| Provincie
Utrecht Province of Utrecht |
|||||
|
|||||
 |
|||||
| Capital | Utrecht | ||||
| Queen's Commissioner | Mr. B. (Boele) Staal | ||||
| Religion (1999) | Protestant 27% Catholic 20% |
||||
| Area • Land • Water |
1,386 km² (12th) 63 km² |
||||
| Population (2006) • Total • Density |
1.180.039 (5th) 851/km² (3rd) |
||||
| Anthem | Langs de Vecht en d'oude Rijnstroom | ||||
| ISO | NL-UT | ||||
| Official website | www.provincie-utrecht.nl | ||||
-Flag.svg)
Utrecht (
pronunciation?) is the smallest province of the Netherlands, and is located in the
center of the country. It is bordered by the Eemmeer in the north, Gelderland in the east, the river Rhine in the south, South Holland in the west, and North Holland in the northwest.
Utrecht makes up one region of the International Organization
for Standardization world region code system, having the code ISO 3166-2:NL-UT.
Important cities in the province are its capital, also called Utrecht, Amersfoort and Zeist.
History
In the Middle Ages, most of the area of the current province was ruled by the bishop of Utrecht. The bishopric was founded in 722 by Willibrord. Many wars were fought between Utrecht and the neighbouring counties and duchies, Holland, Gelderland and Brabant. In 1527, the bishop of Utrecht sold his worldly power over his territories to Emperor Charles V, who already owned the other Dutch provinces. However, the Habsburg rule did not last long, as Utrecht joined the revolt of the United Provinces against Charles's son Philip II of Spain in 1579. In World War II, Utrecht was held by German forces until the general capitulation of the Germans in the Netherlands on May 5, 1945. It was occupied by Canadian Allied forces on May 7, 1945. The towns of Oudewater, Woerden and Vianen were transferred from the province of South Holland to Utrecht in 1970, 1989 and 2002 respectively.
Geography
In the east of Utrecht lies the Utrechtse Heuvelrug, a chain of hills left as lateral moraine by tongues of glacial ice after the Saline glaciation that preceded the last ice age. Because of the scarcity of nutrients in the fast-draining sandy soil, the greatest part of a landscape that was formerly heath has been planted with pine plantations. The south of the province is a river landscape. The west consists mostly of meadows. In the north are big lakes formed by the digging of peat from bogs formed after the last ice age.
<imagemap> image:Netherlands map large.png|thumb|px|Map of the Netherlands, linking to the province pages; the red dots mark the capitals of the provinces and the black dots other notable cities or towns
poly 642 127 615 162 635 205 619 224 603 222 575 241 595 265 579 280 586 295 630 317 656 319 674 306 696 313 763 307 769 244 687 150 675 144 Drenthe
poly 481 243 420 297 376 406 441 445 513 390 532 323 557 312 518 259 Flevoland poly 518 258 573 247 601 220 617 221 632 206 611 164 581 143 606 84 597 57 625 19 459 26 356 62 323 124 383 197 425 237 449 266 482 239 Friesland poly 440 448 512 390 526 357 547 368 560 360 583 396 570 418 593 443 642 440 658 460 690 458 715 483 726 521 716 551 647 581 561 606 464 582 414 609 389 605 360 591 360 575 392 531 484 538 455 497 Gelderland poly 626 8 670 6 745 66 786 110 789 181 770 236 691 147 645 123 611 157 584 141 611 91 602 60 630 20 Groningen poly 535 603 574 669 531 667 552 727 496 749 477 776 527 809 490 903 503 928 572 932 595 872 553 841 550 836 610 800 583 776 621 731 602 661 573 609 Limburg poly 473 776 406 767 343 725 227 738 207 730 196 680 197 643 236 623 292 613 336 586 353 584 386 609 414 611 464 585 529 601 570 667 527 664 545 726 494 745 North Brabant poly 319 120 447 268 416 297 375 404 406 430 398 462 380 462 362 446 350 429 318 453 275 453 255 416 270 203 North Holland poly 699 316 751 365 772 394 772 444 721 482 692 456 656 456 642 438 595 441 576 419 589 395 562 359 547 365 527 355 533 327 562 313 523 261 574 249 590 265 574 276 583 295 626 320 658 323 677 308 Overijssel poly 252 416 154 525 112 594 159 620 196 639 234 620 290 610 337 581 356 583 389 532 381 523 339 544 319 520 326 501 315 484 337 474 318 455 273 455 South Holland poly 410 433 434 445 453 495 479 536 392 530 378 521 339 542 324 518 329 498 316 485 341 472 321 455 349 432 378 465 400 463 Utrecht poly 196 641 194 683 204 736 156 783 111 782 42 772 12 747 15 716 31 665 103 591 Zeeland </imagemap>
Municipalities
- Abcoude
- Amersfoort
- Baarn
- Breukelen
- Bunnik
- Bunschoten
- De Bilt
- De Ronde Venen
- Eemnes
- Houten
- IJsselstein
- Leusden
- Loenen
- Lopik
- Maarssen
- Montfoort
- Nieuwegein
- Oudewater
- Renswoude
- Rhenen
- Soest
- Utrecht
- Utrechtse Heuvelrug
- Veenendaal
- Vianen
- Wijk bij Duurstede
- Woerden
- Woudenberg
- Zeist
Famous Utrechters
Gerrit Rietveld- De Stijl designer and architect the Schröder House, at Utrecht.
External links
- Website of the Province
- Utrecht Foreign Investment Office
- UtrechtYourWay - Tourist Information and Hotel Bookings
- Restaurant Guide of Utrecht Province
- Province maps showing subdivision in municipalities:
- Detailed Map of Utrecht
- Public transport:
- Nederlandse Spoorwegen
- Connexxion, region Midden [1]
- BBA, region Utrecht northwest [2]
- GVU
| Provinces of the Netherlands | |
|---|---|
| Drenthe • Flevoland • Friesland • Gelderland • Groningen • Limburg • North Brabant • North Holland • Overijssel • South Holland • Utrecht • Zeeland |
 |
.svg) Seventeen Provinces (1477) —
Burgundian Circle (1512)  |
||
|---|---|---|
| States | Artois | Brabant | Drenthe | Flanders | Friesland | Groningen | Guelders | Hainaut | Holland | Limburg | Luxembourg | Mechelen | Namur | Overijssel | Utrecht | Zeeland | Zutphen |
 |
| Dependent territories | Antwerp | Besançon | Breda | Burgundy | |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
