Beverwijk () is a municipality and a city in the

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 ...

, in the province of North Holland. The town is located about northwest of

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 ...

in the

Randstad The Randstad (; "Rim" or "Edge" City) is a roughly crescent-shaped conurbation in the central-western Netherlands, consisting primarily of the four largest Dutch cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht); their suburbs, and many tow ...

metropolitan area, north of 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 ...

very close to the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

coast. A railway tunnel and two motorway tunnels cross the canal between Beverwijk and the nearby city of Haarlem on the south side of the canal. Around 1640, a town called

Beverwyck Beverwijck ( ; ), often written using the pre-reform orthography Beverwyck, was a fur-trading community north of Fort Orange on the Hudson River in New Netherland that was renamed and developed as Albany, New York, after the English took cont ...

was founded in the Dutch colony of

New Netherland New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva P ...

. That town's modern name is

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...

Population centres

The municipality of Beverwijk consists of two cores, Beverwijk proper and

Wijk aan Zee Wijk aan Zee ( literally ''Neighborhood at Sea'') is a village on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk, the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel Chess Tournament (formerly called the Corus ...

, to the west, right on the coast.

History

The name Beverwijk comes from ''Bedevaartswijk'', meaning "pilgrimage neighbourhood". The town formed at the Saint Agatha Church which was a pilgrimage location in the Middle Ages. Allegedly

Agatha of Sicily Agatha of Sicily () is a Christian saint. Her feast is on 5 February. Agatha was born in Catania, part of the Roman Province of Sicily, and was martyred . She is one of several virgin martyrs who are commemorated by name in the Canon of the ...

appeared there in the 9th century to a virgin from

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 ...

who was fleeing from the Count of Kennemerland. In 1276, Beverwijk was granted market rights by Floris V, and in 1298 it was granted city rights by John I, both

Counts of Holland The counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century. House of Holland The first count of Holland, Dirk I, was the son or foster-son of Gerolf, Count in Frisia (Dijkstra suggests th ...

. During the 17th century, wealthy merchants from Amsterdam built their estates, such as ''Huize Akerendam'', ''Huize Westerhout'', and ''Huize Scheijbeeck'', in the scenic dunes surrounding Beverwijk. Prior to the reclamation of the IJ Bay, the narrowest point in the North Holland peninsula was at Beverwijk. Therefore, a defensive line was built there in 1800 following the

Battle of Castricum The Battle of Castricum (October 6, 1799) saw a Franco-Dutch force defeat an Anglo-Russian force near Castricum, Netherlands. The battle was fought during the War of the Second Coalition against Revolutionary France between French and Dutch forc ...

in 1799. In 1944, during the Second World War, the Germans conducted a house-to-house raid in Beverwijk and

Velsen-Noord Velsen-Noord is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Velsen, and lies about 10 km north of Haarlem. From 1865 on, when the construction on the North Sea Canal began, the town of Velsen, which ...

, seizing nearly 500 persons as hostages to force the murderers of three collaborators to surrender themselves. In all, 63 of them never returned. Around 1977, the first furniture stores opened along the Parallel Road, forming the first "furniture boulevard" in the Netherlands. By 1981, 10 businesses had been established there. South of the furniture boulevard, the Bazaar was introduced in 1980. On March 23, 1997, Beverwijk was the location of a clash of two

football firm Football hooliganism, also known as soccer hooliganism, football rioting or soccer rioting, constitutes violence and other destructive behaviours perpetrated by spectators at association football events. Football hooliganism normally involves ...

s. Supporters of the Dutch football team

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...

met with

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names bef ...

supporters in what has come to be known as the "

Battle of Beverwijk The Battle of Beverwijk (Dutch: "Slag bij Beverwijk") was a violent confrontation between two hooligan supporter groups of Dutch Association football clubs Ajax and Feyenoord, the S.C.F. Hooligans and the F-Side. The incident took place on 23 ...

". During this incident, one Ajax supporter was beaten to death. Since 1997, Special Needs Judo Foundation has organised its annual OBG (Open Beverwijk G-judo) tournament in Sporthal De Walvis, featuring over 1000 special needs judoka from all over the world. The tournament takes place every year in April.

Local government

The municipal council of Beverwijk consists of 27 seats, which are divided as follows:

Notable residents

* Gerard van Velsen (died 1296) Lord of Beverwijk, Noordwijk, and Velsen * Richard Aertsz (1482–1577) a

Dutch Renaissance The Renaissance in the Low Countries was a cultural period in the Northern Renaissance that took place in around the 16th century in the Low Countries (corresponding to modern-day Belgium, the Netherlands and French Flanders). Culture in the Low C ...

painter of historical allegories *

Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen, or Jan Mayo, or Barbalonga (c. 1504 – 1559) was a Dutch Northern Renaissance painter. Biography Based on his will, rediscovered in 1998, Vermeyen was born in Beverwijk in 1504 (possibly 1503 or 1505). According to ...

