Beverwijk () is a municipality and a city 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 ...

, in the province of

North Holland North Holland (, ) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht (province), Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevola ...

. The town is located about northwest of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

in the

Randstad The Randstad (; "Rim City" or "Edge City") is a roughly crescent- or Circular arc, arc-shaped conurbation in the Netherlands, that includes almost half the country's population. With a central-western location, it connects and comprises the Net ...

metropolitan area, north of the

North Sea Canal The North Sea Canal () 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 Amsterdam in the closed- ...

very close to the

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

coast. A railway tunnel and two motorway tunnels cross the canal between Beverwijk and the nearby city of

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

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 within Rensselaerwyck in New Netherland that was renamed and developed as Albany, New York, afte ...

was founded in the Dutch colony of

New Netherland New Netherland () was a colony of the Dutch Republic located on the East Coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Cod. Settlements were established in what became the states ...

. That town's modern name is

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

Population centres

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

Wijk aan Zee Wijk aan Zee (; ) 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 chess tournament or the Hoogove ...

, 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 Ma ...

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 as ...

who was fleeing from the Count of Kennemerland. In 1276, Beverwijk was granted market rights by

Floris V Floris V (24 June 1254 – 27 June 1296) reigned as Count of Holland and Zeeland from 1256 until 1296. His life was documented in detail in the Rijmkroniek by Melis Stoke, his chronicler. He is credited with a mostly peaceful reign, modern ...

, and in 1298 it was granted

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 tradition ...

John I John I may refer to: People Religious figures * John I (bishop of Jerusalem) * John Chrysostom (349 – c. 407), Patriarch of Constantinople * John I of Antioch (died 441) * Pope John I of Alexandria, Coptic Pope from 496 to 505 * Pope John I, P ...

, 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. The Frisian origins While the Frisian kingdom had comprised most of the present day Netherlands, the later province of Friesland ...

. 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. Or they changed former strongholds in country retreats like Adrichem Castle. 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 for ...

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 Netherlands, 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 o ...

, 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 A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets th ...

was introduced in 1980. On March 23, 1997, Beverwijk was the location of a clash of two football firms. Supporters of the Dutch

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. ...

met with

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

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 F-Side and the S.C.F. Hooligans. The incident took place o ...

". 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 Gerard de van Velzen (died 1296) was lord of Beverwijk, Noordwijk, and Velsen. He was the son of Albrecht van Velsen and Hildegonde. He was married to Machteld van Woerden, a sister of Herman VI van Woerden. In 1275, Van Velzen was named schout ...

(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 ...

painter of historical allegories * Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen (1500-1559) a Dutch

Northern Renaissance The Northern Renaissance was the Renaissance that occurred in Europe north of the Alps, developing later than the Italian Renaissance, and in most respects only beginning in the last years of the 15th century. It took different forms in the vari ...

painter * Thomas Wijck (1616-1677) a Dutch painter of port views and genre paintings * Rochus van Veen (1630–1693) was a

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands which roughly lasted from 1588, when the Dutch Republic was established, to 1672, when the '' Rampjaar'' occurred. During this period, Dutch trade, scientific development ...

painter * Isaac Johannes Lamotius (1646–1718) Governor of Mauritius 1677 to 1692 and an

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

* 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 (, ), originally a Dutch army camp (1939–1940), was a Nazi concentration camp (1940–1941) near the village of Schoorl in the Netherlands. History ''Kamp Schoorl'' was built in 1939 as a Dutch army camp. Nazi Germany ...

'' *

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 s ...

(born 1944) a Dutch mathematician and academic * Jan Baas (born 1950) a Dutch politician, alderman of Beverwijk 1990 to 1996 * Peter Pontiac (1951–2015) a Dutch cartoonist, comics artist and illustrator * Peter de Wit (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''. Television pres ...

(born 1958) a Dutch TV personality and presenter *

Ilse Huizinga Ilse Huizinga (born 15 October 1966) is a Dutch jazz singer. She performs throughout Europe. History She lived in Australia for a year and attended the University of Amsterdam, where she received a degree in public administration. From 1993 to ...

(born 1966) a Dutch jazz singer *

Willem de Rooij Willem de Rooij (born 1969 in Beverwijk, Netherlands) is an artist and educator working in a variety of media, including film and installation. He investigates the production, contextualization and interpretation of images. Appropriations and collab ...

(born 1969) mixed media artist * Kim-Lian van der Meij (born 1980) a musical actress, presenter and singer-songwriter IMDb Database
retrieved 25 January 2020 Ans Dekker 1974

Sport

Cor Tabak Cornelis Gerardus "Cor" Tabak (2 July 1907 – 23 October 2001) was a Dutch male weightlifter, who competed in the lightweight category and represented the Netherlands at international competitions. He competed at the 1928 Summer Olympics, finish ...

(1907–2001) a male weightlifter who competed at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...

* Ab Geldermans (born 1935) a former professional road bicycle racer and

directeur sportif A ''directeur sportif'' (, ) is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event. It is seen as the equivalent to a field manager in baseball, or a head coach in football. At professional level, a directeur sportif follows t ...

* 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 Solar time, ...

and

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

Wouly de Bie Wouly Sybrand de Bie (4 March 1958 – 31 August 2023) was a water polo goalkeeper from the Netherlands, who participated in two Summer Olympics. In 1980 he finished in sixth position with the Dutch team. Four years later in Los Angeles, 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 Laurien Hoos (; born 18 August 1983) is a Dutch former athlete mainly active at the heptathlon and as a hurdler. Biography Laurien Hoos was born out of a total athletics family. Almost everybody from her mother's side of the family has been ac ...

(born 1983) a Dutch heptathlete and hurdler, competed at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Niki Terpstra Niki Terpstra (; born 18 May 1984) is a Dutch former racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2003 and 2022 for six different teams. He is the brother of fellow racing cyclist Mike Terpstra (cyclist), Mike Terpstra. He is the third Dutch c ...

(born 1984) a Dutch racing cyclist *

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

(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 * Daphne van Domselaar (born 2000) Dutch female goalkeeper.

Transport

Beverwijk railway station Beverwijk railway station is located in Beverwijk, 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 ...

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