Velsen

Municipality

Aerial view of Velsen

Flag

Coat of arms

Location in North Holland

Coordinates: 52°28′N 4°37′E / 52.467°N 4.617°ECoordinates: 52°28′N 4°37′E / 52.467°N 4.617°E

Government

• Body

Municipal council

• Mayor

Amy Koopmanschap (GreenLeft)

Area

• Total

63.05 km² (24.34 sq mi)

• Land

44.78 km² (17.29 sq mi)

• Water

18.27 km² (7.05 sq mi)

Elevation

6 m (20 ft)

Population (May 2014)

• Total

67,294

• Density

1,503/km² (3,890/sq mi)

Demonym(s)

Velsenaar

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

• Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

Postcode

1950–1951, 1970–1992, 2070–2082

Area code

023, 0251, 0255

Website

www.velsen.nl

Velsen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈvɛlzə(n)]) is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is located on both sides of the North Sea Canal.

On the north side of the North Sea Canal there is a major steel plant, Tata Steel IJmuiden, formerly known as Koninklijke Hoogovens (the town of IJmuiden is actually located south of the canal). The headquarters of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Redding Maatschappij is located in IJmuiden.

The Kennemerstrand beach on the south side of the canal is at the end of the Kennemerboulevard, which runs south of the Seaport Marina.

To the south is the beach of Bloemendaal aan Zee. In between is a nude beach.

The municipality of Velsen consists of the following cities, towns, villages and/or districts:

Dutch topographic map of the municipality of Velsen, June 2015

In Velsen, there are the following connections across the North Sea Canal:

Also there used to be the Fast Flying Ferry to Amsterdam. There used to be a railway link between IJmuiden and Amsterdam, the IJmondlijn until 1999, when it was closed.

The municipal council of Velsen consists of 33 seats, which are divided now (2010) as follows:

The ruins of a Roman naval base at Velsen are believed to be ancient Flevum, which is listed as Phleoum, Romanized to Phleum, in Ptolemy (2.10).

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Wikipedia