Groningen (province)

Groningen
Groningen
	— Province of the Netherlands —
; Flag	; Coat of arms
	Anthem: Grunnens Laid
	Location of Groningen in the Netherlands
Country	Netherlands
Capital	Groningen
	Government
• King's Commissioner	Max van den Berg
	Area
• Land	2,329 km2 (899 sq mi)
• Water	576 km2 (222 sq mi)
Area rank	8th
	Population (2006)
• Land	574,042
• Rank	9th
• Density	250/km2 (640/sq mi)
• Density rank	9th
ISO 3166 code	NL-GR
Religion (2005)	Protestant 18.0%; Catholic 4.6%; Muslim 2.5%
Website	provinciegroningen.nl

Groningen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɣroːnɪŋə(n)] ( listen); Gronings: Grönnen; West Frisian: Grinslân) 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.

Geography [edit]

Land use in Groningen is mainly agricultural; it has a large natural gas field near Slochteren. But, Groningen has many historical monuments and many old buildings in almost every village.

History [edit]

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.

Groningen was one of the towns within the hanseatic league during the middle ages.

Political history [edit]

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).

Culture [edit]

The Martinitoren, Icon of the provincial capital of Groningen
The Groninger Museum
The Fraeylemaborg nearby Slochteren
The hanging kitchens of Appingedam

Map of Groningen Province (2012)

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

Dialect [edit]

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.