Meppel (; Drents: ''Möppelt'') is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be de ...

and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality ...

in the Northeastern

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It constitutes the southwestern part of the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

Drenthe Drenthe () is a provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen (province), Groningen to the north, and the G ...

. Meppel is the smallest municipality in Drenthe, with a total area of about 57 km² (22 sq mi). As of 1 July 2021, it had a population of 34,506 with over 30,000 inhabitants within city limits. People born in Meppel are occasionally referred to as ''Meppeler Muggen'' in Dutch; this translates as 'mosquitoes from Meppel'. The nickname comes from a traditional folk tale. The people of Meppel thought the church tower was on fire, but after closer inspection, they realised it was only a swarm of mosquitoes.

History

Meppel developed in the 16th century as an inland harbour for

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

transport and distribution. There used to be a lot of waterways in the town, but now only one remains. Meppel received city rights in 1644. On 1 October 1867,

Meppel railway station Meppel is a railway station in Meppel, Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Bef ...

opened to service, drastically improving connectivity in the region. On 1 January 1998, the municipality of Nijeveen, northwest of Meppel, was merged with that of Meppel, retaining the latter name.

Geography

Meppel is located at in the southwestern part of the province of

in the northeastern part of the

. The Meppelerdiep, the Drentsche Hoofdvaart and the Hoogeveense Vaart connect Meppel to Zwartsluis, Assen and

Hoogeveen Hoogeveen (; nds-nl, 't Ogeveine or '' 't Oveine'') is a municipality and a town in the Dutch province of Drenthe. Population centres Elim, Fluitenberg, Hoogeveen and Noordscheschut, which still have the canals which used to be throughout ...

. To offload professional transport vessels the Omgelegde Hoogeveense Vaart was dug out south of the city. The Meppelerdiep is accessible for boats with a size of 2,000 ton. The streams Reest and

Wold Aa Wold may refer to: Radio stations * WOLD-FM, an American radio station licensed to Marion, Virginia * WOLD-LP, an American radio station licensed to List of radio stations in New Jersey, Woodbridge, New Jersey * WHNK (AM), an American radio st ...

run through the city. The Reest end in the Meppeler Diep. The population centres in the municipality are: * Nijeveen * Nijentap * Havelterberg (part) * Broekhuizen * Rogat * De Schiphorst

Transportation

Meppel is served by national and regional train connections with

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is on ...

to the southwest, which leads to the rest of the country, as well as

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; fy, Ljouwert, longname=yes /; Town Frisian: ''Liwwadden''; Leeuwarder dialect: ''Leewarden'') is a city and municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 123,107 (2019). It is the provincial capital and seat of ...

and

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

to the northwest and northeast respectively. The city's station is located on both the Arnhem–Leeuwarden railway (''Staatslijn A'') and Meppel–Groningen railway (''Staatslijn C''). There are regular and frequent bus lines within Meppel and towards

and Assen. The bus station is situated in front of the classic railway station. By car, the city is accessible via the A28 motorway towards

to the southwest and

to the northeast, A32 motorway (which begins at the motorway crossing Lankhorst south of the city) towards

to the northwest.

International relations

Meppel is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with:

Notable people

* Jan Jansen Bleecker (1641—1732) a merchant and political figure, Mayor of Albany, New York *

Arent Magnin Arent Magnin (born 13 January 1825 – 19 September 1888) was a Dutch politician, who made a career in the administration on the Dutch Gold Coast and who later served as mayor in several Dutch municipalities. Biography Arent Magnin was born ...

(1825–1888) a Dutch politician in the administration on the

Dutch Gold Coast The Dutch Gold Coast or Dutch Guinea, officially Dutch possessions on the Coast of Guinea ( Dutch: ''Nederlandse Bezittingen ter Kuste van Guinea'') was a portion of contemporary Ghana that was gradually colonized by the Dutch, beginning in 161 ...

* Petrus Johannes Waardenburg (1886 in Nijeveen – 1979) a Dutch ophthalmologist and geneticist; Waardenburg syndrome is named after him *

Ben Nijboer Bernard Roelof Andries Nijboer (30 September 1915 – 25 January 1999) was a Dutch physicist and professor at the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the Utrecht University from 1956 until 1984. He was mainly active in the fields of optics and s ...

