1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
3.
North Brabant
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Noord Brabant, also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the west, the northern border follows the Meuse river westward to its mouth in the Hollands Diep strait, part of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. The Duchy of Brabant was a state of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1183 or 1190. Until the 17th century, the area that now makes up the province of North Brabant was mostly part of the Duchy of Brabant, of which the southern part is now in Belgium. In the 14th and 15th century, the experienced a golden age, especially the cities of Brussel, Mechelen, Leuven, Antwerpen, Breda, Bergen op Zoom. After the Union of Utrecht was signed in 1579, Brabant became a battlefield between the Protestant Dutch Republic and Catholic Spain, which occupied the southern Netherlands, attempts to introduce Protestantism into the region were largely unsuccessful, North Brabant remained strongly Roman Catholic. For over a century, North Brabant served mainly as a buffer zone. In 1796, when confederate Dutch Republic became the unitary Batavian Republic and this status ended with the reorganisation by the French, and the area was divided over several departments. This boundary between the Netherlands and Belgium is special in that it does not form a contiguous line, a few of these irregularities were corrected, Huijbergen became totally Dutch, but some remain, notably Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau. The period from 1900 until the late 1960s is called Het Rijke Roomse Leven, in those days every village in North Brabant had a convent from which the nuns operated. Politically, the province was dominated by Catholic parties, the Roomsch-Katholieke Staatspartij and its successor, the Katholieke Volkspartij. The influence of Het Rijke Roomse Leven remains in the form of education where some schools are still Roman Catholic, a cultural divide is still found between the Catholic south and the Protestant north, but with a total of 1. In the province of North Brabant Catholics are no longer a majority of the population as of 2010, only 1–2% of the total population of Catholic area attend mass, and these churchgoers consist mostly of people over 65 years old. With a population density of 501/km², North-Brabant is above average urbanized, the urbanization is at the center of the province at largest, where the kite is located, the rest of the province has a more rural character. The province has preserved some of its scenic nature well, also, south of Eindhoven named De Kempen is a beautiful area with farmlands and forests. In Heeze, also south of Eindhoven, are the areas the Groote Heide. The Strabrechtse Heide holds also the largest fen of the Netherlands, like most of the Netherlands, North Brabant is mostly flat but nearly every part of North Brabant is above sea level, therefore, there are not as many canals as in the lower parts of The Netherlands. Although most of the lives in urban areas, the province is scattered with villages around which most of the land is cultivated
4.
Municipal council (Netherlands)
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In the Netherlands the municipal council is the elected assembly of the municipality. Its main role is laying down the guidelines for the policy of the council of mayor and aldermen and exercising control over its execution by the council of mayor and aldermen. The municipal councils range in size from nine to 45 seats, depending on the municipalitys population, in many municipalities all major political parties contest in the election in addition to local parties. All citizens and foreigners who live in the Netherlands for at least four years in a municipality have the right to vote, ministers and state secretaries in the national government are barred from standing in elections as well as mayors and civil servants employed by the municipality. After the elections the parties in the elect the aldermen. The municipal council is supported by its own civil service headed by the raadsgriffier, members of the council are not paid as full-time politicians, instead, most of them have day job. As in most legislatures, the members of municipal council work in political groups and policy area related committees. The mayor chairs the meetings of the council, some municipalities allow parties to have dual councillors, politicians who are not elected into the city council but are allowed to speak in committees
5.
Burgemeester
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In the Netherlands and Belgium, the mayor is an appointed government position, whose main responsibility is chairing the executive and legislative councils of a municipality. The title is translated in English as burgomaster. In the Netherlands, mayors chair both the council of mayor and aldermen and the municipal council and they are members of the council of mayor and aldermen and have their own portfolios, always including safety and public order. They also have a role for the municipal government, both to its civilians and to other authorities on the local, regional and national level. A large majority of mayors are members of a political party and this can be the majority party in the municipal council, but there are many exceptions on this. However, the mayors are expected to exercise their office in a non-partisan way, the mayor is appointed by the national government for a renewable six-year term. In the past, mayors for important cities were chosen after negotiations between the national parties. This appointment procedure has been criticised because it was seen by some as undemocratic, especially the party D66 had a direct election of the mayor as one of the main objectives in its platform. In the early 2000s, proposals for change were discussed in the national parliament, however, opponents of the status quo were divided between two alternatives, direct election of the mayor by the people or appointment by the municipal council. A constitutional change to direct election gained a majority in both chambers but failed to pass the vote in the Senate in March 2005. In the meantime, although the law remained the same, the practice changed, nowadays, when a vacancy occurs, a special committee of the municipal council interviews candidates, which are pre-selected by the provincial governor. After advice by the committee, the council express its preferences to the Minister of the Interior, who almost always follows this recommendation
6.
