Kennemerland is a coastal region in the northwestern Netherlands, in the province of

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

. It includes the sand dunes north of the North Sea Canal, as well as the dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park.

History

Master of Alkmaar two panels Rijksmuseum

Kennemerland gets its name from the Kennemer people, who were

Frisia Frisia is a cross-border cultural region in Northwestern Europe. Stretching along the Wadden Sea, it encompasses the north of the Netherlands and parts of northwestern Germany. The region is traditionally inhabited by the Frisians, a West Ger ...

ns that fought with the Counts of Holland and lost in the Middle Ages. The name is said to derive from the

Canninefates The Cananefates, or Canninefates, Caninefates, or Canenefatae, meaning " leek masters", were a Germanic tribe, who lived in the Rhine delta, in western Batavia (later Betuwe), in the Roman province of ''Germania Inferior'' (now in the Dutch prov ...

. :wikisource:1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Frisians Because of the wars and all of the Dutch activity in rerouting waterways, the original borders of Kennemerland have been lost. During the 20th century, the term Kennemerland has been redefined to denote municipal regions of North Holland. Because the Kennemers according to folklore were always on the attack, many sports teams in Haarlem are called ''Kennemers''. Precisely who were these Kennemer people is unclear. The knights of ''Kennemerlant'', as it was then called, were quarreling continuously over trading rights and land ownership. The rent masters of local farmers were often asked for goods from either Egmond Abbey or their local church, as well as from these knights. In North Holland during the years 900–1300, castles were continuously being built and later destroyed, and archaeologists today are still trying to piece together the various local legends as they gain hard evidence from the cold clay.

Municipalities located in Kennemerland today

North Kennemerland

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland, about 30 km north of Amsterdam. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination. The ...

(partly also in West Frisia) * Dijk en Waard (the area of the former municipality of Heerhugowaard) (located completely in West Frisia) * Bergen (including Egmond, former seat of the Counts of Holland) *

Castricum Castricum () is a municipality and a town in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. Castricum is a seaside town in the province of North Holland. It draws in a fair share of tourists who mainly come to visit the beach and nearby dune ...

* Heiloo * Uitgeest

Middle Kennemerland (IJmond)

* Beverwijk * Heemskerk * Velsen

South Kennemerland

* Bloemendaal, with

Thijsse's Hof Thijsse's Hof (The garden of Thijsse) is a wildlife garden in Bloemendaal, the Netherlands. It was created in 1925 on the occasion of the 60th birthday of Jac. P. Thijsse, naturalist and nature conservationist. It is the oldest wildlife garden in ...

(Garden of Thijsse), a wildlife garden with native plants of South Kennemerland. *

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

(capital of North Holland) * Haarlemmermeer * Heemstede * Zandvoort

References