Wanssum 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 * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

province of

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

. It is located in the municipality of

Venray Venray or Venraij (; li, Venroj) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg, the Netherlands. The municipality of Venray consists of 14 towns over an area of , with 43,494 inhabitants as o ...

History

The village was first mentioned in 1242 as Wanzem, and means "settlement of Wando or Wanso (person)". Wanssum developed at the confluence of the Grote Molenbeek with the maas. In 1485, it became an independent parish. In 1648, it became part of

Spanish Guelders {{unreferenced, date=November 2011 Upper Guelders or Spanish Guelders was one of the four quarters in the Imperial Duchy of Guelders. In the Dutch Revolt, it was the only quarter that did not secede from the Habsburg monarchy to become part of the ...

. In 1713, it was part of

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

, and in 1815, it became part of the

Kingdom of the Netherlands , national_anthem = ) , image_map = Kingdom of the Netherlands (orthographic projection).svg , map_width = 250px , image_map2 = File:KonDerNed-10-10-10.png , map_caption2 = Map of the four constituent countries shown to scale , capital = ...

. The St Michaels Church is a three aisled church built between 1950 and 1951 to replace the church which was destroyed in 1944. Wanssum was home to 460 people in 1840. Most of the village was destroyed by war in 1944, and later rebuilt. Wanssum was a separate municipality until 1969, when it merged with

Meerlo Meerlo is a village in the Dutch province of Limburg. It is located in the municipality of Horst aan de Maas History The village was first mentioned in the 1180s as Mirlare, and is combination of "forest pasture" and swamp. Meerlo developed i ...

. In 2010, it became part of the municipality of

References

Populated places in Limburg (Netherlands) Former municipalities of Limburg (Netherlands) Venray {{LimburgNL-geo-stub