Reformed Political Party
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The Reformed Political Party is an orthodox Calvinist political party in the Netherlands. The term Reformed is not a reference to political reform, but is a synonym for Calvinism—a major branch of Protestantism, the SGP is the oldest political party in the Netherlands in its current form, and has for its entire existence been in opposition. The party has, owing to its orthodox political ideals and its role in the opposition. The party has traditionally opposed universal suffrage, seeking to replace this with a form of organic suffrage restricted to heads of households. The SGP was founded on 24 April 1918, by conservative members of the Protestant Anti Revolutionary Party. They did not support female suffrage, which the ARP had made possible, furthermore, they were against the alliance the ARP had formed with the General League of Roman Catholic Caucuses. The party entered the 1918 general elections, but was unable to win any seats, the leading figure in the partys foundation was Yerseke pastor Gerrit Hendrik Kersten. In the 1922 election the party entered Parliament when Kersten won a seat in the House of Representatives. In this period the SGP became most noted for proposing, during the parliamentary debate on the budget of the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Each year the Protestant Christian Historical Union also voted in favor of this motion, the CHU was in cabinet with the Catholic General League, but many of its members and supporters still had strong feelings against the Catholic Church. In 1925 the left-wing opposition also voted in favor of the motion and they were indifferent to the representation at the Holy See, but saw this as a possibility to divide the confessional cabinet. And indeed the cabinet fell over this issue, in what is known as the Nacht van Kersten, in the 1925 elections, the party gained another seat, and in the 1929 election a third seat. It stayed at three seats in the 1933 elections, but lost a seat in the 1937 elections, in which the ARP led by prime minister Hendrikus Colijn performed particularly well. During World War II, Kersten cooperated with the German occupiers to allow his paper and he also condemned the Dutch Resistance, saying the German invasion was divine retribution for desecrating the Lords Day. After the war, he was branded a collaborator and permanently stripped of his seat in the House of Representatives, Kersten was succeeded by Pieter Zandt, under whose leadership the SGP was very stable, continually getting 2% of votes. In the 1956 election, the SGP profited from the enlargement of Parliament and it lost that seat in 1960, but regained it in 1971. In 1961 Zandt died and was succeeded by Cor van Dis sr, after ten years he stood down in favour of Reverend Hette Abma, who also stepped down after ten years, in favour of Henk van Rossum, a civil engineer. In the 1984 European Parliament election, the SGP joined the two other orthodox Protestant parties and they won one seat in the European Parliament, which was taken by SGP member Leen van der Waal, a mechanical engineer
7.
Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
8.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
9.
Central European Summer Time
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It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
10.
Brabantian dialect
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Brabantian or Brabantish, also Brabantic, is a dialect group of the Dutch language. Brabantian expands into small parts in the west of Limburg while its influence on the Flemish dialects in East-Flanders weakens towards the west. In a small area in the northwest of North Brabant, Hollandic is spoken, conventionally, the South Guelderish dialects are distinguished from Brabantian, but there are no objective criteria apart from geography to do so. East Brabantian, spoken in the area east of the river Donge, in the middle and east of North Brabant, the east of the Province of Antwerp, South Brabantian, spoken in the province of Flemish Brabant and the south of Antwerp. Over 5 million people live in an area with some form of Brabantian being the predominant colloquial language out of the areas 22 million Dutch-speakers, compared to the other dialects and sublanguages of Dutch, Brabantian has historically been a major influence on the development of Dutch. In the second if the 14th century, the societal emphasis shifted to Brabant. In the 16th century, when the Low Countries were in turmoil, the migration made the cultural elite move from the oppressive Spanish/Roman Catholic region to the more liberal north. She says that Standard Dutch is a standardized Hollands dialect, the first major formation of Standard Dutch also took place in Antwerp, where a Brabantian dialect is spoken. The default language being developed around then thus mainly Brabantian influences, the early modern Dutch written language was initially influenced primarily by Brabantian, with strong influence from the Hollandic dialect after the 16th century. Since then, it has diverged from Standard Dutch, evolving in its own way, about one quarter of the Dutch-speaking population lives in the Brabantian dialect zone. In the Netherlands, rural areas still retain their original Brabantian dialects. In large Dutch cities, such as Breda and Eindhoven, where the Industrial Revolution drew many people other parts of the country. However, some cities, such as Tilburg and s-Hertogenbosch. In Brussels-Capital Region, French largely replaced Dutch in the mid-20th century, moreover, use of Dutch is reviving because of young Dutch-speaking families moving back from the suburbs to the old city centre, the City of Brussels. The Brabantian is rather close to and contributed to the development of Standard Dutch, a characteristic phrase, houdoe, derives from houd u goed, but colloquial Dutch/Hollandic uses doei. In South Brabantian, Ale, salu e, a calque from French Allez. and Salut. is a common greeting. Brabantian dialects have a characteristic historical tendency towards accusativism, the use of the case instead of the nominative case as well. While the cases themselves have fallen out of use in the modern language, as the accusative case had different forms for masculine and feminine nouns, that allowed the two genders to remain distinguished, and speakers of Brabantian dialects still keep them separate
11.
