Dronten

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Country	Netherlands
Dronten

Province	Flevoland
Area (2006)
- Municipality	423.86 km² (163.7 sq mi)
- Land	334.35 km² (129.1 sq mi)
- Water	89.51 km² (34.6 sq mi)
Population (1 January 2007)
- Municipality	38,081
- Density	114/km² (295.3/sq mi)
	Source: CBS, Statline.
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)

Dronten (pronunciation (help·info)) is a municipality and a town in the central Netherlands. Its population is 38.060 (2006).

1 Population centers
2 History
3 Entertainment
4 External links

[edit] Population centers

[edit] History

Plans for the municipality of Dronten were made in the early half of the 1950's; real plans for the town of Dronten (the municipality's center) were revealed in 1958.

The foundations for the town were laid in 1960. Right from the start there was a discussion whether Dronten was to become a town or a city. The first plans assumed 15,000 inhabitants, while later plans foresaw a growth to 30,000 inhabitants. The first plans for the municipality assumed ten smaller villages situated around the central town (in this case Dronten). The number of villages was reduced due to increased traffic and experiences gained in developing the Noordoostpolder, where a similar municipality had already been built. Eventually it was decided there were to be two smaller villages (Biddinghuizen and Swifterbant) and one larger town (Dronten).

On 1 January 1972 Dronten was given its official name