Almelo

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Country	Netherlands
Almelo

Province	Overijssel
Area (2006)
- Municipality	69.40 km² (26.8 sq mi)
- Land	67.43 km² (26 sq mi)
- Water	1.96 km² (0.8 sq mi)
Population (1 January 2007)
- Municipality	72,103
- Density	1,069/km² (2,768.7/sq mi)
	Source: CBS, Statline.
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)

Almelo is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands. The main population centres in the town are Aadorp, Almelo, Mariaparochie and Bornerbroek.

Almelo has about 72,000 inhabitants in the middle of the rolling countryside of Twente, with the industrial centres of Enschede and Hengelo as close neighbours but also with tourist towns like Ootmarsum, Delden and Markelo only a bicycle ride away. Almelo received city rights in 1394. Within the city limits lies the castle of the Counts of Almelo.

At the end of the 19th century textile emerged as a major employer and drew many workers to Almelo, at first from within the Netherlands. Since the 1960s workers from Spain and Turkey came to Almelo. The first mosque of the Netherlands was built in Almelo in 1976 for the Turkish population of the city.

In the 1970s the industry dwindled and most factories were relocated to countries with cheaper labour. Some factories remain in the city centre and are now in use for apartments or offices.

Currently, a major employer in Almelo is Urenco Nederland. This is a uranium enrichment plant which produces uranium with about five percent U-235, for nuclear reactors. It uses the gas centrifuge method and produces 2.8 MSWU/year. Furthermore, a bakery factory, Bolletje, PANalytical (formerly Philips) and the regional court are major employers.

Worth seeing is Huize Almelo, a centuries-old castle in the city centre. There are mosaics which decorate the walls of the tunnel close to the railway station.

1 Notable people born in Almelo
2 See also
3 Twin cities
4 Reference
5 External links

[edit] Notable people born in Almelo

Kea Bouman (1903-1998) – female tennis player; first (and up to now only) Dutch female tennis player to win a Grand Slam singles tournament
Wubbo Ockels (1946) – first Dutch astronaut
Berdien Stenberg (1957) – musician
Herman Finkers (1954) – comedian
Wilfried Finkers (1957) – comedian and brother of Herman
Tom Egbers (1957) – tv-presenter
Henk Jan Smits (1961) – manager, scout and producer
Hendrie Krüzen (1964) – football midfielder
Cunera van Selm (1964) – tv-presenter
Eddy Zoëy (1967) – tv-presenter
Mari Carmen Oudendijk (1968) - tv-presenter
Daphne Bunskoek (1973) – tv-presenter
Marcel Kuijer (1974) – tv-presenter
Ilse de Lange (1977) – musician and singer
Azra Akin (1981) – model and Miss World 2002

[edit] See also

Ambt Almelo

[edit] Twin cities

[edit] Reference

Official Website

[edit] External links

Official Website
AlmeloNet.nl
"Landshap te Almelo" by Marie Vorobieff Marevna (go down to painting No. 2206), or see enlargement without description [1].

Overijssel Province
Almelo \| Borne \| Dalfsen \| Deventer \| Dinkelland \| Enschede \| Haaksbergen \| Hardenberg \| Hellendoorn \| Hengelo \| Hof van Twente \| Kampen \| Losser \| Oldenzaal \| Olst-Wijhe \| Ommen \| Raalte \| Rijssen-Holten \| Staphorst \| Steenwijkerland \| Tubbergen \| Twenterand \| Wierden \| Zwartewaterland \| Zwolle
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