Vlaardingen
Vlaardingen is a city in South Holland in the Netherlands. It is located on the bank of the Nieuwe Maas river at the confluence with the Oude Maas. The municipality administers an area of 26.69 km2, of which 23.64 km2 is land, the city is divided into a northern and a southern part by the A20 motorway. On the east the city is separated from Schiedam by the A4 motorway, other places nearby are Maassluis to the west and Delft to the north and Rotterdam to the east and Spijkenisse in the south-west, on the other side of the Nieuwe Maas. The A20 connects Rotterdam to Hoek van Holland, the Beneluxtunnel connects the A20 to the A15. The centre of the town is on the west side of the old harbour, the area around Vlaardingen was already settled by about 2900 to 2600 BC. In 1990, a skeleton dated at about 1300 BC was dug up in the periphery of Vlaardingen, some human nuclear DNA was identified, in 726 or 727 the area is again mentioned as In Pagio Marsum, where a little church was established, around which Vlaardingen formed.
The church is mentioned on a list of churches Willibrord, the Apostle to the Frisians, in 1018 Vlaardingen was a stronghold of Dirk III, who levied an illegal toll on ships on the Meuse river. An army sent by German Emperor Henry II in order to stop this practice was defeated by Dirk III in the Battle of Vlaardingen, in 1047, his successor Dirk IV repelled another such attack. The flood disaster of December 21,1163, ended the growth of Vlaardingen, the Counts of Holland moved away and its development stagnated. It is known that in 1273 Vlaardingen was granted city rights by Floris V, older city rights are possible, but not provable. In 1574, during the Eighty Years War of Dutch independence, Vlaardingen became a shipbuilding area and a significant harbour for the herring fishing industry. The fishing boats ceased to use Vlaardingen in the years after World War II, because of the industrialization in and close to Vlaardingen, the city suffered from heavy air pollution and sometimes sick making smog during the 1970s.
One day, a school had to be closed because of the smog. Many environmental groups arose in and around Vlaardingen and the it was seen as one of the most dirty cities of the country, there are still some ship repair business in Eastern Vlaardingen beside the Nieuwe Maas River. The Vulcaanhaven was for years the largest privately owned artificial harbour in the world. The last major herring factory, Warmelo & Van Der Drift, left Vlaardingen in the middle of 2012 to relocate to Katwijk aan Zee, there are still some ferry terminals. Historical buildings in the include the Grote Kerk, the Waag next to the church and the old town hall, all on the Markt, the former marketplace, the Visbank at the harbour
Conurbation
In most cases, a conurbation is a polycentric urbanised area, in which transportation has developed to link areas to create a single urban labour market or travel to work area. The term conurbation was coined in 1915 by Patrick Geddes in his book Cities In Evolution, the term as described is used in Britain, whereas the term in the United States is most closely equivalent to metropolitan area as used by the Census Bureau. It may consist of a city and its suburbs. A conurbation should be contrasted with a megalopolis, where the areas are close but not physically contiguous. The cities and towns of Port Louis, Beau Bassin-Rose Hill, Quatre Bornes, Vacoas-Phoenix and other urbanized villages form a large, a large part of this conurbation is located in the district of Plaines Wilhems. This network of urban areas has a population of 530,920 as of 2011. Johannesburg and Tshwane are currently merging to form a region that comprises a population of 14.6 million people, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region consists of Mumbai and its satellite towns.
Developing over a period of about 20 years, it consists of seven municipal corporations, the region has an area of 4,355 km² and with a population of 20,998,395, and is among the top ten most populated urban agglomerations in the world. It is linked together through the Mumbai Suburban Railway system and a network of roads. The population of the NCR region is 21.7 million, Dhaka has recently been linked with Narayanganj and Gazipur city such that there are no gaps between Dhaka and those two cities. The Klang Valley conurbation in the state of Selangor is composed of, Kuala Lumpur, the second largest conurbation by population in Malaysia is Greater Penang. Centred in George Town, the city of the state of Penang, the conurbation includes the following towns in Penang. Lahore–Raiwind–Kala Shah Kaku, the second largest city in Pakistan with its towns of Kala Shah Kaku. Metro Manila, Philippines Bangkok Metropolitan Region, Thailand Ho Chi Minh City Metropolitan Region, comprising Ho Chi Minh City, Bình Dương, Đồng Nai, Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu, Tây Ninh, and Tân An.
