Gelderland

This article is about the Dutch province. For other uses, see Gelderland (disambiguation).
Gelderland
Province of the Netherlands

Flag
Coat of arms
Anthem: "Ons Gelderland"
"Our Gelderland"

Location of Gelderland in the Netherlands
Coordinates: 52°04′N 5°57′E / 52.06°N 5.95°ECoordinates: 52°04′N 5°57′E / 52.06°N 5.95°E
Country Netherlands
Capital Arnhem
Largest city Nijmegen
Government
 • King's Commissioner Clemens Cornielje (VVD)
Area
 • Land 4,971.76 km2 (1,919.61 sq mi)
 • Water 164.75 km2 (63.61 sq mi)
Area rank 1
Population (2009)
 • Land 1,999,135
 • Rank 4th
 • Density 400/km2 (1,000/sq mi)
 • Density rank 6th
ISO 3166 code NL-GE
Religion (1999) 31% Protestant, 29% Catholic
Website www.gelderland.nl

Gelderland (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɣɛldərˌlɑnt], English also Guelders, German: Geldern) is a province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country.

Historically, the province (area) dates from states of the Holy Roman Empire and takes its name from the nearby German city of Geldern.

The capital city is Arnhem. The two other major cities, Nijmegen and Apeldoorn are very similarly sized, with them both having a few thousand more inhabitants. Other major regional centers in Gelderland are Ede, Doetinchem, Zutphen, Tiel, Wageningen, Zevenaar and Winterswijk.

Gelderland is the largest province of the Netherlands.

History

The current province of Gelderland covers about the area of three quarters of the historical Duchy of Guelders, that arose out of the Frankish pagus Hamaland. Guelders was a county in the late 11th century and then a duchy in the Holy Roman Empire, including parts of the present-day Dutch province of Limburg and the German district of Kleve (Cleves). Geldern, the original seat of the dukes, today is in Kleve, Germany. In 1543, Gelderland became one of the Seventeen Provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands, though not one of the richer or more densely populated provinces. During World War II, it saw heavy fighting between Allied Paratroopers, British XXX Corps and the German II SS Panzer Corps, also known as the Battle of Arnhem.

Geography

Gelderland can roughly be divided into four geographical regions: the Veluwe in the north, Rivierenland including the Betuwe in the southwest, the Achterhoek (literally meaning the "back corner") or Graafschap (which originally means earldom or county) in the east and the city-region Arnhem - Nijmegen.

Municipalities

Aalten Arnhem Berkelland Bronckhorst Brummen Culemborg Doesburg Doetinchem Druten Elburg Epe Groesbeek Hattem Heerde Heumen Lingewaal Lingewaard Lochem Maasdriel Millingen aan de Rijn Neder-Betuwe Nijkerk Nijmegen Nunspeet Oldebroek Oost Gelre Oude IJsselstreek Overbetuwe Renkum Rheden Rijnwaarden Rozendaal Tiel Ubbergen West Maas en Waal Westervoort Wijchen Winterswijk Zaltbommel Zevenaar ZutphenProvincie Gelderland.gif

Currently (2015), the 54 municipalities in Gelderland are as follows:


Sonsbeek villa at Arnhem's Sonsbeek park

Abolished municipalities

On 1 January 2000 Hoevelaken was merged into Nijkerk.

The following municipalities were abolished on 1 January 2005; see further (in Dutch) for more detailed information on these changes.

These municipalities were merged with neighbouring ones:

These municipalities were merged and given a new name:

On 1 January 2015 the municipalities of Millingen aan de Rijn and Ubbergen were merged into the existing municipality of Groesbeek.

Cultural references

In the movie A Knight's Tale (2001), the character Count Adhemar asks the character William Thatcher (played by Heath Ledger) his name. After some hesitation, William responds, "Ulrich von Lichtenstein from Gelderland."

References

    External links

    Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gelderland.
    		 Flevoland Overijssel
    Utrecht North Rhine-Westphalia (DE)
    		   Gelderland  
    South Holland North Brabant Limburg