Andel is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the municipality of

Altena, North Brabant Altena is a municipality in the Netherlands, on a river island in the very north of the province of North Brabant, bordering the provinces of Gelderland and South Holland. Nearby cities are Dordrecht in the west, Gorinchem in the nort ...

, in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. It is located about 7 km southeast of

Gorinchem Gorinchem ( ), pronunciation respelling, also spelled Gorkum, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. It had a population of in . The munici ...

History

Op-Andel was first mentioned in 850 as Analo, and means "higher open forest". Neer-Andel was mentioned in 1382 as "dat derp tot Uutandele", and means the lower or downstream part. The villages developed on the banks of the

Afgedamde Maas The Afgedamde Maas (; Dammed-up Meuse) is a former distributary of the Meuse, Maas River (French: Meuse) in the Netherlands, Dutch Provinces of the Netherlands, provinces of North Brabant and Gelderland. The Maas splits near Heusden with one chan ...

. The village used to consist of two parts: an upstream part named Op-Andel (), and a downstream part named Neer-Andel (). Later both merged into a single urban area. Roman pottery has been discovered from the 2nd century. The oldest church dates from the 14th century. It later became a ruin and was partially demolished. The Rombouts tower has been restored in 1954. The current Dutch Reformed church dates from the 16th century, and has been enlarged in 1852 and around 1950. Andel was home to 738 people in 1840. Until 1973, Andel was an independent municipality when it was merged into

Woudrichem Woudrichem (; Brabantian: ''Woerkum'') is a city and former municipality in the province of North Brabant in the Netherlands. History Woudrichem originated in the ninth century. A marketplace emerged on a riverbank where Hoogstraat and Mol ...

. In 2019, it became part of

Altena Altena (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Altenoa'') is a town in the district of Märkischer Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town's castle is the origin for the later Dukes of Berg. Altena is situated on the Lenne river valley, i ...

Gallery

File:1865_Andel.png, 1865 map of the municipality. File:Netherlands, Afgedamde Maas, Wilhelminasluis.JPG, Lock in the Afgedamde Maas File:Andel - Julianastraat 17 Woonhuis.jpg, House in Andel File:Andel - Burgemeester van der Schansstraat 59 Woonhuis.jpg, House in Andel

References

{{Authority control Former municipalities of North Brabant Populated places in North Brabant Geography of Altena, North Brabant