Hanoi Metropolitan Region, comprising Hanoi, Bắc Ninh, Thái Nguyên, Vĩnh Phúc, and Việt Trì. Qui Nhơn-Nha Trang-Da Lat Conurbation Belt, comprising Qui Nhơn, An Nhơn, Sông Cầu, Tuy Hòa, Vân Phong Bay, Ninh Hòa, Nha Trang, Dien Khánh, Cam Lâm, Cam Ranh, Trường Sa, Phan Rang, and Da Lat. Huế-Da Nang-Quảng Ngãi Conurbation Belt, comprising Huế, Hương Tra, Hương Thủy, Lăng Cô, Da Nang, Hòa Vang, Hoàng Sa, Hội An, Tam Kỳ, Chu Lai, Dung Quất, Sơn Tịnh and this area is colloquially known as the Area Metropolitana. The Flemish Diamond is the Flemish reference to a network of four areas in Belgium
South Holland
South Holland is a province in the midwestern Netherlands. It has a population of just over 3.6 million, situated on the North Sea in the west of the Netherlands, South Holland covers an area of 3,403 km2, of which 585 km2 is water. It borders North Holland to the north and Gelderland to the east, the provincial capital is The Hague, while its largest city is Rotterdam. Archaeological discoveries in Hardinxveld-Giessendam indicate that the area of South Holland has been inhabited since at least ca.7,500 years before present and permanent settlements probably originated around 2,000 years later, based on excavations near Vlaardingen. In the classical antiquity, South Holland was part of the Roman Province of Germania Inferior, the Romans built fortresses along the border, such as Praetorium Agrippinae near modern-day Valkenburg, Matilo near modern-day Leiden, and Albaniana near modern-day Alphen aan den Rijn. A city was founded near modern-day Voorburg, Forum Hadriani and it was built according to the grid plan, and facilitated a square, a court, a bathhouse and several temples.
After the departure of the Romans, the area belonged to the Frisian Kingdom, in 690, the Anglo-Saxon monk Willibrord arrived near Katwijk and was granted permission to spread Roman Catholicism by the Frankish king Pepin II. He accordingly founded a church in Oegstgeest, after which the area was gradually Christianised. The area was appointed to East Francia in the Treaty of Verdun in 843, after which the king granted lands to Gerolf and this was the birth of the County of Holland. Gerolf was succeeded by Dirk I, who continued to rule Holland under the Frankish king, in 1248, count William II ordered the construction of the Ridderzaal, which was finished by his son and successor Floris V. The first city in South Holland to receive city rights was Dordrecht, the city retained a dominant position in the area until it was struck by a series of floods in the late 14th century. The same century saw a series of civil wars, the Hook and Cod wars. Both his daughter Jaqueline and his brother John, the supported by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy.
