in 1839).
So while Belgium and the Netherlands have a very rich history, as separate countries they are quite a bit younger than the United States of America which was formed in 1776. Even the republic of France (which is what now exists) was only established in 1792. Germany was first a republic in 1918 after having gotten rid of the monarchy. Which isn’t to take away from all of the beautiful places steeped in history and amazing stories, architecture and culture in each of these countries.
The village down the street from where we live has a neanderthal site. Maastricht, where we meet with the church, is an old Roman city. I like mentioning to visitors and locals alike that, when Jesus was walking the streets of Jerusalem, the Romans were living in Maastricht. (That's a picture of Maastricht with three of its church buildings)
History is the story of where you have been and how you have been shaped by those places and events. We are thankful to have so much history in so many different places.
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