Muiden () is a city and former municipality 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 ...

. It lies at the mouth of the Vecht and is in an area called the

Vechtstreek The Vechtstreek (; ) is a region in the Dutch provinces of Utrecht and North Holland along the Vecht River between the towns of Utrecht and Amsterdam. Located in the economic heartland of the Netherlands, it is known for its natural environment a ...

. Since 2016, Muiden has been part of the new municipality of

Gooise Meren Gooise Meren () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, the Netherlands. It has about 58,000 inhabitants and covers an area of about . Gooise Meren has existed since 2016. It is a merger of the three former municipalities of Bussum, M ...

History

The first known reference to Muiden is from 953 when

Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), known as Otto the Great ( ) or Otto of Saxony ( ), was East Francia, East Frankish (Kingdom of Germany, German) king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the eldest son o ...

, granted the settlement and its toll rights to the

Cathedral of Saint Martin, Utrecht St. Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht, or Dom Church (), is a Gothic architecture, Gothic church dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, which was the cathedral of the Diocese of Utrecht (695–1580), Diocese of Utrecht during the Middle Ages. It is ...

. It was called ''Amuda'', meaning "mouth of the (river) A". "A" was the old name for the Vecht river. In 1122 Muiden was, together with

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

, granted some city rights by Emperor

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (1216–1281 ...

. After the lands around Muiden were given to Count Floris V, he began building Muider Castle at the mouth of the Vecht river. Muiden once again 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 tradition ...

in 1296. The first defensive works date from the first half of the 15th century. In 1590 the walls were replaced with earthen mounds with

bastion A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the ...

s after a design by Adriaen Anthonisz. Muiden was the northern end of the

Dutch Water Line The Dutch Waterline (; modern spelling: ''Hollandse Waterlinie'') was a series of water-based defences conceived by Maurice of Nassau in the early 17th century, and realised by his half brother Frederick Henry. Combined with natural bodies of wat ...

. In 1673 the sea lock in the Vecht river was relocated from Fort Hinderdam to Muiden and in 1676 it was expanded with a sea wall along the Vecht mouth to prevent flooding. Developments in warfare during the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

of 1870 prompted modernisation, with the construction of forts, part of the

Stelling van Amsterdam The ' (; "Defence Line of Amsterdam") is a fortification line around Amsterdam, which would function as a national redoubt. It comprises 45 forts, as well as dams, dikes, locks, pumping stations, batteries and casemates. The forts are from th ...

, which included the Muizenfort, the barracks on the Vestingplein, and the

casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armoured structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" ...

s in the

ravelin A ravelin is a triangular fortification or detached outwork, located in front of the innerworks of a fortress (the curtain walls and bastions). Originally called a ''demi-lune'', after the ''lunette'', the ravelin is placed outside a castle a ...

s. The layout of the fortification wall was revised. Fort Pampus Island, part of the former municipality of Muiden, was built from 1887 to 1897. Together with the lighthouse island near

Durgerdam Durgerdam is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Amsterdam, and lies about 7 km east of the city centre, along the dyke of the IJmeer. Durgerdam is a part of the ''deelgemeente'' (sub-munici ...

and the

artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to f ...

at the Diemer seawall, it was meant to protect the entrance of the IJ Bay and the harbour of Amsterdam.

Geography

The former municipality of Muiden had two population centers: Muiden and

Muiderberg Muiderberg () is a village in the municipality of Gooise Meren in the Netherlands. It lies about 6 km north of Bussum and 2 km west of Naarden, adjacent to the Naarderbos. Geography Muiderberg is in the east of the municipality of ...

Attractions

Muiderslot Muiden Castle (Dutch: ''Muiderslot'', ) is a castle in the Netherlands, located at the mouth of the Vecht (Utrecht), Vecht river, some 15 kilometers southeast of Amsterdam, in Muiden, where it flows into what used to be the Zuiderzee. It is one o ...

(Muider Castle), a well-preserved castle from the Middle Ages * Muizenfort, (Mice Fort) a 19th-century fortification part of the

* Fort Pampus Island is an artificial island that is part of the

Defence Line of Amsterdam The ' (; "Defence Line of Amsterdam") is a fortification line around Amsterdam, which would function as a national redoubt. It comprises 45 forts, as well as dams, dikes, locks, pumping stations, batteries and casemates. The forts are from th ...

(Dutch: ''Stelling van Amsterdam''). Various regional walking and cycling routes pass Muiden.

Gunpowder factory

In 1702 the hazardous production of

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...

was removed from the city of Amsterdam. The

vroedschap The ''vroedschap'' () was the name for the (all male) city council in the early modern Netherlands; the member of such a council was called a ''vroedman'', literally a "wise man". An honorific title of the ''vroedschap'' was the ''vroede vadere ...

of Muiden granted a permit to Reinier van Cuyk of Amsterdam to build a gunpowder mill just west of Muiden that same year. The factory flourished during the First World War, was

liquidated Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as wound-up or dissolved, although di ...

in 1919, and was restarted in 1922. During the 20th century its production steadily increased and the town grew towards the factory. In 1972 it was renamed "Muiden Chemie". In the 1980s, it was accused of illegal shipments to Iran. In 1990 Muiden Chemie went bankrupt and was taken over by the British company Royal Ordnance, part of

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft manufacturer, aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer that was formed in 1977. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. ...

. After a fire in 2001 and ongoing concerns over safety, it was decided to close the factory permanently. Explosions since 1883: * January 9, 1883: explosion on the factory premises, resulting in 13 deaths and much damage to the factory and Muiden. * 1886: explosion, 2 deaths. Destroyed a part of the factory. * 1924/1925: several explosions, 1 death. * January 17, 1947: explosion of collected grenades on the factory premises, 17 deaths and much damage in Muiden. * 1948: a grenade exploded, 1 death. * 1949: explosion in a powder mill, 1 death. * June 13, 1963: explosion in the storage depot, no casualties. * June 2, 1966: explosion in the TNT factory, many injuries and much damage in Muiden. * December 8, 1972: explosion in drying chamber, 2 deaths, much damage in Muiden. * May 30, 1983: explosion, 3 deaths. * September 9, 1983: explosion, 1 death. * August 20, 2001: fire in packing materials storage, no explosions, no casualties.

Local government

Marleen de Pater-van der Meer of the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( , CDA) is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in the Netherlands. Formed as a federation in 1975 by the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary Party, and the Christian Historical ...

(CDA) was the last mayor of Muiden. The municipal council of Muiden consisted of 13 seats, which were divided as follows at the 2014 local elections: *

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( , VVD) is a Conservative liberalism, conservative-liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party (Netherl ...

(VVD): 3 seats * Labour Party (PvdA): 3 seats *

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; D66) is a social liberal and progressive political party in the Netherlands, which is positioned on the centre to centre-left of the political spectrum. It is a member of the Liberal International (LI) and the Alliance of Li ...

(D66): 3 seats *

(CDA): 2 seats * Ons Muiden Muiderberg: 2 seats There was an election in November 2015 for the council for the new merged Gooise Meren municipality that commenced work on 1 January 2016, replacing Muiden council.

Notable people

* Abraham Samson Onderwijzer (1862–1934), rabbi and labour union founder

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Geography of Gooise Meren Former municipalities of North Holland Populated places in North Holland Municipalities of the Netherlands disestablished in 2016 Cities in the Netherlands