The conflict ended in 1490, with John victorious, the area of South Holland remained largely agrarian throughout the late Middle Ages. This changed around 1500, when Holland became Europes most urbanised area, during the Eighty Years War, the area of South Holland was the scene of the Capture of Brielle, the Siege of Leiden and the assassination of William the Silent. The United Netherlands declared their independence in 1581, and Holland quickly emerged as the dominant province, with important trading cities such as Leiden, Gouda. In 1575, the Netherlands first university was founded in Leiden by William the Silent, the Hague, which had originated around the castle of the counts of Holland, became its new political centre. Both the States of Holland and the States General seated in the Binnenhof, the Dutch Golden Age blossomed in the 17th century
Delft
Delft is a city and a municipality in the Netherlands. It is located in the province of South Holland, to the north of Rotterdam, the city of Delft came into being aside a canal, the Delf, which comes from the word delven, meaning delving or digging, and led to the name Delft. It presumably started around the 11th century as a landlord court, from a rural village in the early Middle Ages, Delft developed to a city, that in the 13th century received its charter. The towns association with the House of Orange started when William of Orange, nicknamed William the Silent, at the time he was the leader of growing national Dutch resistance against Spanish occupation, known as the Eighty Years War. By Delft was one of the cities of Holland. An attack by Spanish forces in October of that year was repelled, after the Act of Abjuration was proclaimed in 1581, Delft became the de facto capital of the newly independent Netherlands, as the seat of the Prince of Orange. When William was shot dead in 1584, by Balthazar Gerards in the hall of the Prinsenhof, therefore, he was buried in the Delft Nieuwe Kerk, starting a tradition for the House of Orange that has continued to the present day.
The Delft Explosion, known in history as the Delft Thunderclap, occurred on 12 October 1654 when a gunpowder store exploded, over a hundred people were killed and thousands were wounded. About 30 tonnes of gunpowder were stored in barrels in a magazine in a former Clarissen convent in the Doelenkwartier district, cornelis Soetens, the keeper of the magazine, opened the store to check a sample of the powder and a huge explosion followed. Luckily, many citizens were away, visiting a market in Schiedam or a fair in The Hague, Delft artist Egbert van der Poel painted several pictures of Delft showing the devastation. Historical buildings and other sights of interest include, Oude Kerk, buried here, Piet Hein, Johannes Vermeer, Anthony van Leeuwenhoek. Nieuwe Kerk, constructed between 1381 and 1496 and it contains the Dutch royal familys burial vault, which between funerals is sealed with a 5,000 kg cover stone. A statue of Hugo Grotius made by Franciscus Leonardus Stracké in 1886 and this is the only remaining gate of the old city walls.
The Gemeenlandshuis Delfland, or Huyterhuis, built in 1505, which has housed the Delfland regional water authority since 1645, the Vermeer Centre in the rebuilt Guild house of St. Luke. Windmill De Roos, a mill built c.1760. Restored to working order in 2013, another windmill that formerly stood in Delft, Het Fortuyn, was dismantled in 1917 and re-erected at the Netherlands Open Air Museum, Gelderland in 1920. Delft is well known for the Delft pottery ceramic products which were styled on the imported Chinese porcelain of the 17th century, the city had an early start in this area since it was a home port of the Dutch East India Company. It can still be seen at the pottery factories De Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles, the painter Johannes Vermeer was born in Delft
Trams in The Hague
The The Hague Tram is a tram network forming part of the public transport system in The Hague, the seat of government of the Netherlands. Opened in 1864, the currently has twelve tram lines and four light rail lines. It has been operated by HTM Personenvervoer since 2002, being the successor of N. V. Gemengd Bedrijf Haagsche Tramweg-Maatschappij, the first lines in The Hague were horse drawn. In the first half of the 1880s steam trams appeared, in 06-08-1904 the first electrified line went into service, being line 9 between Plein and Scheveningen Kurhaus. Most of this line is part of the actual line between Vrederust and Scheveningen Noorderstrand. The network consists of 105km of rails and 241 stations running 12 different lines, a 1. 25-kilometre long downtown tunnel for trams, used by Lines 2,3,4 and 6, was opened in March 2004. As a temporary measure a head end stop has been built at Nieuwe Plantage. The route of tram 19 will be extended to TU Delft campus in the near future, maybe even to Rotterdam-The Hague Airport