Municipality
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It is to be distinguished from the county, which may encompass rural territory and/or numerous small communities such as towns, villages and hamlets. The term municipality may also mean the governing or ruling body of a given municipality, a municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district. The term is derived from French municipalité and Latin municipalis, a municipality can be any political jurisdiction from a sovereign state, such as the Principality of Monaco, or a small village, such as West Hampton Dunes, New York. The power of municipalities range from virtual autonomy to complete subordination to the state, municipalities may have the right to tax individuals and corporations with income tax, property tax, and corporate income tax, but may also receive substantial funding from the state. Similar terms include Spanish ayuntamiento, also called municipalidad, Polish gmina, Dutch/Flemish Gemeente, in Australia, the term local government area is used in place of the generic municipality. Here, the LGA Structure covers only incorporated areas of Australia, incorporated areas are legally designated parts of states and territories over which incorporated local governing bodies have responsibility. In Canada, municipalities are local governments established through provincial and territorial legislation, the Province of Ontario has different tiers of municipalities, including lower, upper, and single tiers. Types of upper tier municipalities in Ontario include counties and regional municipalities, nova Scotia also has regional municipalities, which include cities, counties, districts, or towns as municipal units. In India, a Nagar Palika or Municipality is a local body that administers a city of population 100,000 or more. Under the Panchayati Raj system, it directly with the state government. Generally, smaller cities and bigger towns have a Nagar Palika. Nagar Palikas are also a form of local self-government entrusted with duties and responsibilities. Such a corporation in Great Britain consists of a head as a mayor or provost, since local government reorganisation, the unit in England, Northern Ireland and Wales is known as a district, and in Scotland as a council area. A district may be awarded borough or city status, or can retain its district title, in Jersey, a municipality refers to the honorary officials elected to run each of the 12 parishes into which it is subdivided. This is the highest level of government in this jurisdiction. In the United States, municipality is usually understood as a city, town, village, or other local government unit, in the Peoples Republic of China, a direct-controlled municipality is a city with equal status to a province, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing. In Taiwan, a municipality is a city with equal status to a province, Kaohsiung, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei. In Portuguese language usage, there are two words to distinguish the territory and the administrative organ, when referring to the territory, the word concelho is used, when referring to the organ of State, the word município is used
12.
City
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A city is a large and permanent human settlement. Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, a big city or metropolis usually has associated suburbs and exurbs. Such cities are associated with metropolitan areas and urban areas. Once a city expands far enough to another city, this region can be deemed a conurbation or megalopolis. Damascus is arguably the oldest city in the world, in terms of population, the largest city proper is Shanghai, while the fastest-growing is Dubai. There is not enough evidence to assert what conditions gave rise to the first cities, some theorists have speculated on what they consider suitable pre-conditions and basic mechanisms that might have been important driving forces. The conventional view holds that cities first formed after the Neolithic revolution, the Neolithic revolution brought agriculture, which made denser human populations possible, thereby supporting city development. The advent of farming encouraged hunter-gatherers to abandon nomadic lifestyles and to settle near others who lived by agricultural production, the increased population density encouraged by farming and the increased output of food per unit of land created conditions that seem more suitable for city-like activities. In his book, Cities and Economic Development, Paul Bairoch takes up position in his argument that agricultural activity appears necessary before true cities can form. According to Vere Gordon Childe, for a settlement to qualify as a city, it must have enough surplus of raw materials to support trade and a relatively large population. To illustrate this point, Bairoch offers an example, Western Europe during the pre-Neolithic, when the cost of transport is taken into account, the figure rises to 200,000 square kilometres. Bairoch noted that this is roughly the size of Great Britain, the urban theorist Jane Jacobs suggests that city formation preceded the birth of agriculture, but this view is not widely accepted. In his book City Economics, Brendan OFlaherty asserts Cities could persist—as they have for thousands of years—only if their advantages offset the disadvantages, OFlaherty illustrates two similar attracting advantages known as increasing returns to scale and economies of scale, which are concepts usually associated with businesses. Their applications are seen in more basic economic systems as well, increasing returns to scale occurs when doubling all inputs more than doubles the output an activity has economies of scale if doubling output less than doubles cost. To offer an example of these concepts, OFlaherty makes use of one of the oldest reasons why cities were built, in this example, the inputs are anything that would be used for protection and the output is the area protected and everything of value contained in it. OFlaherty then asks that we suppose the protected area is square, the advantage is expressed as, O = s 2, where O is the output and s stands for the length of a side. This equation shows that output is proportional to the square of the length of a side, the inputs depend on the length of the perimeter, I =4 s, where I stands for the quantity of inputs. So there are increasing returns to scale, O = I2 /16 and this equation shows that with twice the inputs, you produce quadruple the output
13.
