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 def ...

and

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

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 sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

Drenthe Drenthe () is a 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 to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Nov ...

. 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 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 1644. On 1 October 1867,

Meppel railway station Meppel is a railway station in Meppel, Netherlands. The station opened on 1 October 1867 and is on the Arnhem–Leeuwarden railway and Meppel–Groningen railway. Train services are operated by Nederlandse Spoorwegen. History The building was co ...

opened to service, drastically improving connectivity in the region. On 1 January 1998, the municipality of

Nijeveen Nijeveen is a village in the Dutch province of Drenthe. It is a part of the municipality of Meppel, and lies about 5 km northwest of Meppel. History The village was first mentioned in 1310 as "in Hesselrevene", and means "new bog". Nijev ...

, 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 Zwartsluis is a small city in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Zwartewaterland, at the mouth of the Zwarte Water river and the . History Zwartsluis's history started in the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648): ...

Assen Assen () is a municipality and a city in the northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital (politics), capital of the province of Drenthe. It received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1809. Assen is known for TT Circuit Assen, the ...

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 run through the city. The Reest end in the Meppeler Diep. The population centres in the municipality are: *

* Nijentap *

Havelterberg Havelterberg is a village in the Dutch province of Drenthe. It lies on the border of the municipalities Meppel and Westerveld, and lies about 21 km west of Hoogeveen. History The village was first mentioned in 1844 as Havelterberg, and m ...

(part) * Broekhuizen *

Rogat Rogat is a village in the Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Penn ...

* 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 o ...

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 the ...

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 The Arnhem–Leeuwarden railway is a railway line in the Netherlands running from Arnhem to Leeuwarden, passing through Deventer, Zwolle and Heerenveen. It is also called the ''Staatslijn A'' ("state line A") in Dutch. The part between Arnhem ...

(''Staatslijn A'') and

Meppel–Groningen railway The Meppel–Groningen railway is an important railway line in the Netherlands running from Meppel to Groningen, passing through Hoogeveen, Beilen and Assen. The line was opened in 1870. It is also known as the ''Staatslijn'' "C". Stations The ma ...

(''Staatslijn C''). There are regular and frequent bus lines within Meppel and towards

and

. 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 with:

Notable people

Jan Jansen Bleecker Jan Jansen Bleecker (July 9, 1641 — November 21, 1732) was a colonial era merchant and political figure who served as Mayor of Albany, New York. Early life Jan Jansen Bleecker was born in Meppel, Drenthe, Netherlands on July 9, 1641 and was the ...

(1641—1732) a merchant and political figure,

Mayor of Albany, New York From its formal chartering on 22 July 1686 until 1779, the mayors of Albany, New York, were appointed by the royal governor of New York, per the provisions of the original city charter, issued by Governor Thomas Dongan. From 1779 until 1839, may ...

* Arent Magnin (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 1612. ...

Petrus Johannes Waardenburg Petrus Johannes Waardenburg (3 June 1886, Nijeveen, Drenthe – 23 September 1979) was a Dutch ophthalmologist, geneticist, and pioneer in the application of genetics to ophthalmology. Waardenburg syndrome is named after him. Biography Waarden ...

(1886 in Nijeveen – 1979) a Dutch ophthalmologist and geneticist;

Waardenburg syndrome Waardenburg syndrome is a group of rare genetic conditions characterised by at least some degree of congenital hearing loss and pigmentation deficiencies, which can include bright blue eyes (or Heterochromia iridum, one blue eye and one brown ey ...

is named after him * Ben Nijboer (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, ultraviole ...

and

solid-state physics Solid-state physics is the study of rigid matter, or solids, through methods such as quantum mechanics, crystallography, electromagnetism, and metallurgy. It is the largest branch of condensed matter physics. Solid-state physics studies how the l ...

Louise Fresco Louise Ottilie Fresco (born 11 February 1952) is a Dutch scientist and writer known for her work on globally sustainable food production. Career in academia Fresco has been the President of the Wageningen University & Research Executive Board s ...

(born 1952) a Dutch scientist and writer on globally

sustainable food production A sustainable food system is a type of food system that provides healthy food to people and creates sustainable environmental, economic and social systems that surround food. Sustainable food systems start with the development of sustainable agr ...

Catrien Santing Catharina Geertruida Santing (born 1958), commonly going by Catrien Santing is a Dutch medievalist. Her research focuses on cultural history and medical history in the late-medieval and early-modern Low Countries. Career Santing studied History ...

(born 1958) a Dutch

medievalist The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

* Erik Kwakkel (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 (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 (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 Henry Joseph Duveen (26 October 1854Bierman, Stanley M. ''The World's Greatest Stamp Collectors''. New York: Frederick Fell Publishers Inc., 1981, p. 90. – 15 January 1919) was an art dealer who co-founded the firm of Duveen Brothers with his ...

(1854–1919) an art dealer *

Eduard Frankfort Eduard Salomon Frankfort (21 June 1864, in Meppel – 19 August 1920, in Laren) was a Dutch Jewish painter during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Early life and education Frankfort was born to Salomon Simon Frankfort and Dine ...

(1864–1920) a Dutch Jewish painter * Jan Mankes (1889–1920) a Dutch painter, sometimes categorized as a symbolic realist * Jelle Taeke de Boer (1908–1970) a Dutch art collector * Roelof Frankot (1911–1984) a Dutch painter, a strong relation with the CoBrA movement * Emmanuel Ohene Boafo (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