Assen is a municipality and a city in the north eastern Netherlands, capital of the province of Drenthe.

Population centres

Anreep, Assen, De Haar, Graswijk, Loon, Rhee, Schieven, Ter Aard, Ubbena, Vries, Witten, Zeijen, Zeijerveen, Zeijerveld.

Assen

Assen received city rights in 1809.

Assen's main claim to fame is the motorcycle racing circuit, where on the last Saturday in June the Assen TT is run.

History

The history of the capital of Drenthe actually starts in 1258, when there had to be found a new location for the monastery Maria in Campis , which was originally built near Coevorden. It stood there in a poor peat area, which also happend to flood from time to time. A better and especially dryer spot for the Cistercienzer monastery was found in the form of Witten, on a place where at the time only a few farms were localized. Around it were village communities like Deurze , Witten en Peelo . The last has a history which goes back to the times from when Dolmens were built, but now lays jammed in between two new districts of Assen.

Monastery

The monastery was built at what now is the Brink of Assen. At the locations of the monastery now stands the Drents Museum , which was built in 1882 as provincehouse. Only the Abdijkerk (Abbey church), monastery terrain and bits and pieces of walls remind us of the religious begin of the city.

Weapon

By weapon, the design on the cities' flag is meant. It's directly borrowed from the seal of the monastry . Just like the weapon of the province of Drenthe - in both cases Mary with child - but Jesus switches knee. At the same time it tells you how the history of the city is connected with the provincial governing board. Which has to do with the fact that around 1600 the abbeygoods were secularised. Maria in Campis no longer existed, but the buildings did. Because of the central position of Assen and the fact that the government from what was then called 'de Landschap Drenthe' (the Landscape Drenthe) was searching for a location for the government and civil servants, Assen became seat for, and basicly also capital of Drenthe.

'Drents Haagje'

Assen really wasn't a municipality yet, not even ecclesiastical sense. Even though there was an abbey church, Assen fell ecclesiastically and administratively under Rolde . In 1615 Assen got its own preacher. In 1807 Assen administratively got itself free from the control of Rolde when the the village got to compose its own municipal authorities. A municipal authority which moreover in most cases operated in the shadow of the of provincial government, which always manifested itself prominent in the 'Drentse Haagje'. The municipal authority mainly got there because of matter of provincial governors like governor Petrus Hofstede , which the city also thanks its unique located forrest (meanwhile in the center of the city) for. From that time Assen also thanks its significant nickname, 'het Herenbolwerk'.

City Rights

Assen now has about 62.000 inhabitants, but it only got a real city scope after the Second Worldwar (WW2). But still it has been an official city since 1809. After Coevorden, the then village of about sixteen hundred souls became the second place in Drenthe with city rights, granted by king Lodewijk Napoleon, who had big plans with the village. A plan to make it a real city was setup at the time, but unfortunately for Assen, the Kingdom of the Netherlands got incorporated with France of Napoleon Bonaparte en the the plans never got worked out.

As administrative centre Assen drew vigorous and well-to-do inhabitants and with that also initiatives, those contributed to slow but certain increase of supplies and look. Such as a newspaper printing in 1823, a Latin school in 1825, a diligenceservice on Groningen in 1830, a court in 1840, a first beginning for a garrison in 1852 and a railway station in 1870. Not unimportant was also the Drentse Hoofdvaart which was drawn (with on both sides of the water now also the stately lord houses of the initiators) and the opening of the Noord-Willemskanaal (North-Willemschannel) in 1861. The most important monuments of the city are from the nineteenth century.

Industry

Around the 1900 Assen began to play an industrial role. It was a real civil servant city, but export slaughtery , dairy factory and iron foundry broke trough that unilateral development, causing the expension possibilities to become bigger. Around 1930 it also got a central role for the health care by things like a psychiatric hospital.

Growth

Still, Assen didn't count more than 20.000 inhabitants after the last war. The Assen TT meanwhile made the city more known, but only because of the indication as an industry core at the end of the 50's came the speed. The 'Nederlands Aardolie Maatschappij' (Dutch Earth-oil Society) established itself in the city and with that, a trend was set, which ever since has only become stronger. Now, Assen isn't only known because of its TT, Bartje en the 'Drentse Rijwielvierdaagse'. It also is the fatest growing city of north of the Netherlands, has enough employment with particularly the service business, an unprecedented growth and its new buildings already divided before the issue has started.

External links

• Official website
• Map of Assen