Westvoorne
Westvoorne is a municipality on the island Voorne-Putten in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of 97.48 km2 of which 44.25 km2 is water and it had a population of 14,013 in 2014. The municipality of Westvoorne was formed on 1 January 1980, through the merger of the municipalities of Oostvoorne. It consists the population centres of Oostvoorne, Tinte, in 2011 Westvoorne has received the QualityCoast Gold Award for its efforts to become a sustainable tourism destination. Because of this award Westvoorne has been selected for inclusion in the atlas for sustainable tourism DestiNet
Trams in Rotterdam
The Rotterdam tramway network is a key element of the overall public transport arrangements in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Opened in 1879, the currently has nine regular tramlines. It has been operated since 1927 by Rotterdamse Elektrische Tram, the tram network is the citys more extensive public transport system, while the rapid transit Rotterdam Metro is the more utilized system. The RET has had two tramway companies, the RTM and the RETM, respectively. The RTM was founded in 1878 to operate the first horse-drawn tramway in Rotterdam, from until 1904, the RTM ran both horse trams and steam trams in and around the city, which was much smaller than today. Apart from the RTM, there were two other, companies operating tramway networks in and around Rotterdam in the late nineteenth, in 1882, the Schielandsche Tramweg-Maatschappij opened a horse tramway of 1,067 mm gauge from the Hofplein via Schiekade and Bergweg to Hillegersberg. Two decades later, in 1902, the Schiedamsche Tramweg-Maatschappij opened a horse-drawn tramway in Schiedam from the station via Koemarkt to the Hoofdplein and this tramway had a gauge of 1,000 mm.
A new form of transport, the electric tram, arrived in Rotterdam in 1904. On 18 September 1905, the RETM began operating the first electric line in Rotterdam. The current to power the line was supplied from a temporary generator, on 15 October 1906, the municipality started to supply electricity from the new power station, and the 21-year operating concession began. By the end of year, there were already five electric tram lines operating. In 1907 and 1908, more lines entered service, to bring the total to nine lines, the maximum extent of Rotterdams tramway network was 25 lines, and this was reached in 1930. The livery of the RETM trams was dark blue, and was changed to cream. From the 1930s, it was yellow ochre, after 27 March 1907, the horse tramline to Overschie was the only remaining non-electric line of the RETM. Although the horse trams to Hillegersberg and Schiedam were still operating, on 31 December 1917, the Schiedam horsecar line was closed and not replaced. In 1919, the line to Hillegersberg was taken over by the RETM.
In 1922 and 1923, the RETM converted this line to a standard gauge tramway, and in 1924 and 1925. Finally, in 1928, the Overshie line was closed and replaced by a bus line, during this period, the RTM continued to operate trams to and from the islands of South Holland and Zeeland
Rotterdam The Hague Airport
Rotterdam The Hague Airport, located 3 NM north northwest of Rotterdam, is the Netherlands third largest airport. It serves the city of Rotterdam as well as The Hague, the airport handled over 1.5 million passengers in 2013 and features scheduled flights to European metropolitan and leisure destinations. It is used extensively by general aviation and there are several flying clubs, after World War II, the Dutch government decided that a second national airport was needed in addition to Schiphol. Rotterdam had had an airport before the war - Waalhaven airport - but it was damaged in the bombing of Rotterdam. Reconstruction of the airport was not a proposition, so a new location was found in the Zestienhoven polder. Construction of the began in August 1955 and the airport was officially opened in October 1956. Several large international airlines, such as Swissair and Air France, were operating from Rotterdam. However, in the 1970s plans were made to close or move the airport to make room for houses.