(1915–1999) a Dutch physicist and academic in

optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultra ...

and solid-state physics * Louise Fresco (born 1952) a Dutch scientist and writer on globally sustainable food production * Catrien Santing (born 1958) a Dutch medievalist *

Erik Kwakkel Erik Kwakkel (born 28 May 1970, Meppel) is a Dutch scholar who specializes in medieval manuscripts, paleography, and codicology Codicology (; from French ''codicologie;'' from Latin , genitive , "notebook, book" and Greek , '' -logia'') is the ...

(born 1970) a Dutch scholar who specialises in medieval manuscripts,

paleography Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...

and

codicology Codicology (; from French ''codicologie;'' from Latin , genitive , "notebook, book" and Greek , '' -logia'') is the study of codices or manuscript books. It is often referred to as "the archaeology of the book," a term coined by François Masai. ...

Albert van der Haar Albert van der Haar (; born 29 December 1975 in Meppel, Drenthe) is a Dutch former footballer, who played for FC Zwolle PEC Zwolle is a Dutch football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch ...

(born 1975) is a Dutch former footballer with almost 500 club caps

The arts

Petrus Kiers Petrus Kiers (5 January 1807, "Het Groeneveld", near Meppel – 17 November 1875, Amsterdam) was a Dutch painter, graphic artist and photographer. He created portraits, still-lifes and cityscapes, but he is best known for his genre scenes, li ...

(1807–1875) a Dutch painter, graphic artist and photographer * Sir

Joseph Joel Duveen Sir Joseph Joel Duveen (8 May 1843 – 9 November 1908) was an art dealer and benefactor of art galleries. Born in the Netherlands, he and his brother Henry J. Duveen founded in Britain the firm of Duveen Brothers. Early life He was born in Meppe ...

(1843–1908) an art dealer and benefactor of art galleries Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement, Duveen, Joseph Joel
Retrieved 17 November 2019. * Henry J. Duveen (1854–1919) an art dealer * Eduard Frankfort (1864–1920) a Dutch Jewish painter *

Jan Mankes Jan Mankes (15 August 1889 – 23 April 1920) was a Dutch painter. He produced around 200 paintings, 100 drawings and 50 prints before dying of tuberculosis at the age of 30. His restrained, detailed work ranged from self-portraits to landscapes a ...

(1889–1920) a Dutch painter, sometimes categorized as a symbolic realist *

Jelle Taeke de Boer Jelle Taeke de Boer (February 26, 1908 – October 7, 1970) was a Dutch art collector born in Meppel, Drenthe. He grew up in a poor family, with his mother dying when he was four years old, and his father an alcoholic. During the depression of ...

(1908–1970) a Dutch art collector *

Roelof Frankot Roelof Frankot (25 October 1911, in Meppel – 1 December 1984, in Heeten) was a Dutch painter. Frankot studied photography. In 1930, he started painting. He later had a strong relation with the CoBrA movement, and his artworks are quite si ...

(1911–1984) a Dutch painter, a strong relation with the CoBrA movement *

Emmanuel Ohene Boafo Emmanuel Ohene Boafo (born 4 July 1993) is a Dutch- Ghanaian actor. He plays the Dutch voice of Black Panther in the What if...? animation series and in 2021 he became the first black actor to win the prestigious Louis d'Or, for his version of ...

(1993) a Dutch-Ghanaian actor, and winner of the Louis d'Or 2021

Gallery

Image:MeppelStadsomroeper2020.jpg, Statue in the city centre Image:Stadhuis (city hall) Meppel, Drenthe, Netherlands - 20100306.jpg, City Hall Image:Meppel, molen de Weert RM526385 met andere twee molens op de achtergrond IMG 2886 2018-04-20 17.43.jpg, Windmill (Molen de Weert) Image:Meppel, twee ophaalbruggen foto1 2011-05-21 11.36.JPG, Two drawbridges Image:Meppel, het beurtscheepje de Vereeniging III bij het Oosteinde met twee ophaalbruggen foto6 2016-04-09 09.18.jpg, Ship the Vereeniging III Image:Meppel, de watertoren PM1-0171 IMG 2121 2018-04-07 16.35.jpg, Watertower Image:Historisch Centrum Meppel.JPG, Historical Centre of Meppel

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Municipalities of Drenthe Populated places in Drenthe