Zaanstad () is a Dutch municipality 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 ...

, situated 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 ...

. Its main city is

Zaandam Zaandam () is a city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad and received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Zaan ...

. It is part of the

conurbation A conurbation is a region consisting of a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ...

and metropolitan area of Amsterdam. It had a population of in .

Topography

Population centres

The municipality of Zaanstad is a

consisting of the cities, towns and villages of:

Assendelft Assendelft () is a town in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is a part of the municipality of Zaanstad. Assendelft was a separate municipality until 1974, when the municipality of Zaanstad was formed. However, Assendelft didn't wan ...

Koog aan de Zaan Koog aan de Zaan () is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Zaanstad, and lies about 11 km northwest of Amsterdam. History Koog aan de Zaan developed in the 16th century on the western bank of ...

Krommenie Krommenie () is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Zaanstad, and lies about 15 km northeast of Haarlem. History Krommenie developed in the 11th century as a peat excavation settlement. In 170 ...

Westzaan Westzaan is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Zaanstad, and lies about 13 km northeast of Haarlem. It is located west of Zaandam, Koog aan de Zaan and Zaandijk, southwest of Wormer, sou ...

Wormerveer Wormerveer is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Zaanstad, and lies about 13 km (8 miles) northwest of Amsterdam. Wormerveer developed in the 15th century on the west bank of the Zaan river. ...

and

Zaandijk Zaandijk () is a town in the municipality of Zaanstad, province of North Holland, Netherlands. It lies about 11 kilometres (6.8 miles) northwest of Amsterdam and had a population of 8,686 in 2017.Statistics Netherlands (CBS), ''Statline: Kernc ...

. However, being surrounded by countryside and due to its relatively protracted shape that follows the river

Zaan The Zaan () is a small river in the province of North Holland in the northwestern Netherlands and the name of a district through which it runs. The river was originally a side arm of the IJ bay and travels 13.5 kilometers (8½ miles) through the m ...

, a rural atmosphere is always nearby.

Railway stations in Zaanstad

* Koog aan de Zaan railway station (formerly Koog Bloemwijk) * Krommenie-Assendelft railway station *

Wormerveer railway station Wormerveer is a railway station in Wormerveer, Netherlands. The station was opened on the Den Helder–Amsterdam railway on 1 November 1869. The station is on the southern edge of the town, approx. 200m south of the river Zaan. Behind the stati ...

Zaandam railway station Zaandam is the main railway station of Zaandam, near Amsterdam, Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. ...

Zaandam Kogerveld railway station Zaandam Kogerveld is a railway station located in Zaandam, Netherlands. The station opened in 1989 on the Zaandam–Enkhuizen railway. The station is 2 km north of Zaandam railway station, and is in the Kogerveld neighbourhood. This station ...

Zaandijk Zaanse Schans railway station Zaandijk Zaanse Schans railway station, until 2016 Koog-Zaandijk railway station, is a railway station in Koog aan de Zaan and Zaandijk, both neighbourhoods of the municipality of Zaandam, Netherlands. It is also the closest railway station to Zaa ...

(formerly Koog-Zaandijk)

Local government

The municipal council of Zaanstad consists of 39 seats, which at the 2022 local elections divided as follows:

Notable tourist attractions

* Zaans Museum *

Zaanse Schans Zaanse Schans () is a neighbourhood of Zaandam, near Zaandijk, Netherlands. It is best known for its collection of historic windmills and wooden houses that were relocated here from the wider region north of Amsterdam for preservation. From 1961 t ...

* Czar Peter House *Gedempte Gracht, a shopping street in

Notable people from Zaanstad

The arts

* Pieter Jansz. Saenredam (1597–), a painter of the

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 ...

* Anton Mauve (1838–1888), realist painter, leading member of the

Hague School The Hague School () is a group of artists who lived and worked in The Hague between 1860 and 1890. Their work was heavily influenced by the realist painters of the French Barbizon school. The painters of the Hague school generally made use of re ...

* Jan Verkade (1868-1946),

post-Impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

and Christian

Symbolist Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

painter * Piet Zwart (1885–1977), graphic designer, industrial designer and typographer * Dick Laan (1894–1973), children's writer and film pioneer IMDb Database
retrieved 18 May 2019 * Aafje Heynis (1924–2015), contralto * Piet Kee (1927–2018), organist and composer *

Han Bennink Han Bennink (born 17 April 1942) is a Dutch drummer and percussionist. On occasion his recordings have featured him playing soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, trombone, violin, banjo and piano. Though perhaps best known as one of the pivotal figu ...