Jan Weissenbruch
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Jan Weissenbruch, was a 19th-century Dutch painter. In 1846 he spent a year at the Koninklijke Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam and he was a pupil of Isaac Cornelis Elink Sterk, Georg Christiaan Heinrich Hessler, Cornelis Steffelaar, Salomon Verveer, and Anthonie Waldorp. He is known as one of the founders of the Pulchri Studio and made watercolors, etchings and woodcuts as well as paintings, mostly of cityscapes, in 1857 he won his first golden medal at an exhibition in the Hague. In the late 1860s he began to restore paintings, possibly because he suffered from agoraphobia, which hindered him in the last decade of his life
14.
Land van Heusden en Altena
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The Land of Heusden and Altena is a region located in the Dutch province of North-Brabant. In 1904 it consisted of the historical regions Land of Altena, the Land of Heusden and Altena lies on a river island in the estuary of the rivers Rhine and Meuse. It is enclosed by the rivers Boven Merwede, Afgedamde Maas and Oude Maasje/Bergse Maas and it contains the municipalities of Werkendam, Woudrichem and Aalburg. Unlike most parts of North Brabant the Land of Heusden and Altena has a strong Protestant character, former Prime Minister Hendrikus Colijn had his roots in this region
15.
Waal (river)
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The Waal or Rivier Waal is the main distributary branch of river Rhine flowing through the Netherlands. Approximately 80 km, it is the waterway connecting the port of Rotterdam to Germany. Before it reaches Rotterdam, it joins with the Afgedamde Maas near Woudrichem to form the Boven Merwede, along its length, Nijmegen, Tiel, Zaltbommel and Gorinchem are towns of importance with direct access to the river. The river, which is the channel in the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta system. In 1915, a perfectly preserved iron and bronze Roman cavalry helmet, the name Waal, in Roman times called Vacalis, Vahalis or Valis, later Vahal, is of Germanic origin and is named after the many meanders in the river. It is, in turn, thought to have inspired early Dutch settlers of the Hudson Valley region in New York to name the Wallkill River after it. Some of the bends are still visible near the main river and are sometimes reconnected to it in times of high water levels. In the Middle Ages, the name Waal continued after the confluence with River Meuse, the delta parts now known as Boven Merwede, Beneden Merwede and the upper section of river Noord were also called Waal. Near Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, the stream continued west until it flowed into River Oude Maas near Heerjansdam. This last stretch past Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, which separates the islands of IJsselmonde and Zwijndrechtse Waard, still is called Waal. It has been dammed off at both ends, railroad bridges, between Nijmegen and Nijmegen Lent between Zaltbommel and Geldermalsen The Waal has significant adverse water quality due to discharge of raw sewage by France and Germany. A number of pathogens have been monitored to occur in the waters from such sewage. Media related to Waal at Wikimedia Commons
16.
Boven Merwede
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The Boven Merwede is a stretch of river in the Netherlands, mainly fed by the river Rhine. The Merwede is part of the shipping route between Rotterdam and Germany. There is a bridge, from the west side of Gorinchem on the north to the west side of Sleeuwijk on the south
17.
Almkerk
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Almkerk is a village in the municipality of Woudrichem, in the Netherlands. It is located about 7 km south of Gorinchem, until 1973, Almkerk was a separate municipality. Almkerk has a population of more than 3600, J. Kuyper, Gemeente Atlas van Nederland, 1865-1870, Almkerk. Map of the municipality, around 1868
18.
Andel, Netherlands
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Andel is a village in the municipality of Woudrichem, in the Netherlands. It is located about 7 km southeast of Gorinchem, the village itself had 2330 inhabitants as of 2006, together with the surrounding countryside that belong to the village, the population is about 2520. This includes the hamlet of Bronkhorst. Until 1973, Andel was a separate municipality, the village used to consist of two parts, an upstream part named Op-Andel, and a downstream part named Neer-Andel, both on the river Meuse
19.
Giessen, Netherlands
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Giessen is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Woudrichem, about 7 km southeast of Gorinchem, Giessen was a separate municipality until 1973, when it became a part of Woudrichem. Giessen is part of the New Dutch Water Line, carola Schouten, politician J. Kuyper, Gemeente Atlas van Nederland, 1865-1870, Giessen. Map of the municipality, around 1868
20.
Rijswijk, North Brabant
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Rijswijk is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Woudrichem, about 5 km southeast of Gorinchem, Rijswijk was a separate municipality until 1973, when it became part of Woudrichem. J. Kuyper, Gemeente Atlas van Nederland, 1865-1870, Rijswijk, map of the former municipality, around 1868
21.
Statistics Netherlands
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Statistics Netherlands, founded in 1899, is a Dutch governmental institution that gathers statistical information about the Netherlands. In Dutch it is known as the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek and it is a department of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and is located in The Hague and Heerlen. Since 3 January 2004, Statistics Netherlands has been a self-standing organisation and this independent commission must guard the impartiality, independence, quality, relevance, and continuity of the CBS, according to the Law on the CBS of 1996. The CBS has offices in Den Haag and Heerlen, the main office is located in Den Haag. The office in Heerlen was located there by the government in 1973 to compensate the area for the loss of ten of thousands of jobs because of closing the coalmines, the office in The Hague with the name Double U was designed by Branimir Medić and Pero Puljiz. It has a surface of 33,191 m2 and the total cost was €41,000,000, the office in Heerlen was designed by Meyer en Van Schooten Architects in 2009. The office has a surface of 22,000 m2 and parking spaces for 296 cars, glass was used everywhere in the building. The main hall has a roof and the outside walls are fully glass. The several straight staircases in the hall have glass balustrades with a RVS handrail and were manufactured by EeStairs. Queen Beatrix from The Netherlands officially opened the building the 30th of September 2009
22.
