Bergen-op-Zoom
| Bergen op Zoom | |||
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| Municipality | |||
Markiezenhof in Bergen op Zoom
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.svg) Location in North Brabant |
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| Coordinates: 51°30′N 4°18′E / 51.500°N 4.300°ECoordinates: 51°30′N 4°18′E / 51.500°N 4.300°E | |||
| Country | Netherlands | ||
| Province | North Brabant | ||
| Government | |||
| • Body | Municipal council | ||
| • Mayor | Frank Petter (CDA) | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 93.13 km2 (35.96 sq mi) | ||
| • Land | 80.04 km2 (30.90 sq mi) | ||
| • Water | 13.09 km2 (5.05 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 10 m (30 ft) | ||
| Population (February 2017) | |||
| • Total | 66,464 | ||
| • Density | 830/km2 (2,100/sq mi) | ||
| Demonym(s) | Bergenaar | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Postcode | 4600–4625, 4660–4664 | ||
| Area code | 0164 | ||
| Website | www |
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Bergen op Zoom (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈbɛrɣə(n) ɔp ˌsoːm]; called Berrege [ˈbɛrəɣə] in the local dialect) is a municipality and a city located in the south of the Netherlands.
The city was built on a place where two types of soil meet: sandy soil and marine clay. The sandy soil pushed against the marine clay, accumulating and forming hills over several centuries. People called those hills the Brabantse Wal, literally meaning "wall of Brabant". Zoom refers to the border of this wall and bergen in Dutch means mountains or hills. The name has nothing to do with the little channel the ‘Zoom’ which was later built through Bergen op Zoom.
Bergen op Zoom was granted city status probably in 1212. In 1287 the city and its surroundings became a lordship as it was separated from the lordship of Breda. The lordship was elevated to a margraviate in 1559. Several noble families, including the House of Glymes, ruled Bergen op Zoom in succession until 1795, although the title was only nominal since at least the seventeenth century.
During the early modern period, Bergen op Zoom was a very strong fortress and one of the main armories and arsenals of the United Provinces. It had a remarkable natural defensive site, surrounded as it was by marshes and easily floodable polders. Furthermore, it could receive reinforcements and supplies by sea, if the besieging army did not have a fleet to blockade its port.
Due to these features, the city was one of the strategic points held by the Dutch during their revolt in the Eighty Years War. It was at that time besieged by Alessandro Farnese first in 1588, and by Ambrosio Spinola a second time in 1622. Both sieges were unsuccessful and Bergen op Zoom got the nickname La Pucelle or The Virgin as it was never sieged successfully.
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Wikipedia