(born 1942), jazz drummer and percussionist * Kathinka Pasveer (born 1959), flautist

Public thinking & public service

* Adriaan Pelt (1892–1981), journalist, international civil servant and diplomat * Johannes Kleiman (1896–1959), resident who helped hide

Anne Frank Annelies Marie Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – February or March 1945)Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new li ...

and her family * Hanneke Ippisch (1925–2012), member of the Dutch resistance in World War II * Tom Viezee (born 1950), Christian minister and former politician, Mayor of Zeewolde 1999–2004 * Emine Bozkurt (born 1967), politician

Science & business

Pieter Bleeker Pieter Bleeker (10 July 1819 – 24 January 1878) was a Dutch medical doctor, Ichthyology, ichthyologist, and Herpetology, herpetologist. He was famous for the ''Atlas Ichthyologique des Indes Orientales Néêrlandaises'', his monumental work on ...

(1819–1878), medical doctor,

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 ...

, and

herpetologist Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

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 with S ...

(1858–1930), physician and professor of physiology, joint winner 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, Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single ...

in 1929 for the discovery of

vitamins Vitamins are organic molecules (or a set of closely related molecules called vitamers) that are essential to an organism in small quantities for proper metabolic function. Essential nutrients cannot be synthesized in the organism in suff ...

* Cornelis Zwikker (1900–1985), scientist, mostly in physics, chemistry and acoustics * E. G. van de Stadt (1910–1999), yacht designer * Simon de Wit (1912–1976), rower and CEO of the supermarket chain Simon de Wit * Gerrit Jan Heijn (1931–1987), businessman with

Ahold Koninklijke Ahold N.V. was a Dutch multinational retail company based in Zaandam, Netherlands. Founded in 1887 by Albert Heijn Sr., the company initially began as a single grocery store in Oostzaan and became the largest grocery chain in the ...

, kidnapped and murdered * Floris Takens (1940–2010), mathematician

Sport

* Jaap Boot (1903-1986), athlete, bronze medallist in the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad () and officially branded as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The opening ceremony was held on 5 July, but some competitions had al ...

* Jaap Kraaier (1913–2004), flatwater canoeist, bronze medallist at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

* Nicolaas Tates (1915–1990), canoeist, bronze medallist at the

* Mieke Jaapies (born 1943), sprint canoer, silver medallist in the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

* Cees Stam (born 1945), a former track cyclist and four-time world champion stayer * Toos Beumer (born 1947), swimmer, team bronze medallist at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

Johnny Rep John Nicholaas Rep (born 25 November 1951) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a right winger. He holds the all-time record for FIFA World Cup goals for the Netherlands with 7. Playing career Rep played as a right-footed ...

(born 1951), former footballer * Annemarie Sanders (born 1958), an equestrian, silver medallist in the Team Dressage

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

* Luc Nijholt (born 1961), football manager and a former player * Erwin Koeman (born 1961), retired footballer *

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the manager of the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands national team. Koeman scor ...

(born 1963), retired footballer and ex-manager of the

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

since 2020. * Wietse van Alten (born 1978), an archer, bronze medallist

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

* Bilal Başaçıkoğlu (born 1995), footballer

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Zaanstad is twinned with:

Gallery

File:Holland - Twee molens 1900.jpg, Zaanstad windmill at the beginning of the 20th century File:River Zaan.jpg, River Zaan File:Windmill museum Zaanstad.jpg, Windmill Museum, Zaanstad Image:Zaandam, sluis foto3 2011-04-17 16.05.JPG, Zaandam, sluice File:Assendelft, de Sint-Odulphuskerk RM39923 IMG 9872 2019-06-17 13.48.jpg, Assendelft, church: the Sint-Odulphuskerk File:Westknollendam, de Tapsloot IMG 1519 2017-10-15 11.14.jpg, Westknollendam, ditch: de Tapsloot File:Krommeniedijk, het fort bij Krommeniedijk IMG 9884 2019-06-17 14.37.jpg, The fort near Krommeniedijk

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Municipalities of North Holland