(1500-1559) a Dutch

Northern Renaissance The Northern Renaissance was the Renaissance that occurred in Europe north of the Alps. From the last years of the 15th century, its Renaissance spread around Europe. Called the Northern Renaissance because it occurred north of the Italian Renais ...

painter *

Thomas Wijck Thomas Wijck (also Thomas Wijk, or Thomas Wyck; 1616–1677) was a Dutch painter of port views and genre paintings. Biography Wijck was born into an artist family and received his training from his father. He journeyed to Italy, presumably by 16 ...

(1616-1677) a Dutch painter of port views and genre paintings * Rochus van Veen (1630–1693) was a Dutch Golden Age painter * Isaac Johannes Lamotius (1646–1718) Governor of Mauritius 1677 to 1692 and an ichthyologist * Wil Velders-Vlasblom (1930-2019) a politician and woman's rights activist, Mayor of Beverwijk 1986 to 1995 * Albert Boer (1935–2002) the author of ''

Kamp Schoorl Schoorl transit camp ( nl, Kamp Schoorl, german: Polizeiliches Durchgangslager Schoorl), originally a Dutch army camp (1939–1940), was a Nazi concentration camp (1940–1941) near the village of Schoorl in the Netherlands. History ''Kamp Sch ...

'' *

Henk Tijms Henk Tijms (Beverwijk, April 23, 1944) is a Dutch mathematician and Emeritus Professor of Operations Research at the VU University Amsterdam. He studied mathematics in Amsterdam where he graduated from the University of Amsterdam in 1972 under sup ...

(born 1944) a Dutch mathematician and academic * Jan Baas (born 1950) a Dutch politician, alderman of Beverwijk 1990 to 1996 *

Peter Pontiac Peter Pontiac (born ''Peter J.G. Pollmann''; 28 April 1951 – 20 January 2015) was a Dutch cartoonist, comics artist and illustrator. He was the winner of the 1997 Stripschapprijs. Pontiac died on 20 January 2015, after a lengthy battle with seve ...

(1951–2015) a Dutch cartoonist, comics artist and illustrator *

Peter de Wit Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

(born 1958) a Dutch comics artist and cartoonist *

Astrid Joosten Astrid Maria Bernadette Joosten is a Dutch television personality and presenter. She is known for the magazine programme ''Jongbloed en Joosten'', and presenting the quiz show . She also starred in the 2005 film '' Off Screen''. Personal life J ...

(born 1958) a Dutch TV personality and presenter * Ilse Huizinga (born 1966) a Dutch jazz singer * Willem de Rooij (born 1969) mixed media artist *

Kim-Lian van der Meij Kim-Lian van der Meij (born 1 October 1980 in Beverwijk) is a Dutch musical actress, presenter and a singer-songwriter. Biography Kim-Lian comes from a musical family. Both her parents were professional dancers. Kim-Lian won a number of dance co ...

(born 1980) a musical actress, presenter and singer-songwriter IMDb Database
retrieved 25 January 2020 Ans Dekker 1974

Sport

* Cor Tabak (1907–2001) a male weightlifter who competed at the 1928 Summer Olympics * Ab Geldermans (born 1935) a former professional road bicycle racer and

directeur sportif A ''directeur sportif'' (French for sporting director, although the original French term is often used in English-language media; plural ''directeurs sportifs'') is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event. It is se ...

* Ans Dekker (born 1955) a former artistic gymnast, competed at the

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

and

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

* Wouly de Bie (born 1958) a former water polo goalkeeper, participated in two Summer Olympics * Michel Doesburg (born 1968) a retired Dutch professional footballer with over 400 club caps * Dorus de Vries (born 1980) a retired Dutch football goalkeeper with 431 club caps * Laurien Hoos (born 1983) a Dutch heptathlete and hurdler, competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics *

Niki Terpstra Niki Terpstra (; born 18 May 1984) is a Dutch racing cyclist, who rides for UCI ProTeam . He is the brother of fellow racing cyclist Mike Terpstra. He is the third Dutch cyclist to have won both of the cobbled Monument spring classics, Paris–R ...

(born 1984) a Dutch racing cyclist *

Stefan Struve Stefan Jaimy Struve (; born February 18, 1988) is a Dutch former mixed martial artist who competed as a heavyweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). At , he is the tallest fighter in the history of the UFC. Background Growing up in th ...

(born 1988), mixed martial artist * Paul de Lange (born 1981) a retired Dutch footballer with nearly 400 club caps *

Arthur Numan Arthur Numan (born 14 December 1969) is a Dutch former professional footballer. He played as a left back and was a regular fixture in Netherlands national football team. He is currently the team manager for the Netherlands B squad and a scout fo ...

(born 1969) a retired Dutch footballer with 436 club caps

Transport

* Beverwijk railway station

Gallery

File:Beverwijk, Grote Kerk foto1 2011-06-12 15.47.JPG, Beverwijk, church: de Grote Kerk File:Museumkennemerland.jpg, Museumkennemerland File:Inundatiekanaal van de Pijp naar de inundatiesluis in de Sint Aagtendijk - Beverwijk - 20340663 - RCE.jpg, Inundatiekanaal van de Pijp naar de inundatiesluis in de Sint Aagtendijk - Beverwijk File:Relweg 57, Wijk aan Zee 01.jpg, Relweg 57, Wijk aan Zee

References

External links

*
Official website
{{Authority control Municipalities of North Holland Populated places in North Holland