Purmerend Totally Explained

Everything about Purmerend totally explained

) is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland.
The city is surrounded by polders, such as the Purmer, Beemster and the Wormer. The city became the trade center of the region but the population grew relatively slow. Only after 1960 did the population start to grow from around 10.000 to the current 78.307 people (1 November 2007). From the 1960s onwards, Purmerend has seen major expansions. These expansions added new suburbs, providing homes for people working in Amsterdam. This expansion continues to the present date. Purmerend is part of the Randstad, one of the largest conurbations in Europe.

History

Early history

Purmerend was created out of the small fishing village the Purmer, which lay on the land between the Purmermeer (Purmer lake), the Beemstermeer (Beemster lake) and the Wormermeer (Wormer lake). On the south bank of the river de Weere, which used to connect the former Purmer lake and Beemster lake.
Purmerend was founded by a rich banker from Amsterdam, Willem Eggert. In 1410 he was allowed, by HRH Count William VI of Holland (Willem VI van Holland), to build his own fortified castle, Slot Purmersteijn. Construction on the castle was finished in 1413 and it remained standing until it was demolished in 1741 after it had fallen into decline. In 1434 Purmerend was given city rights. And on 21 April 1484 (Some sources claim 14 April 1484) the city was given “marktrechten” (the right to organise two “jaarmarkten” annual markets and a “weekmarkt” weekly market) by Count Jan van Egmond. This meant merchants from outside of Purmerend could now offer there merchandise for sale on the market. Before 1484 only food products for its own population were allowed to be sold.

15th century

By 1500 Purmerend had grown considerably, as can be seen on maps dating from that time period. They show that the town had a rectangular shape and was crossed by two roads: one leading north-south, the other east-west. The draining of the Beemster Lake in 1612 and the Purmer Lake in 1622 meant a great loss in fishing grounds to Purmerend. However, the new and fertile soil favoured agriculture and livestock breeding, making Purmerend prosperous again. Purmerend now became the centre of an agricultural region, the produce of which was sold on the markets of Purmerend.

20th century

During World War II Purmerend was occupied by Axis forces on 14 May 1940 when the Kingdom of the Netherlands capitulated to Nazi Germany after the bombing of Rotterdam. World War II ended for Purmerend when it was finally liberated from the Axis invaders on Wednesday 9 May 1945 by allied soldiers. After almost 5 years of occupation.

21st century

Purmerend was named Kermisstad van Nederland. (Funfair City of the Netherlands) in 2003. After the funfair Purmerend is most famous for its cattle market, the so called Koemarkt (Cattle market), where cattle are sold and/or traded, most commonly cows and sheep. (External Link

) After the many cattle diseases of the between 1995 and 2001 this has no longer been allowed. It was reinstated on a smaller scale on January 2002.

Geography and Climate

Geography

Purmerend lies on a swampy and watery area known as Waterland. When the first settlers began cultivating the land, consisting mostly of turf (veen), they dug ditches that run parallel to each other to drain excess water. As a side effect of this process the land began to sink. This resulted in a never ending battle against the water. And made agriculture near impossible at the time. It also meant that any structure needed to be build on an artificial Terp or natural hill. The former being true for Purmerend which was build on the bank of the river de Where, that linked the former Beemster and Purmer lakes.

Districts

Purmerend is made up of the following districts.

Centrum ('het stadje')
Zuiderpolder
Overwhere-Noord
Overwhere-Zuid
De Gors-Zuid
De Gors-Noord
West
Purmer-Zuid
Purmer-Noord
Wheermolen
Weidevenne
Baanstee-West
Baanstee-Oost
Baanstee-Noord
De Koog
Molenkoog
Hazepolder The municipality of Purmerend also contains the towns/hamlets of Purmerbuurt and partially the Purmer. (The Purmer is shared with Edam-Volendam and Waterland)

Climate

Month	JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	MAY	JUN	JUL	AUG	SEP	OCT	NOV	DEC	Year
Avg high °C (°F)	5.4 (41.7)	6.0 (42.8)	9.2 (48.6)	12.4 (54.3)	17.1 (62.8)	19.2 (66.6)	21.4 (70.5)	21.8 (71.2)	18.4 (65.1)	14.1 (57.4)	9.2 (48.6)	6.5 (43.7)	13.4 (56.1)
Avg low °C (°F)	0.5 (32.9)	0.2 (32.4)	2.4 (36.3)	4.0 (39.2)	7.8 (46.0)	10.4 (50.7)	12.5 (54.5)	12.3 (54.1)	10.2 (50.4)	7.0 (44.6)	3.9 (39.0)	1.9 (35.4)	6.1 (43.0)
Source: [KNMIhttp://www.knmi.nl/]

Public transportation

Public transportation is mainly focused on Amsterdam, with several bus services and a train service via Zaandam.

Local government

The municipal council of Purmerend consists of 35 seats, which are divided as follows:

Party: - 1 seats

The mayor of Purmerend is Leen Verbeek. (PvdA)

Born in Purmerend

Notable people born in Purmerend:

Jan Stuyt (1868), architect

Pieter Oud (1886), minister of finance and mayor of Rotterdam

Jacobus Oud (1890), architect

Mart Stam (1899), architect, urban planner, and chair designer

Hans Klok (1969), illusionist

Vincent van der Voort (1975), darts player

Sister cities

Purmerend currently has one sister city:

Jihlava, Czech Republic.

Sources

Statistics have been taken from the SDU Staatscourant

Further Information

Get more info on 'Purmerend'.

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