Nijkerk (;

Dutch Low Saxon Dutch Low Saxon ( or ''Nederlaands Nedersaksies''; nl, Nederlands Nedersaksisch) are the Low Saxon dialects of the Low German language that are spoken in the northeastern Netherlands and are written there with local, unstandardised orthograph ...

: ''Niekark'') is a

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 ...

and a city located in the middle of 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 Neth ...

, in the province of

Gelderland Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...

Population centres

Some people state that ''Groot Corlaer'' is a population centre on its own, but it is officially part of Nijkerk.

Transportation

Railway station:

Nijkerk Nijkerk (; Dutch Low Saxon: ''Niekark'') is a municipality and a city located in the middle of the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_ ...

The city of Nijkerk

The name Nijkerk stems from Nieuwe Kerk (Dutch for New Church). This new church was built after the old chapel had been destroyed by fire in 1221. Nijkerk was strategically located between the

Duchy of Guelders The Duchy of Guelders ( nl, Gelre, french: Gueldre, german: Geldern) is a historical duchy, previously county, of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the Low Countries. Geography The duchy was named after the town of Geldern (''Gelder'') in p ...

''(Dutch: Hertogdom Gelre)'' and the

Bishopric of Utrecht The Bishopric of Utrecht ( nl, Sticht Utrecht) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries, in the present-day Netherlands. From 1024 to 1528, as one of the prince-bishoprics of the Holy Roman Empire, it w ...

. Because of this strategic location Nijkerk regularly was the scene of war, and in 1412 the village was completely destroyed. It was restored and Nijkerk received

city rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

in 1413. In 1421 the church that gave Nijkerk its name burnt down and was replaced; this happened several times, until a new church, the ''Grote-of-Sint-Catharinakerk''; was built in the 18th century. It still stands today. The organ in this church was built in 1756 by Mathijs van Deventer. In the 18th century Nijkerk was a flourishing merchant city. Several inhabitants traveled to the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

, such as Arent van Curler and Kiliaen van Rensselaer and founded new cities. Since

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Nijkerk has been growing fast. It is situated on the (former) shore of the

IJsselmeer The IJsselmeer (; fy, Iselmar, nds-nl, Iesselmeer), also known as Lake IJssel in English, is a closed off inland bay in the central Netherlands bordering the provinces of Flevoland, North Holland and Friesland. It covers an area of with an ...

, which allows for transportation of goods via ships, and in the proximity of two major motorways, the E30 (A1) and E232 (A28). This allowed local industries to grow, and also encouraged a lot of people who work in the nearby

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 ...

to move to the more rural and peaceful town of Nijkerk. The easy access to the

Veluwe The Veluwe () is a forest-rich ridge of hills (1100 km2) in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. The Veluwe features many different landscapes, including woodland, heath, some small lakes and Europe's largest sand drifts. The Ve ...

is also a contributing factor to this growth.

Politics

In 2000, the municipalities of Nijkerk and

Hoevelaken Hoevelaken is a town in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is a part of the municipality of Nijkerk, and lies about 5 km east of Amersfoort. Hoevelaken was a separate municipality until 2000, when it was merged with Nijkerk. History It w ...

merged to form the new municipality of Nijkerk. On August 24, 2011, the municipality announced that Nijkerk had passed the mark of 40,000 inhabitants. The

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural coun ...

was consequently expanded to 27 seats for the 2014 election.
Currently (March, 2020) the seats are divided as follows: Progressief 21 is a local party combining the local chapters of the

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; abbreviated D66, ) is a social liberal political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the centre of the political spectrum. It is a member of the Liberal International (LI) and the Alliance of Liberals and Demo ...

GroenLinks GroenLinks (, ) is a green political party in the Netherlands. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four left-wing parties: the Communist Party of the Netherlands, the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party of Radicals and t ...

and the Labour Party. The last two parties are local parties that have no national connection.

Geography

Climate

Notable residents

* Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1586 in Hasselt - ca.1642), merchant and Hudson Valley

patroon In the United States, a patroon (; from Dutch '' patroon'' ) was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland on the east coast of North America. Through the Charter of Freedoms ...

Wouter van Twiller Wouter van Twiller (May 22, 1606 – buried August 29, 1654) was an employee of the Dutch West India Company and the fourth Director of New Netherland. He governed from 1632 until 1638, succeeding Peter Minuit, who was recalled by the Dutch ...

