Edam-Volendam
( Listen? / I ) Edam- Volendam is a municipality in the Netherlands, North Holland province. It has a total area of approximately 18.09 km ² and 28,749 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2013).
The municipality consists of the old town of Edam and the tourist village of Volendam, which is located 3 kilometers south of Edam.
Location and economic
The municipality is situated approximately 20 kilometers north of Amsterdam, on the coast of the IJsselmeer. Hoorn is still 12 km north. Edam has a centuries- long tradition as a cheese market. The tubby Edam cheese ( Dutch: Edammer ) comes here. There is still a machine factory in Edam, around much livestock and tourism. Volendam, the former fishing village with its traditional costumes, live almost entirely by the German, American, Japanese and other Dutch visitors. But there are also some fish processing factories.
History of Edam
Already in 1230 there was talk at the dam in the river Ee or Ye, the E -dam, by trade. The ship goods must be loaded off and on again at a dam anyway. The count of Holland William V of Bavaria gave Edam in 1357 the right to build a port to keep three years annually markets and other privileges. This Edam had become a city. The heyday of Edam was about the 16th and 17th centuries, because of the cheese and fish trade and shipyards that there were at that time. In thanks for help Alkmaar during the siege in 1573 by the Spaniards (see: Eighty Years War ) William of Orange granted the city the Horizontal. After 1700 the trade ran back. Edam remained a small town.
History of Volendam
Volendam ( the full dam ) was formed in an outer harbor silted waters as of Edam. Until about 1920, there was just a fishing village, whose inhabitants, unlike those of neighboring communities, during the Reformation remained Roman Catholic. The whaling, which the Dutch are said to have learned by the Basques of northern Spain is said to have brought some people and influences from the Basque Country Volendam and Marken in the 16th century. In the early 20th century painters and other tourists arrived and discovered the original, strange and remote Volendam.
When in 1932 the completion of the dike was finished and separated the Zuiderzee from the Waddenzee the North Sea fisheries Volendams went a. But above all, the tourism managed enough new jobs. Volendam also has long been a lot of good singers, including the groups 3JS, BZN and The Cats, Nick & Simon and January Smit; also supplies the village for decades, inter alia, at Ajax Amsterdam many tech-savvy professional footballer. There is the football club FC Volendam.
New Year's Eve 2000/2001 Volendam was ravaged by a fire disaster. Young people ran with fireworks by one of the many cafes on the " dyke ", whereby the Christmas decorations caught fire. The whole cafe went up in flames. Fourteen mostly young visitors to the pub were killed. Many others suffered severe mutilations. The disaster led the country to a Christmas tree ban in pubs and discos, and other more stringent fire safety regulations.
Attractions
Edam has a quaint downtown area with shops and small canals in the 17th and 18th centuries. Important buildings include the Gothic St. Nicholas Church ( 15th to 17th centuries, with a glockenspiel ), the Tourist Office ( VVV ) (built 1727) in the former town hall, the " game tower ", a former church tower (16th century), the Proveniershuis ( 1555 ) and the city museum ( 1655). Volendam has put on his costume, its wooden houses, its shops and Kirmes and catering to tourists. Every Wednesday from July to August takes place the traditional cheese market for tourists in Edam. From 10:30 to 12:30 clock and bring the cheese farmers with the help of small boats for its cheese market, which is then sold. The same happens for example in Alkmaar and Hoorn.