Groningen (province)

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Provincie Groningen
Province of Groningen
Coat of arms of Groningen
Flag Coat of arms
South Holland North Holland Friesland Groningen Drenthe Flevoland Overijssel Gelderland Utrecht Limburg North Brabant Zeeland
Map: Province of Groningen in the NetherlandsAbout this image
Capital Groningen
Queen's Commissioner Max van den Berg
Religion (1999) Protestant 29%
Catholic 7%
Area
 • Land
 • Water		  
2,336 km² (8th)
623 km²
Population (2006)
 • Total
 • Density
574,042 (9th)
246/km² (9th)
Anthem Grunnens Laid
ISO NL-GR
Official website www.provinciegroningen.nl

Amsterdam Almelo Almere Amersfoort Arnhem Assen Breda Den Haag Delft Delfzijl Den Bosch Den Helder Dordrecht Enchede Haarlem Hilversum Maastricht Middelburg Zwolle Lelystad Leiden Utrecht Katwijk Nijmegen Eindhoven Vlissingen Rotterdam Leeuwarden Heerenveen Groningen (city) Emmen Almelo Apeldoorn Alkmaar Zaanstad Tilburg Venlo Heerlen Drenthe Flevoland Friesland Gelderland Groningen Limburg North Brabant North Holland Overijssel South Holland Utrecht Zeeland

Map of the Netherlands, linking to the province pages; the red dots mark the capitals of the provinces and the black dots other notable cities or towns.
Map of the Netherlands, linking to the province pages; the red dots mark the capitals of the provinces and the black dots other notable cities or towns.

Groningen pronunciation (help·info) is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. In the east it borders the German state of Niedersachsen (districts of Leer and Emsland), in the south Drenthe, in the west Friesland and in the north the Wadden Sea. The capital of the province is the city of Groningen.

Contents

[edit] Geography

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Land use in Groningen is mainly agricultural, it has a large natural gas field near Slochteren.

[edit] History

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Originally a part of Frisia, Groningen became a part of the Frankish Empire around 785. Charlemagne assigned the Christianization of this new possession to Ludger. In the 11th century, the city of Groningen was a village in Drenthe that belonged to the Bishopric of Utrecht, while most of the province was in the diocese of Münster. During the Middle Ages, central control was remote, and the city of Groningen acted as a city state, exerting a dominating influence on the surrounding Ommelanden. Around 1500, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor gave Groningen and Friesland to Albert, Duke of Saxony, who could however not establish permanent control. In 1514/15 Groningen came to the Duchy of Guelders, and in 1536 to the Habsburg Netherlands. In 1594, Groningen was conquered by the United Netherlands, to which it belonged henceforth.

[edit] Political history

East Groningen was the scene of a particularly fierce class struggle in the 19th and 20th centuries. Perhaps not coincidentally, Groningen boasts the only municipality (Beerta) where the Communist Party of the Netherlands has ever had a mayor (Hanneke Jagersma).

[edit] Dialect

Main article: Gronings

Groningen is home to a typical Low Saxon dialect called Gronings (Grönnegs / Grunnegs in Gronings regional language), with local nuances. Nowadays, many inhabitants of the province do not speak the dialect, especially in the city of Groningen where many outsiders have moved.

[edit] Municipalities

[edit] People from Groningen Province

  • Wiebbe Hayes, a Dutch soldier and national hero in the 1600s.

[edit] External links

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Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor Seventeen Provinces — Habsburg Netherlands Banner of the Burgundian Circle
States
Dependent territories

Coordinates: 53°15′29″N, 6°44′16″E