(1606 in Nijkerk – 1654) the

Director of New Netherland This is a list of Directors, appointed by the Dutch West India Company, of the 17th century Dutch province of New Netherland (''Nieuw-Nederland'' in Dutch) in North America. Only the last, Peter Stuyvesant, held the title of Director General. As t ...

1632 to 1638. * Arent van Curler (1619 in Nijkerk - 1667), founder of

Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Yo ...

* Johann Frederik Eijkman (1851 in Nijkerk – 1915), chemist * James Kwast (1852 in Nijkerk - 1927), pianist and teacher *

Christiaan Eijkman Christiaan Eijkman ( , , ; 11 August 1858 – 5 November 1930) was a Dutch physician and professor of physiology whose demonstration that beriberi is caused by poor diet led to the discovery of antineuritic vitamins (thiamine). Together wit ...

(1858 in Nijkerk - 1930), physician and professor of physiology, received the

Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, according ...

in 1929 for the discovery of

vitamins A vitamin is an organic molecule (or a set of molecules closely related chemically, i.e. vitamers) that is an essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its metabolism. Essential nutrie ...

* Jakob van Domselaer (1890 in Nijkerk – 1960), composer, part of ''

De Stijl ''De Stijl'' (; ), Dutch for "The Style", also known as Neoplasticism, was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 in Leiden. De Stijl consisted of artists and architects. In a more narrow sense, the term ''De Stijl'' is used to refer to a body ...

'' with

Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (), after 1906 known as Piet Mondrian (, also , ; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is known for being o ...

* Bernardus Johannes Alfrink (1900 in Nijkerk - 1987), Cardinal,

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht The Archdiocese of Utrecht ( la, Archidioecesis Ultraiectensis) is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands. The Archbishop of Utrecht is the Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical province of Utrecht. There are six suffragan dioc ...

* Henri Nouwen (1932 in Nijkerk - 1996), Catholic priest, professor, writer and theologian * Kees de Kort (born 1934 in Nijkerk) an artist, illustrates Bible scenes for children's books. *

Norbert Klein Norbert Klein (25 October 1866 in Brunzeif, Austrian Silesia – 10 March 1933 in Bruntál, Czechoslovakia) was Bishop of Brno from 1916 to 1926 and 59th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from 1923 to 1933. Life Klein began his theologica ...

(born 1956), politician, currently lives in

* Levi van Veluw (born 1985 in Hoevelaken), contemporary artist using photographs, videos and sculptures

Sport

* Brigitte van der Lans (born 1968 in Hoevelaken), former backstroke swimmer, competed at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

Bram van Polen Bram van Polen (;''Van'' in isolation: . born 11 October 1985) is a Dutch footballer who plays as a defender for PEC Zwolle in the Eredivisie. A product of the Vitesse Arnhem youth academy, where he never played an official match, he is curre ...

(born 1985 in Nijkerk), footballer, 385 caps with

PEC Zwolle PEC Zwolle is a Dutch association football, football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 Ere ...

Scott Deroue Scott Deroue (born 23 December 1995 in Nijkerkerveen) is a Dutch motorcycle racer. In 2017 he competes in the Supersport 300 World Championship aboard a Kawasaki Ninja 300. He was a Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup contestant in 2011, 2012 and 2013 an ...

(born 1995 in Nijkerkerveen), motorcycle racer * Donny van de Beek (born 1997 in Nijkerkerveen), professional footballer

Twin town

Nijkerk is twinned with

Gallery

File:Nijkerk-grote-kerk-2012-vlagnijkerk.jpg, The File:Arkervaart (kanaal).jpg, Arkervaart (canal) File:Driedorp NH-kerk 74.JPG, Driedorp NH-kerk File:Nijkerk Handelende boeren met koeien 93.jpg, Nijkerk Trading farmers with cows File:Nijkerk museum Oud Nijkerk 73.jpg, Nijkerk museum Oud Nijkerk File:Grêft yn Nijkerk 3.JPG, Canal in Nijkerk File:Nijkerk-westkadijk-05270003.jpg, Nijkerk-westkadijk File:Hoevelaken Park Weldam 7.jpg, Hoevelaken Park Weldam File:Slûs Nijkerkernau 4.JPG, Sluice Nijkerkernau

References

External links

*
Official website
{{Authority control Municipalities of Gelderland Populated places in Gelderland Cities in the Netherlands