Gorinchem
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Gorinchem, also called Gorkum, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of 21.93 km2 of which 3.01 km2 is water and it had a population of 35,271 in 2014. The municipality of Gorinchem also includes the centre of Dalem. It is assumed that Gorinchem was founded circa the year 1000 by fishermen, goriks Heem is first mentioned in a document from 1224 in which Floris IV granted people from Gorinchem exemption of toll payments throughout Holland. Somewhere between 1247 and 1267, Gorinchem became property of the Lords of Arkel, at the end of the 13th century earthen mounts reinforced with palisades were built around the settlement to protect it from domination by the neighboring counties of Holland and Gelre. Half a century later real city walls were complete with 7 gates and 23 watchtowers. Otto van Arkel granted it city rights on 11 November 1322, jan van Arkel had a dispute with Albert I, brother of Willem V of Holland, leading to war and subsequently to the annexation of Gorinchem to Holland in 1417. This resulted in increased trade and Gorinchem grew to be the city of Holland. On 9 July 1572, the Watergeuzen conquered the city and captured 19 Catholic priests, because they refused to renounce their faith, these priests and monks were brought to Brielle where they were hanged and were from then on known among Catholics as the Martyrs of Gorkum. In the 16th century the city walls were so deteriorated that they were replaced with new fortifications and eleven bastions, the new walls were rounded off in 1609 and were placed farther from the town centre, making the city twice as large. In 1673 Gorinchem became part of the old Dutch Water Line, the city walls had four city gates, the Arkel Gate in the north, the Dalem Gate in the east, the Water Gate in the south, and the Kansel Gate in the west. Of these four only the Dalem Gate remains. The others were removed in the 19th century to make way for vehicular traffic, a portion of the Water Gate was preserved in the gardens of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. In the 18th century, the economy went into decline, after the French domination, the retreating French troops took station in the bastion fortress of Gorinchem. After a three-month siege they capitulated but the city was heavily damaged, during the Industrial Revolution, Gorinchem recovered. Increased shipping led to new canals being dug and a connection to the city. Its population quickly rose, filling the innercity and new neighbourhoods had to be built outside the city walls, at the beginning of the 20th century, expansion took place in the Lingewijk and West neighbourhoods. After World War II, expansion started in the portion of the municipality which was completed in the 1970s
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South Holland
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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, Utrecht 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, agriculture 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 later 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 later 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, overall, 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, Delft, 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
24.
Werkendam
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Werkendam is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands. The municipality, part of Land van Heusden en Altena, contains a part of De Biesbosch area as is located in the province of North Brabant. Dussen Hank Nieuwendijk Sleeuwijk t Zand Werkendam Dutch Topographic map of the municipality of Werkendam,2013, public transport is by Veolia neighborhood bus to Gorinchem through Sleeuwijk Tol, and by ferry to Boven-Hardinxveld. The bus between Utrecht and Breda, and the bus between Gorinchem and Den Bosch goes through Sleeuwijk Tol, for road traffic to Dordrecht there is a ferry to cross the Nieuwe Merwede river. Media related to Werkendam at Wikimedia Commons Official website
25.
Zaltbommel
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Zaltbommel is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. Zaltbommel was expanded to its current size on 1 January 1999, by a merger of the municipalities of Brakel, Kerkwijk and Zaltbommel. The municipality is situated in the heart of the Netherlands, close to the A2 Motorway, the line from Utrecht to s‑Hertogenbosch. Dutch Topographic map of Zaltbommel, Sept.2014 The municipality, the town of Zaltbommel was first mentioned as Bomela in the year 850. Zaltbommel received city rights in 1231 and these were renewed in 1316
26.
