Sloten (; fry, Sleat) is a historical
fortified city
A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...
within the municipality of
De Fryske Marren
De Fryske Marren ( nl, De Friese Meren) is a municipality of Friesland in the northern Netherlands. It was established 1 January 2014 and consists of the former municipalities of Gaasterlân-Sleat, Lemsterland, Skarsterlân and parts of Boarnste ...
, 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
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
province of
Friesland
Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...
. Sloten lies adjacent to the
Slotermeer
Slotermeer is a neighborhood of Amsterdam, Netherlands
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and is situated between the towns of
Lemmer
Lemmer () is a town in the municipality of De Fryske Marren, in the Dutch province of Friesland. Lemmer lies adjacent to the IJsselmeer and the Frisian Lakes and is one of Friesland's best-known surface water sports locations. Lemmer is a bustlin ...
and
Balk
In baseball, a pitcher can commit a number of illegal motions or actions that constitute a balk. Most of these violations involve pitchers pretending to pitch when they have no intention of doing so. In games played under the Official Baseball R ...
.
Sloten is one of the
eleven Frisian cities and was an independent municipality until 1984. Sloten then belonged to the municipality of
Gaasterlân-Sleat
Gaasterlân-Sleat is a former Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the northern Netherlands. Its official name is in West Frisian language, West Frisian, the Dutch language, Dutch name being Gaasterland-Sloten (). In 2014 it merged w ...
until 1 January 2014. In 2017, Sloten had 715 inhabitants.
Kerncijfers wijken en buurten 2017
- CBS
History
Sloten originated in the thirteenth century as a settlement at a '' stins'' of the Van Harinxma thoe Slooten family. At the time, this noble family had many conflicts with the Vetkopers. Nothing remains of the ''stins'' today. Sloten is first mentioned having city rights in a charter dated to 30 August 1426. In 1523, the city was the last Frisian fortress to fall into the hands of the heirs of the counts of Holland
The counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century.
House of Holland
The first count of Holland, Dirk I, was the son or foster-son of Gerolf, Count in Frisia (Dijkstra suggests th ...
. During the siege of Sloten in 1523, where Frisian and Gelderland
Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...
troops were stationed, the Hollandic nobleman Jan II van Wassenaer was fatally wounded. This nobleman was the last Dutchman to die in the struggle for control of Friesland.
Sloten is located on the once important waterway from Sneek
Sneek (; fy, Snits) is a city southwest of Leeuwarden and the seat of the former municipality of Sneek in the province of Friesland, Netherlands. As of 2011 it is the seat of the municipality of Súdwest-Fryslân (Southwest Friesland). T ...
to the former Zuiderzee
The Zuiderzee or Zuider Zee (; old spelling ''Zuyderzee'' or ''Zuyder Zee'') was a shallow bay of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands, extending about 100 km (60 miles) inland and at most 50 km (30 miles) wide, with an o ...
, overseeing access to the Hanseatic cities
The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label= Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German tow ...
on the IJssel
The IJssel (; nds-nl, Iessel(t) ) is a Dutch distributary of the river Rhine that flows northward and ultimately discharges into the IJsselmeer (before the 1932 completion of the Afsluitdijk known as the Zuiderzee), a North Sea natural harbour. ...
. In Sloten this waterway crossed with the road from Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
to Stavoren. It was therefore possible to levy tolls and exercise strategic control at this junction. The country road ran via Doniawerstal Doniawerstal was a municipality in southwest Friesland, south of Sneek. It consisted mainly of grassland and lakes. Its capital was Langweer. The municipality was dissolved in 1984; part went to Wymbritseradiel and part went to Skarsterlân
Skarst ...
over the ''gaasts'' (sand ridges) via Sloten, where the waterway could be bridged, to Gaasterland and on to Stavoren, which in the Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renai ...
had been a large and important trading town. Sloten also held a key position in the Eighty Years' War. A Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
plot to conquer the city by hiding men in a beer ship failed. At the end of World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the Germans
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3,322,405
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blew up the bridge over the Ee to slow down the progress of Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
troops.
Since then, Sloten has lost its strategic importance. The city is popular with surface water sports
The following is a list of surface water sports. These are sports which are performed atop a body of water.
Boat racing
Motorized racing
* Hydroplane racing
* Bathtub racing
Rowing
* Canoeing
* Kayaking
* Sculling
* Dragon boat racing
Sailin ...
enthusiasts and day-tripper
A day trip is a visit to a tourist destination or visitor attraction from a person's home, hotel, or hostel in the morning, returning to the same lodging in the evening. The day trip is a form of recreational travel and leisure to a location tha ...
s. In the 1970s, a marina was built on the south side of the city where a number of water sports companies are located. There is also a sizable factory in the city that is part of the Nutreco
Nutreco N.V. is a Dutch producer of animal nutrition, fish feed and processed meat products. It has about 100 production facilities in more than 30 countries, and eight research centers. The company was founded in 1994 after a Cinven-backed manage ...
group. The company produces milk substitute
A milk substitute is any substance that resembles milk and can be used in the same ways as milk. Such substances may be variously known as non-dairy beverage, nut milk, grain milk, legume milk, mock milk and alternative milk.
For adults, milk ...
s for young cattle, such as calves and piglets. There is a lot of animal husbandry in the area of Sloten, which forms an important basis for the local economy.
The city has almost completely retained its original defensive enclosure of rampart
Rampart may refer to:
* Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement
Rampart may also refer to:
* "O'er the Ramparts We Watched" is a key line from "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the ...
and moat, and the original structure of Sloten has been preserved almost entirely. The fortress was designed and built by the famous fortress builder Menno van Coehoorn
Menno, Baron van Coehoorn (; March 1641 – 17 March 1704) was a Dutch soldier and engineer, regarded as one of the most significant figures in Dutch military history. In an era when siege warfare dominated military campaigns, he and his French ...
, who is buried in nearby Wijckel
Wijckel ( fry, Wikel) is a village in De Fryske Marren municipality in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. It had a population of around 645 in 2017.
History
The village was first mentioned in the 13th century Wicle. The etymology is uncle ...
. Sloten was the ideal city in fortress terms; its shape is reminiscent of an onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onio ...
, earning it the moniker of ''sipelstêd'' (onion city). The '' Sipelsneon'' (onion Saturday) is a local fair held every last Saturday of June.
Sloten had approximately 760 inhabitants in 2012 and is therefore not the smallest city in the Netherlands, as is often presumed. Sloten is the smallest city in Friesland, however.
File:1664 Sloten.JPG, Cityscape
In the visual arts, a cityscape (urban landscape) is an artistic representation, such as a painting, drawing, Publishing, print or photograph, of the physical aspects of a city or urban area. It is the urban equivalent of a landscape. ''Town ...
of Sloten, 1664
File:Sloten1.jpg, Reformed church
File:Sloten Friesland Kapelstreek 223.JPG, Saint Frederick church
File:Molen Sloten 06c.JPG, ''De Kaai'' windmill and the monumental bridge
File:Stadhuis museum Sloten 01.JPG, City hall museum
Notable people
* Johan Petrus van Hylckama (1749–1816), politician
* Epeus Anne Reinoud Lichtenvoort Cats (1848–1897), politician
* Piet Klaasse (1918–2001), graphic designer and artist
* Willem Frans de Vreeze (born 1937), politician
* Sisca Folkertsma (born 1997), football player
References
External links
De Fryske Marren
Cities in the Netherlands
Cities in Friesland
Populated places in Friesland
{{Friesland-geo-stub