Hoogeveen

Municipality

Former court house in Hoogeveen

Flag

Coat of arms

Location in Drenthe

Coordinates: 52°44′N 6°29′E / 52.733°N 6.483°ECoordinates: 52°44′N 6°29′E / 52.733°N 6.483°E

Government

• Body

Municipal council

• Mayor

Karel Loohuis (PvdA)

Area

• Total

129.25 km² (49.90 sq mi)

• Land

127.67 km² (49.29 sq mi)

• Water

1.58 km² (0.61 sq mi)

Elevation

12 m (39 ft)

Population (May 2014)

• Total

54,733

• Density

429/km² (1,110/sq mi)

Demonym(s)

Hoogevener

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

• Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

Postcode

Parts of 7900 range

Area code

0524, 0528

Website

www.hoogeveen.nl

Hoogeveen [ˌɦoːɣəˈveːn] (Dutch Low Saxon: 't Ogeveine or 't Oveine) is a municipality and a town in the northeastern Netherlands.

Elim, Fluitenberg, Hoogeveen and Noordscheschut, which still have the canals which used to be throughout the town. Other villages of the town are Hollandscheveld, Nieuw Moscou, Nieuweroord, Nieuwlande, Pesse, Stuifzand and Tiendeveen.

It dates its history to 20 December 1625, when Roelof van Echten bought a large tract of peat land from farmers of the district with the plan to harvest its peat. One old map of the area called it Locus Deserta Atque ob Multos Paludes Invia, a deserted and impenetrable place of many swamps. Hoogeveen itself was established in 1636 by Peter Joostens Warmont and Johan van der Meer.

Its coat of arms, granted 10 November 1819, is white, with a pile of peat covered in straw in the center and beehives on each side, representing the town's first two major industries.

Vincent van Gogh visited the area in the fall of 1883.

In the second half of the 1960s, Hoogeveen was the fastest growing town in the Netherlands. Its rapid growth during that period led its city council to fill most of the town's canals, canals dug in the area's early days when it was a prime source of peat.

Access to the town is provided by the A28 (Utrecht - Groningen) highway, the N/A37 (Hoogeveen - Germany), and the Western Cities - Groningen railway.

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Wikipedia