Gelderland
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Gelderland is a province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country. With a land area of nearly 5,000 km2, it is the largest province of the Netherlands and shares borders with six other provinces, however, both Nijmegen and Apeldoorn are larger cities, Nijmegen being the largest with nearly 170,000 inhabitants. Other major regional centres in Gelderland are Ede, Doetinchem, Zutphen, Tiel, Wageningen, Zevenaar, Gelderland had a population of just over two million in 2015. According to the Wichard saga, the city was named by the Lords of Pont who fought and they named the town they founded after the death rattle of the dragon, Gelre. Historically, the dates from states of the Holy Roman Empire. The County of Guelders arose out of the Frankish pagus Hamaland in the 11th century around castles near Roermond, the counts of Gelre acquired the Betuwe and Veluwe regions and, through marriage, the County of Zutphen. Thus the counts of Guelders laid the foundation for a power that, through control of the Rhine, Waal, Meuse. Further enlarged by the acquisition of the city of Nijmegen in the 13th century. After 1379, the duchy was ruled from Jülich and by the counts of Egmond, the duchy resisted Burgundian domination, but William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg was forced to cede it to Charles V in 1543, after which it formed part of the Burgundian-Habsburg hereditary lands. The duchy revolted with the rest of the Netherlands against Philip II of Spain, after the deposition of Philip II, its sovereignty was vested in the States of Gelderland, and the princes of Orange were stadtholders. In 1672, the province was occupied by Louis XIV and, in 1713. Part of the Batavian Republic, of Louis Bonaparte’s Kingdom of Holland, during the Second World War, it saw heavy fighting between Allied Paratroopers, British XXX Corps and the German II SS Panzer Corps, at the Battle of Arnhem
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Asten, Netherlands
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Asten is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands. It is home to the Royal Eijsbouts bell foundry and also a carillon museum, the spoken language is Peellands, an East Brabantian dialect. Asten Heusden Ommel Asten has a history going back to the Roman period. In the swamp of the national park De Peel an ancient Roman centurion helmet was found. Silhouets of Hunter-Gatherer and Agricultural societies were also found in the area, the village has a castle dating back to the 12th century, at the south of the current village. It has also given its name to the village, Aa-Stein, a second stone-built fortified building was suspected at the north, at the site of the current Slotweg to be precise. Some stone fragments have been excavated, although no evidence of a fortified building has been produced here. The village was pillaged and burnt twice in the 17th century, by Austrian and Swedish army troops
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Baarle-Nassau
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Baarle-Nassau is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands, located in North Brabant province. It had a population of 6,626 in 2014, topographic map of the municipality of Baarle-Nassau, June 2015. It is closely linked, with complicated borders, to the Belgian exclaves of Baarle-Hertog, Baarle-Hertog consists of 26 separate pieces of land. Apart from the main piece located north of the Belgian town of Merksplas, there are 22 Belgian exclaves in the Netherlands, there are also six Dutch exclaves located within the largest Belgian exclave, one within the second-largest, and an eighth within Zondereigen. The smallest Belgian parcel, H22, measures 2,632 square metres, the borders complexity results from a number of equally complex medieval treaties, agreements, land-swaps and sales between the Lords of Breda and the Dukes of Brabant. Generally speaking, predominantly agricultural or built environments became constituents of Brabant and these distributions were ratified and clarified as a part of the borderline settlements arrived at during the Treaty of Maastricht in 1843. For clarification and the interest of tourists, the border is made visible on all streets with iron pins and this way it is always clear whether one is in Belgium or in The Netherlands. This is also visible on the numbers, the style of house numbers is different in both countries and often one will find the Dutch or Belgian flag next to the number. Baarle-Nassau Ulicoten Castelré These are all part of Baarle-Nassau Commune and these are all part of Baarle-Hertog Commune, and are surrounded by Baarle-Nassau Commune
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Bergeijk
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Bergeijk is a municipality and town in the southern Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant. It consists of an area of 101.73 km2 and had a population of 18,279 in 2014 and it is one of 21 municipalities, including Eindhoven, that make up the Eindhoven Region Cooperative. Until 1998 it had the spelling of Bergeyk. Bergeijk is traditionally an area, but tourism and recreation are steadily gaining importance. Among the facilities in the municipality of Bergeijk is a park in the village Westerhoven. Bergeijk is known in the Netherlands for a program on radio, Radio Bergeijk. Bergeijk Boscheind Braambosch Hof t Loo Loveren Luyksgestel Riethoven Rijt Sengelsbroek Walik Weebosch Westerhoven Topographic map of the municipality of Bergeijk, media related to Bergeijk at Wikimedia Commons Official website
30.
