Den Burg is a town in the
Dutch 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 ...
. It is a part of the municipality of
Texel
Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of Den ...
on the island of the same name, and lies about 12 km north of
Den Helder
Den Helder () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula. It is home to the country's main naval base.
From here the Royal TESO fe ...
.
Overview
Located in the middle of the island, Den Burg is the largest town of Texel. It features a historic centre and also the town hall. Outdoor markets are held each week in the main square. Nevertheless, Den Burg is the island's least tourist settlement.
The town was first mentioned between 918 and 948 as Osterburghem, and means "castle" which refers to a castle built to defend against the
Viking
Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9â ...
s.
Notable sites
The Dutch Reformed church is a three aisled basilica-like church with 11th century elements. The tower dates from the mid 15th century. After a lightning strike in 1537, it was enlarged.
The Oudheidkamer was built in 1599 as guest house and nowadays contains a museum.
A monument to the constructed language,
Esperanto
Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...
, is on the corner of Kogerstraat and De Zes. It was constructed in 1935 when Esperanto was widely spoken throughout the island.
Notable people
*
Willem Eduard Bok
Willem Eduard Bok, also known as W. Eduard Bok ( Den Burg, Texel, Netherlands, 28 June 1846 – Johannesburg, Transvaal Colony, 1 November 1904) was a Dutch-born South African Boer politician, civil servant and statesman, who served as fir ...
(1846–1904), State Secretary of the South African Republic (Transvaal) 1880–1889.
*
Kees de Jager
Cornelis "Kees" de Jager (; 29 April 1921 – 27 May 2021) was a Dutch astronomer who specialized in predicting solar variation to assess the Sun's impact on future climate. He was the General Secretary of the IAU from 1967 to 1973 and former d ...
(1921–2021), astronomer. He was the general secretary of the IAU from 1967 to 1973 and former director of the observatory at Utrecht.
*
Hans Kamp
Johan Anthony Willem "Hans" Kamp (born 5 September 1940) is a Dutch philosopher and Linguistics, linguist, responsible for introducing discourse representation theory (DRT) in 1981.
Biography
Kamp was born in Den Burg. He received a Ph.D. in UC ...
(born 1940), philosopher, creator of
discourse representation theory
In formal linguistics, discourse representation theory (DRT) is a framework for exploring meaning under a formal semantics approach. One of the main differences between DRT-style approaches and traditional Montagovian approaches is that DRT inc ...
(DRT).
*
Henk Zijm (born 1952), mathematician, professor and Rector Magnificus (2005–2008) at the University of Twente.
*
Dorian van Rijsselberghe (born 1988), windsurfer, winner of gold medal in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.
Gallery
File:Doorkijkje.jpg, Street in Den Burg, with the church in the background.
File:Texel - Den Burg - Emmalaan - Town Hall - Gemeentehuis 2010 - View ENE on the Entrance.jpg, Town hall
File:Den Burg-Binnenburg 15.jpg, Shop in Den Burg
File:Hervormde kerk, Den Burgh 2014.jpg, Dutch Reformed church
References
External links
{{Authority control
Populated places in North Holland
Texel