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Gelderland

 
Dictionary: Gel·der·land   (gĕl'dər-lănd', KHĕl'dər-länt') pronunciation

A province and former duchy of east-central Netherlands. The duchy was formed in 1339 and passed to the Hapsburgs in 1543. It became part of the Netherlands in 1579, although a portion was ceded to Prussia in the 18th century.

 

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Columbia Encyclopedia: Gelderland
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Gelderland, Guelderland (both: gĕl'dərlənd), or Guelders (gĕl'dərz), province (1994 pop. 1,851,400), c.1,940 sq mi (5,000 sq km), E central Netherlands. It borders on Germany in the east. Arnhem, the capital, as well as Nijmegen and Apeldoorn are the chief cities. Largely an agricultural region, it is drained by the IJssel River and by the Lower Rhine and Waal rivers, which enclose the Betuwe, a fertile agricultural lowland in the southwest. The Veluwe, west of the IJssel, is an uncultivated, hilly heathland that is popular as a resort area. The region is also used as a military headquarters. The duchy of Gelderland was conquered (1473) by Charles the Bold of Burgundy, after whose death (1477) it regained its independence. It passed to the House of Hapsburg in 1543 and joined (1579) the Union of Utrecht of the Netherlands against Spain. Part of Gelderland, including Geldern, the ducal capital, was ceded (1715) by the Netherlands to Prussia.


Wikipedia: Gelderland
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Provincie Gelderland
Province of Gelderland
Gelderland-Flag.svg Coat of arms of Gelderland
Flag Coat of arms
Map: Province of Gelderland in the Netherlands South Holland North Holland Friesland Groningen Drenthe Flevoland Overijssel Gelderland Utrecht Limburg North Brabant Zeeland
About this image
Capital Arnhem
Largest city Nijmegen
Queen's Commissioner Clemens Cornielje
Religion (1999) Protestant 31%
Catholic 29%
Area
 • Land
 • Water
 
4,975 km² (1st)
161 km²
Population (2006)
 • Total
 • Density

1,975,704 (4th)
397/km² (6th)
Anthem Ons Gelderland
ISO NL-GE
Official website www.gelderland.nl

Gelderland (065 Gelderland.ogg pronunciation , English also Guelders German: Geldern) is a province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country. The capital city is Arnhem. The two other major cities, Nijmegen and Apeldoorn have more inhabitants. Other major regional centers in Gelderland are Wageningen, Ede, Zutphen, Doetinchem, Harderwijk, Epe, Wijchen and Tiel. The city Geldern, after which the province is called, is today part of Germany.

Contents

History

The current province of Gelderland covers about the area of three of the quarters of the historical Duchy of Guelders. Guelders was a county in the late 11th century and then a duchy in the Holy Roman Empire, including also parts of the province of present-day Limburg and the German District of Kleve (Cleves) with the city of Geldern, the city that was the original seat of the dukes. It became part of the Habsburg Netherlands in 1543, one of the Seventeen Provinces, though not one of the richer or more densely-populated. During World War II it was the scene of some of the heaviest fighting in the war between Allied Paratroopers, British XXX Corps and the German II SS Panzer Corps, also known as the Battle of Arnhem.

Geography

Gelderland is geographically divided into three regions: the Veluwe in the north, the Betuwe in the southwest and the Achterhoek (literally meaning the "back corner") or Graafschap (which originally means earldom or county) in the east.

Municipalities

Currently (2006), the municipalities in Gelderland are as follows:

Amsterdam Almelo Almere Amersfoort Arnhem Assen Breda Den Haag Delft Delfzijl Den Bosch Den Helder Dordrecht Enchede Haarlem Hilversum Maastricht Middelburg Zwolle Lelystad Leiden Katwijk Nijmegen Eindhoven Vlissingen Rotterdam Leeuwarden Heerenveen Groningen (city) Emmen Almelo Apeldoorn Alkmaar Zaanstad Tilburg Venlo Heerlen Drenthe Flevoland Friesland Gelderland Groningen Limburg North Brabant North Holland Overijssel South Holland Utrecht Zeeland
Map of the Netherlands, linking to the province articles; red dots mark provincial capitals and black dots other notable cities or towns.

See also Betuwe, Linge.

Abolished municipalities

The following municipalities were abolished on 1 January 2005; see further [1](in Dutch) for more detailed information on these changes.

These municipalities were merged with neighbouring ones:

These municipalities were merged and given a new name:

In media

In the 2001 feature film A Knight's Tale, Gelderland is the place of origin for William's alias, Sir Ulrich von Liechtenstein.

External links


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Gelderland" Read more

 

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