Assendelft () is a town in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of North Holland,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It is a part of the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Zaanstad Zaanstad () is a Dutch municipality in the province of North Holland, situated northwest of Amsterdam. Its main city is Zaandam. It is part of the conurbation and metropolitan area of Amsterdam. It had a population of in . Topography Popul ...

. Assendelft was a separate municipality until 1974, when the municipality of Zaanstad was formed. However, Assendelft didn't want to be part of

and pled together with Krommenie to be part of a new municipality called Assendelft-Krommenie.

is part of the Amsterdam Agglomeration ( GA). The

North Sea Canal The North Sea Canal ( nl, Noordzeekanaal) is a Dutch ship canal from Amsterdam to the North Sea at IJmuiden, constructed between 1865 and 1876 to enable seafaring vessels to reach the port of Amsterdam. This man-made channel terminates at Amster ...

connects Assendelft with

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

and

Velsen Velsen () 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 a ...

, and it lies about 13 km northeast of Haarlem and about 15 km south of Alkmaar.

History

Assendelft is one of the oldest settlements in North Holland, with signs of settlement dating from as early as 500BC. The earliest written form of the name appears as 'Ascmannedilf' in 1063. The name is derived from the old Germanic word for Norsemen, 'Ascomanni', 'dilf' most likely meaning 'dug by'.

Train services

The town is served by

Krommenie-Assendelft railway station Krommenie-Assendelft is a railway station in Krommenie and Assendelft, Netherlands. The station lies on the Den Helder–Amsterdam railway, and was opened on 1 November 1869. The station had a goods yard, but no longer does. The station had remain ...

. From here, there are four trains an hour to Amsterdam, with a journey time of 25 minutes.

Rural culture

Known is the local

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...

breed, called "Assendelfter". It is an ancient pencilled breed, related to the pencilled

Hamburg chicken The Hamburg, nl, Hollands hoen, italic=no, german: Hamburger, italic=no, is a breed of chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the ...

References

Zaanstad Populated places in North Holland Former municipalities of North Holland {{NorthHolland-geo-stub