Meppel

Meppel
Meppel
Municipality
	Meppeler toren (Tower of Meppel)
	Flag Coat of arms
	Location in Drenthe
	Coordinates: 52°42′N 6°11′E / 52.700°N 6.183°E
Country	Netherlands
Province	Drenthe
Government
• Body	Municipal council
• Mayor	Richard Korteland (VVD)
Area
• Total	57.03 km2 (22.02 sq mi)
• Land	55.53 km2 (21.44 sq mi)
• Water	1.50 km2 (0.58 sq mi)
Elevation	2 m (7 ft)
Population (January 2021)
• Total	34,386
• Density	619/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
Demonym	Meppeler
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postcode	7940–7949, 7965–7969
Area code	0522
Website	www.meppel.nl

Meppel (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈmɛpəl] ^ⓘ) is a municipality and a city in the northeast of the Netherlands, in the south-west of the province Drenthe.

Meppel is the smallest municipality in the province of Drenthe, with a total area of 58 km².

People born in Meppel are occasionally referred to as 'Meppeler Muggen'^[5]; this translates as mosquitos/gnats from Meppel. This is due to a traditional folk tale. The people of Meppel thought the church tower was on fire. After closer inspection it was only a swarm of mosquitos.^[6]

History

It developed in the 16th century as an inland harbour for peat transport and distribution.^{[citation needed]} There used to be a lot of waterways in the town, but now only one remains. Meppel received city rights in 1644.

Geography

Meppel is located at 52°42′N 6°11′E / 52.700°N 6.183°E / 52.700; 6.183 in the south-west of the province of Drenthe in the east of the Netherlands.

The Meppelerdiep, the Drentsche Hoofdvaart and the Hoogeveense Vaart connect Meppel to Zwartsluis, Assen and Hoogeveen. To offload professional transport vessels the Omgelegde Hoogeveense Vaart was dug out south of the city. The Meppelerdiep is accessible for boats with a size of 2000 ton.

The streams Reest and Wold Aa run through the city. The Reest end in the Meppeler Diep.

The population centres in the municipality are:

Transportation

Meppel is served by train connections with Zwolle to the south, which leads to the rest of the country, and Leeuwarden and Groningen to the north and north-east.

There are regular and frequent bus lines within Meppel and towards Zwolle, Hoogeveen and Assen. The bus station is situated in front of the classic railway station.

By car, the town is accessible via the A28 motorway (Netherlands) towards Zwolle in the south and Groningen to the north-east, A32 motorway (Netherlands) (that begins at the motorway crossing Lankhorst south of the city) towards Leeuwarden in the north.

International relations

Meppel is twinned with:

Al Hoceima, Morocco Most, Czech Republic

Notable people

Jan Jansen Bleecker (1641—1732) merchant and political figure, Mayor of Albany, New York
Arent Magnin (1825–1888) a Dutch politician in the administration on the Dutch Gold Coast
Petrus Johannes Waardenburg (1886 in Nijeveen – 1979) a Dutch ophthalmologist and geneticist; Waardenburg syndrome is named after him
Ben Nijboer (1915–1999) a Dutch physicist and academic in optics and solid-state physics
Louise Fresco (born 1952) a Dutch scientist and writer on globally sustainable food production
Catrien Santing (born 1958) a Dutch medievalist
Erik Kwakkel (born 1970) a Dutch scholar who specializes in medieval manuscripts, paleography, and codicology
Albert van der Haar (born 1975) is a Dutch former footballer with almost 500 club caps

The Arts

Petrus Kiers (1807–1875) a Dutch painter, graphic artist and photographer
Sir Joseph Joel Duveen (1843–1908) an art dealer and benefactor of art galleries ^[7]
Henry J. Duveen (1854–1919) an art dealer
Eduard Frankfort (1864–1920) a Dutch Jewish painter
Jan Mankes (1889–1920) a Dutch painter, sometimes categorized as a symbolic realist
Jelle Taeke de Boer (1908–1970) a Dutch art collector
Roelof Frankot (1911–1984) a Dutch painter, a strong relation with the CoBrA movement

Photo gallery

Square in town centre
City Hall
Windmill (molen de Weert)
Two drawbridges
Ship the Vereeniging III
Watertower
Historical Centre of Meppel

References

^ "Richard Korteland" (in Dutch). Gemeente Meppel. Retrieved 9 October 2013.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "Kerncijfers wijken en buurten 2020" [Key figures for neighbourhoods 2020]. StatLine (in Dutch). CBS. 24 July 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
^ "Postcodetool for 7941BJ". Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland (in Dutch). Het Waterschapshuis. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
^ "Bevolkingsontwikkeling; regio per maand" [Population growth; regions per month]. CBS Statline (in Dutch). CBS. 1 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
^ "CBOEK363 - EENIGE SCHELDNAMEN VAN DE EENE PLAATS OP DE ANDERE". Nederlandse Volksverhalenbank. Archived from the original on 28 April 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
^ "De toren". Vrienden van de Grote of Mariakerk. Archived from the original on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
^ Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement, Duveen, Joseph Joel retrieved 17 November 2019