Gouda

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

For other uses, see Gouda (disambiguation).

Gouda

Flag

Coat of arms

Coordinates: 52.02° N 4.70° E

Country

Netherlands

Province

South Holland

Area (2006)

- Municipality

18.10 km² (7 sq mi)

- Land

16.92 km² (6.5 sq mi)

- Water

1.19 km² (0.5 sq mi)

Population (1 January 2007)

- Municipality

70,873

- Density

4,189/km² (10,849.5/sq mi)

Source: CBS, Statline.

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

- Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

Website: www.gouda.nl

Gouda's 15th Century Town Hall

Gouda's Cheese Market

Gouda (population 71,797 in 2004) is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Gouda, which was granted city rights in 1272, is famous for its Gouda cheese, smoking pipes and its 15th century city hall.

The town takes its name from the Van der Goude family, who built a fortified castle alongside the banks of the Gouwe River, from which the family took its name. The area, originally marshland, developed over the course of two centuries. By 1225, a canal was linked to the Gouwe and its estuary was transformed into a harbour. Gouda's fabulous array of historic churches and other buildings makes it a very popular day trip destination.

1 History
2 Economy
3 Attractions
4 "Twin Towns"
5 Natives of Gouda
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

Around the year 1000, the area where Gouda now is located was swampy and covered with a peat forest, crossed by small creeks such as the Gouwe. Along the shores of this stream near the current market and city hall, peat harvesting began in the 11th and 12th centuries. In 1139, the name Gouda is first mentioned in a statement from the Bishop of Utrecht.

In the 13th century, the Gouwe was connected to the Oude Rijn (Old Rhine) by means of a canal and its mouth at the Hollandse IJssel was developed into a harbour. Castle Gouda was built to protect this harbour. This shipping route was used for trade between Flanders and France with Holland and the Baltic Sea. In 1272, Floris V, Count of Holland, granted city rights to Gouda, which by then had become an important location.

Great fires in 1361 and 1438 destroyed the city. In 1572, the city was occupied by Les Gueux (Dutch rebels against the Spanish King) who also committed arson and destruction. In 1577 demolition of Castle Gouda began.

In 1574, 1625, 1636, and 1673, Gouda suffered from deadly Plague epidemics, of which the last one was the most severe: 2995 persons died, constituting 20% of its population ^[1].

In the last quarter of the 16th century, Gouda had serious economic problems. It recovered in the first half of the 17th century and even prospered between 1665 and 1672. But its economy collapsed again when war broke out in 1672 and the plague decimated the city in 1673, even affecting the pipe industry. After 1700, Gouda enjoyed a period of progress and prosperity until 1730. Then another recession followed, resulting in a long period of decline that lasted well into the 19th century ^[2]. Gouda was one of the poorest cities in the country during that period, even the terms "Goudaner" and "beggar" were considered synonymous ^[3].

Starting in 1830, demolition of the city walls began. The last city gate was torn down in 1854. Only from the second half of the 19th century onward, Gouda started to profit from an improved economic condition. New companies, such as Stearine Kaarsenfabriek (Stearine Candle Factory) and Machinale Garenspinerij (Mechanized Yarn Spinnery), acted as the impetus to its ecomomy. In 1855, the railway Gouda-Utrecht began to operate. In the beginning of the 20th century, large scale development began, extending the city beyond the its moats. First the new neighbourhoods Korte Akkeren, Kort Haarlem and Kadebuurt were built, followed by Oosterwei, Bloemendaal, and Goverwelle after World War II.

From 1940 on, backfilling of the city moats and canals began: the Nieuwehaven, Raam, Naaierstraat, and Achter de Vismarkt. But because of protests from city dwellers and revised policies of city planners, Gouda did not continue backfilling moats and canals, now considered historically valuable. In 1944, the train station was destroyed by an Allied bombardment, killing 8 and wounding 10 persons. Since 1977, the weekly pig market, the largest in the Netherlands, is no longer held in the city.

[edit] Economy

Gouda is world famous for its Gouda cheese, which still is traded on its cheese market held each Thursday. It is further well-known for the fabrication of candles, smoking pipes, and syrup waffles. Gouda used to have a considerable linen industry and a number of beer breweries.

Gouda cheese is not really made in the city itself but in the surrounding region. Yet it gets its name from being traded in Gouda where the city counsel provided a serious quality control.

[edit] Attractions

The Waag (Scale Building).

Old City Hall at the market - built between 1448 and 1450, one of the oldest Gothic city halls in the Netherlands.
The Waag (Scale Building) - built in 1667 across from the Old City Hall, this building was used for weighing goods to levy taxes. It now is a national monument.
Grote of St. Jans Kerk (Great or Saint John Church) - largest cross-shaped church in the Netherlands, famed for its stained glass which were made between 1530 and 1603, considered the most significant stained glass collection in the Netherlands ^[4]. Even in the 17th century, it already was a tourist attraction.
Waaiersluis (Waaier Locks) - a historic lock on the Hollandse IJssel just east of Gouda.
Museumhaven Gouda (Harbour Museum Gouda)
Other museums: Museum Gouda (history museum), Museum De Verborgen Tijd (modern art), Museum De Moriaan (national pharmaceutical museum), and Verzets Museum (about the Dutch resistance during World War II).

[edit] "Twin Towns"

[edit] Natives of Gouda

Gheraert Leeu (1445 - 1493), one of the first incunabulum pressers in North Holland.
Desiderius Erasmus (1466 - 1536), philosopher, humanist (his place of birth is a debatable topic; some people believe that Erasmus was born in Rotterdam. Erasmus, however, wasn't proud of being Dutch at all.)
Adriaan Vlacq (1600-1667), mathematician and publisher.
Gerard Kamphuisen, who is said to have invented the syrup waffle in 1810
Pieter Johannes van Rhijn (1886—1960), astronomer.
Leo Vroman (born 1915), poet.
Ed de Goey (born 1966), former goalkeeper from the Dutch national soccer team
Andrea Nuyt (born 1974), ice skater
Rutger Smith (born 1981), Athlete
Paulien van Deutekom (born 1981), ice skater

[edit] References

^ Duizend jaar Gouda, een stadsgeschiedenis, Hilversum 2002, pgs. 302-303, ISBN 90-6550-717-5
^ Duizend jaar Gouda, een stadsgeschiedenis, Hilversum 2002, pgs. 364-365, ISBN 90-6550-717-5.
^ Dr. Jan Schouten, Gouda door de eeuwen, Alphen a/d Rijn 1977, pg. 156.
^ http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/16544.ctl