The route with the longest continual service, to London Heathrow and this marked the end of KLMs involvement with the airport. However, in December 2012, British Airways began a service to Rotterdam from Heathrow, in October 2014 British Airways announced they would suspend the route again in March 2015. The name of the airport was changed from Zestienhoven to Rotterdam Airport, there is a fair amount of business aviation. With the closure of nearby Ypenburg Airport in 1992 and Valkenburg Naval Air Base in 2006 Rotterdam The Hague airport is now the only remaining airport in the area for those types of flights. The airport is served by bus line 33, which runs between Rotterdam central station, the airport, and further to Meijersplein station, at Meijersplein, you can transfer to metro line E, with frequent service to Den Haag Centraal, Rotterdam Centraal and Rotterdam city center. The airport lies next to the busy A13/E19 motorway, which makes it easily accessible via car
Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Nederlandse Spoorwegen or NS is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. NS provides rail services on the Dutch main rail network, the rail infrastructure is maintained by network manager ProRail, which was split off from NS in 2003. Freight services, formerly operated by NS Cargo, merged with the DB Schenker group in 2000, NS runs 4,800 scheduled domestic trains a day, serving 1.1 million passengers. Also, NS provides international rail services from the Netherlands to other European destinations, the NS was founded in 1938 when the two largest Dutch railway companies, the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij and the Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen, formally merged. These two companies had already been intensively cooperating as early as 1917, There were both economic and ideological reasons for the cooperation. As a result of the First World War, the Dutch economy had declined causing HSM, given their national importance, allowing them to slip into bankruptcy was not considered acceptable.
While remaining independent companies, HSM and SS improved overall efficiency by cooperatively integrating their operations, the Dutch government further supported HSM and SS by purchasing shares in both firms. In 1938, the government merged the two companies to form the Nederlandse Spoorwegen, in the process, the government bought all remaining shares, yet never nationalized the company. Therefore, NS remained, and still is, a company solely owned by the Dutch government. The NS went on a strike once during the war, in the winter of 1944-45, the NS played a pivotal role in the reconstruction of the country. There was little alternative transport in the country besides the train, while the 1950s were a good time for the company, it started to decline in the 1960s, like most other railways around the world. The NS had been involved in the transport of coal from the mines in Limburg to the remainder of the country, the NS responded with an aggressive strategy named Spoorslag 70. This strategy meant, among other things, that the NS substantially increased the number of trains per hour, however, it was quite clear that this would never return the company to profitability.
Nevertheless, the company was declared to be of national importance, in the early 1990s, the government started to question the subsidies given to the NS. Not only were there questions regarding the way the NS spent the subsidies, the government decided on the verzelfstandiging of the NS. The idea was not only rail transport was economically viable. There were two external circumstances which allowed for this to happen, the old CEO of the NS, Leo Ploeger, which allowed the government to name a new CEO which would execute the governments plans. The new CEO was Rob den Besten, the plans entailed that the government would remain responsible for the rail infrastructure, while the NS would provide the transport on a commercial basis
Randstad
The Randstad is a megalopolis in the central-western Netherlands consisting primarily of the four largest Dutch cities and their surrounding areas. Among other things, it contains the Port of Rotterdam, and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. With a population of 7,100,000 it is one of the largest metropolitan regions in Europe, comparable in size to Milan or the San Francisco Bay Area and its one of the most important and densely populated economic areas in northwestern Europe. The Randstads main cities are Almere, Amsterdam, Dordrecht, Haarlem, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Zoetermeer. Although the name Randstad is often translated into English as edge city or border city, a more accurate translation would be rim city. The Dutch name was coined in 1938 by KLM founder Albert Plesman who, while flying over the region, while technically more of a crescent, the ring shape formed by connecting the four major cities of the region led to the use of the name Ring City. Within the Netherlands, a divide between the Randstad and the rest of the country exists.
Recently, Dutch planners have started to refer to the Randstad as Deltametropool, deltametropolis actually consists of two large metropolitan areas,1. The Noordvleugel, consisting of the Haarlem and IJmuiden conurbations in the west, Amsterdam at the centre and Almere, the conurbation of Utrecht can be considered to be part of this wing, but can be excluded. The cultural centre of the Noordvleugel, however, is centered on Amsterdam. Amsterdam recently started to present itself as the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, the expectation is that the use of the Noordvleugel and the Randstad will become less as a result. The Zuidvleugel, stretching some 60 kilometers from Dordrecht in the South East to Leiden in the North, the main conurbations are the Rotterdam and The Hague areas. The virtual centre of the Zuidvleugel lies in between two major cities, near Delft. The first steps toward this development were taken with the construction of a new fast light-rail connection between Rotterdam and The Hague, RandstadRail.