Bergen op Zoom
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Bergen op Zoom is a municipality and a city located in the south of the Netherlands. The city was built on a place where two types of soil meet, sandy soil and marine clay, the sandy soil pushed against the marine clay, accumulating and forming hills over several centuries. People called those hills the Brabantse Wal, literally meaning wall of Brabant, Zoom refers to the border of this wall and bergen in Dutch means mountains or hills. The name has nothing to do with the channel the ‘Zoom’ which was later built through Bergen op Zoom. Bergen op Zoom was granted city status probably in 1212, in 1287 the city and its surroundings became a lordship as it was separated from the lordship of Breda. The lordship was elevated to a margraviate in 1559, several noble families, including the House of Glymes, ruled Bergen op Zoom in succession until 1795, although the title was only nominal since at least the seventeenth century. During the early period, Bergen op Zoom was a very strong fortress and one of the main armories. It had a natural defensive site, surrounded as it was by marshes. Furthermore, it could receive reinforcements and supplies by sea, if the army did not have a fleet to blockade its port. Due to these features, the city was one of the strategic points held by the Dutch during their revolt in the Eighty Years War and it was at that time besieged by Alessandro Farnese first in 1588, and by Ambrosio Spinola a second time in 1622. Both sieges were unsuccessful and Bergen op Zoom got the nickname La Pucelle or The Virgin as it was never sieged successfully, in 1747, during the War of the Austrian Succession, the French army laid siege to it again. However, it had no line of fortifications, nor any fortress. After seventy days of siege, the city was taken and thoroughly sacked, during the War of the Seventh Coalition, the town was again besieged by the British in 1814 in a failed attempt to dislodge the French garrison. During the reign of Jan II van Glymes, nicknamed Jan metten Lippen, which means Jan with the big lips, probably caused by an infection, large fairs were held twice a year, in spring and fall, that were known both nationally and internationally. Merchants from all over Europe came to Bergen op Zoom to sell their goods, because of this major economic growth, the Sint-Gertrudischurch was enlarged. The enlargement was called the Nieuw Werck but was never finished, because of the recession of the mid 16th century. The economic recession was largely caused by the bad accessibility of the port, due to a number of floods in Zeeland, because of the great reliance on the port, the economic growth received a major blow. In addition, the modernization of trade techniques, like the permanent stock exchange instead of the fairs, nevertheless, these fairs existed until 1910
31.
Bernheze
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Bernheze is a municipality in the southern Netherlands. It was formed in 1994 from the municipalities of Heesch, Heeswijk-Dinther. The municipality was named after an old farm Bernhese, which came into the possession of the Berne Abbey and this abbey was situated in the village of Bern. The meaning of Bernhese is twofold, Bern is the same as the word born. In 1857 the Berne Abbey was founded in Heeswijk, Heesch Heeswijk Dinther Loosbroek Nistelrode Vorstenbosch Dutch Topographic map of the municipality of Bernheze, June 2015. Media related to Bernheze at Wikimedia Commons Official website
32.
Best, Netherlands
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Best is a municipality and a village in the southern Netherlands. It is situated northwest of the city Eindhoven, and is part of the agglomeration of this city. The headquarters of Europes largest meat processor Vion NV are located in Best, as are Philips Healthcare, the village used to be a part of Oirschot, a nearby town. But as Best was situated on the road from Amsterdam to Maastricht. Each time the military wanted to quarter troops in Best, they had to request to be stationed in Oirschot,10 km away, because of this difficulty, the government decided to separate Best from Oirschot in 1819. Archaeological excavations around the village suggest settlement in the area dating back to the Roman era, the Armenhoef is a monumental farm on the Oirschotseweg 117 in Best. This stable is the oldest still in use within Western Europe, historical building research in 2009 showed that the wooden frame of the stable dates from 1263. The living part of the farm itself is built in recent times, in 1640 at the earliest, the farm is an official monument. The first written text about Best dates back to 1421, the village itself, however, did not exist until the 19th century. There were three villages, Naastenbest in the west, Wilhelminadorp in the south and Verrenbest where Oranjestraat is located. They grew together, and formed the village with the name Best, Best received a train station on the line Rotterdam - Breda - Boxtel - Helmond - Venlo - Maastricht. The line had one track, but traffic congestion necessitated another track. In the 1980s, congestion once again became a problem so two more tracks were added in 2002 and it is now possible to travel to Best from Utrecht or Eindhoven by train. The spoken language is North Meierijs, one can take a bus from the Eindhoven central station to Best. Or one can take a bus from the Tilburg central station to Best
33.
Boekel
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Boekel is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands. The name Boekel can be explained bij the word loo the Dutch word for forest from de heeren Boc and fits in the category as places like Boxmeer. The heeren Boc was seen as the first lord of van Boxmeer, in present time is presumed that the name is derived from Beukeloo or Beukenbos. Boekel Huize Padua Venhorst Boekel is founded somewhere in the Middle Ages as a settlement of a number of farms, in the 13th century Boekel was part of de heerlijkheid Uden. In 1233 a separation took place between the Land van Cuijk and the Land van Herpen and Uden, at that time Uden together with Herpen formed a form of government called a heerlijkheid. Until the foundation of the city of Ravenstein, Herpen was the city of this region. Rutger van Herpen sold or leased 1313 of 1314 the community rights to the residents of Boekel and Volkel, when the noble lord wanted to improve its cash position, then he charges the use of any of its soils, beginning with the wasteland in his heerlijkheid. This common land should particularly think of marshy land and barren higher grounds, in 1324 the heerlijkheid of Uden administratively belonged to the Land of Ravenstein under the rule of the House of Valkenburg until 1396. From the aldermen Herpen and Uden the Heikantsgericht was created in 1339 and these shipsbanks stretched across the entire former heerlijkheid of Uden, consisting of Uden, Boekel and Zeeland. Of these aldermen, which in total consisted of seven members, by childless death of Reinoud of Valkenburg grants the Duke of Brabant Adolf van Kleef with Herpen, Ravenstein and Uden so in 1397 the Land of Ravenstein Kleefs territory aids was. Afterwards the area comes under ruling of Neuburg-Palts in 1629, under the Neubergers ruling the area had religious freedom. Because the neighboring provinces of Brabant and Gelderland from 1648 officially fall under the States-General, the religious freedom provided opportunities for Catholics in the States of Brabant. So the Catholics of Erp built their own church on the border with Boekel. Due to the religious freedom several Catholic religious orders settled in the Land of Ravenstein, in 1741 members of the Brothers Penitents, from the Handelse Kluis themselves wanted to settle in Boekel. Led by Daniël de Brouwer the brothers laid the foundations for the Psychiatric Hospital Huize Padua, from the 17th and 18th centuries various conflicts arise between the villages of Boekel, Uden and Gemert around the demarcation lines between the Ravenstein, Cuijk and Gemert areas. In 1663 the boundary dispute with the Vrije Heerlijkheid Gemert was settled, in 1729, a similar problem with Uden settled
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Boxtel
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Boxtel is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands. This is the origin of the Van Boxtel family, which has numerous descendants in North Brabant, the town was the site of the Battle of Boxtel fought in September 1794 during the Flanders campaign. It is often remembered as the first battle of the future Duke of Wellington. Boxtel Lennisheuvel Liempde Dutch Topographic map of Boxtel, March 2014
35.