A long-delayed extension of the western A4-motorway from the south of Delft to Rotterdam has been constructed, creating a second connection between Rotterdam, via The Hague, to Amsterdam. A possible new area would be the Zuidoostflank, parallel to the A2 motorway and parallel to the A12 motorway, over the last few decades, a major topic in the Randstad is the conflict between the cities and the towns in between. Cities need more space to expand, yet the towns fear losing their identity, the Randstads borders have never been officially specified. Some consider only the four biggest cities of the Netherlands part of it, others would say that such as Alkmaar, Hoorn
Barendrecht
Barendrecht is a town and lordship in the Netherlands, located as a suburb of Rotterdam in the province of South Holland. The municipality had a population of 47,442 in 2014, the writer Jan Geurt Gaarlandt has been Lord of Barendrecht since 1995. The municipality of Barendrecht includes the communities, Barendrecht-Carnisselande. The name Barendrecht is derived from the Germanic word birni, translated as mud or muddy, the current municipality of Barendrecht is located in the area of three former fiefdoms, East-Barendrecht, West-Barendrecht, and Carnisse. The oldest reference to East-Barendrecht is from 1264 and these fiefdoms were in Riederwaard, an area reclaimed from water since the 12th century but had to deal with frequent dike breaches throughout the 13th and 14th centuries. Further stages in land reclamation, constituting the part of modern Barendrecht, were the Binnenland polder. During the French Period, the three fiefdoms were merged into one municipality Barendrecht, after the French Period, it was split into East and West-Barendrecht, but in 1836 it was again united as one municipality.
Topographic map of Barendrecht, Sept.2014 The population of Barendrecht increased ten-fold in the last 80 years from just under 5,000 in 1930 to close to 50,000 in 2010. During this time the number of homes increased as well, there was an increase in the number of homes in the last 50 years from 2,200 in 1961 to 18,400 in 2011. The overall population increased, whereas the number of persons per household decreased and this is consistent with the general trend in the Netherlands over this period. In 2012, Barendrecht had a population of 47,055, the marital status of the municipality was distributed such that 46% of it population was married, 45% never married, 6% divorced and 4% widowed. Twenty percent of the population of Barendrecht was from foreign origin, the foreign origin of the municipality was 7% Western, 4% Suriname, 3% Turkey, 2% Morocco, 1% Dutch Caribbean and 4% from other countries. Barendrecht had 18,615 households in 2012, this corresponds to an average of 2.5 persons per household, of these households, 24% were made up of individuals, 30% were couples with no children under 18 living with them and 45% contained children under 18.
Barendrecht is home to two clubs, BVV Barendrecht, which plays at the third level of the Dutch football pyramid. BVV Barendrecht won the KNVB Amateur Cup in the 2008–09 season, in addition to these clubs there are numerous other sport clubs, including organized badminton, handball, korfball, tennis and field, volleyball and water polo. Athletes from Barendrecht have had success, mostly notably quadruple Olympic swimming champion Inge de Bruijn. She won four medals, two silver medals and two bronze medals in the freestyle and butterfly events at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. During her career she won a total of 36 medals in competitions,18 of these medals were gold
Ridderkerk
Ridderkerk is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality had a population of 45,204 in 2014, the municipality of Ridderkerk includes the following towns and townships, Oostendam and Slikkerveer. Ridderkerk has a museum, de oudheidkamer, about the history of the town, the Centre of Ridderkerk has a central square for events and there is a theater. Waterbus, At the Waterbus stop de Schans you can board the number 20 Waterbus to Dordrecht, Hendrik Ido Ambacht, Alblasserdam, at the Waterbus stop de Schans you can take line 6 to, Krimpen aan de Lek and Kinderdijk. The bus services are operated by RET and they go to Rotterdam. There are two Arriva bus services to Zwijndrecht and Hendrik Ido Ambacht, dutch Topographic map of the municipality of Ridderkerk, June 2015 Official website
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