Breda
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Breda is a municipality and a city in the southern part of the Netherlands. The name Breda derived from brede Aa and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark, as a fortified city, the city was of strategic military and political significance. Breda had a population of 180,420 in 2014, the area had a population of 324,812. In the 11th century, Breda was a fief of the Holy Roman Emperor. The city of Breda obtained a charter in 1252. After that Breda had the rights to build fortifications, the city constructed brick walls and Roman-style gates. In 1327 Adelheid of Gaveren Breda sold Breda to Duke Johannes III of Brabant, in 1350, the fief was resold to Johannes II of Wassenaar. In 1403 the heiress of his line, Johanna of Polanen, thus, the baron of Breda was also count of Nassau, Germany, prince of Orange and stadtholder of the Dutch Republic. Breda remained part of the barony Breda until it was taken by French revolutionary forces in 1795, the acquisition of the city by the House of Orange-Nassau marked its emergence as a residentiestad. The presence of the Orange-Nassau family attracted other nobles, who built palatial residences in the old quarters of the city. The most impressive one, built by the Italian architect Thomas Vincidor de Bologna for the first Dutch prince, was the first renaissance-style palace built north of the Alps, in the 15th century the citys physical, economic and strategic importance expanded rapidly. A great church was built in Brabantine Gothic style with a gallant 97-metre-high tower, in 1534 Henry III of Nassau-Breda rebuilt the modest medieval fortifications in impressive style. In 1534 a fire destroyed over 90 percent of the city, close to 1300 houses, churches and chapels, only 150 houses and the main church remained. In July 1581, during the Eighty Years War, Breda was captured by surprise by Spanish troops then under the command of Claudius van Barlaymont, although the city had surrendered upon the condition that it would not be plundered, the troops vented their fury upon the inhabitants. In the resulting mayhem, known as Haultpennes Fury, over 500 citizens were killed, the so-called Spaniards Hole marks the spot where the peat-boat allegedly lay, although this has not been historically proven. After a ten-month siege in 1624–25, the city surrendered to the Spaniards under Spinola, in 1637 Breda was recaptured by Frederick Henry of Orange after a four-month siege, and in 1648 it was finally ceded to the Dutch Republic by the Treaty of Westphalia. The Treaty of Breda was signed in the city, July 31,1667, during World War II the city was under German occupation. It was liberated following a successful outflanking manoeuvre planned and performed by forces of 1st Polish Armoured Division of Gen. Maczek on October 29,1944
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Cuijk
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Cuijk is a municipality and a town in upper southeastern Netherlands of pre-historic origin. Its existence is recorded on the Roman roadmap Tabula Peutingeriana under the name of Ceuclum, cuijk is twinned with Maldon in Essex, UK. It is a big town with very good public transport services to nearby Nijmegen. The nearest hospital is at Boxmeer and the nearest international airport is situated in the German town of Weeze, cuijk has a railway station on the Nijmegen to Venlo railway
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Deurne, Netherlands
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Deurne is a rural municipality and eponymous village in the province of North Brabant in the Netherlands. Including the villages of Liessel, Vlierden, Neerkant, and Helenaveen, Deurne had a population of 31,711 in 2014 and cover an area of 118.36 km2. Today only tiny pieces of former peat moor remain, some reflooded as mini wetlands. Deurne railway station In 2009 the new Cultural Centre opened its doors and it is the Martien van Doorne Cultuur Centrum and serves as a theatre, concert hall, and movie theatre. Dutch Topographic map of the municipality of Deurne, June 2015 Media related to Deurne, Netherlands at Wikimedia Commons Official website
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listen); Brabantian: Woerkum) is a municipality and a city in the province of North Brabant in the Netherlands.
Media related to Woudrichem at Wikimedia Commons
Woudrichem
