Westland () is a

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 ...

in the western

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 ...

, in the province of

South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...

. It covers an area of of which is covered by water and had a population of in . Towns and other settlements:

De Lier De Lier () is a village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Westland, and lies about 5 km north of Maassluis. It also lies about below sea level. The village of De Lier obtained its name from the nam ...

's-Gravenzande s-Gravenzande is a town in the province of South Holland, in the Netherlands. It is a part of the municipality of Westland, and lies about southwest of The Hague. Until 2004 it was a separate municipality and covered an area of 20.77 km2 (of ...

Monster A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

Naaldwijk Naaldwijk () is a town in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Westland, and lies about 10 km southwest of The Hague. Naaldwijk lies in the heart of Westland. The largest economic sector is greenhouse ...

Wateringen Wateringen is a town in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Westland, and lies about 5 km southwest of The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, si ...

, Heenweg,

Honselersdijk Honselersdijk is a town in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is home to the historic Huis Honselaarsdijk, former palatial estate of the Dutch Princes of Orange. Huis Honselaarsdijk was one of the finest examples of Baroque architecture ...

Kwintsheul Kwintsheul is a village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Westland, and lies about 2 km southwest of the border of The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the ...

, Maasdijk,

Poeldijk Poeldijk () is a village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Westland, and lies about 8 km southwest of The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, ...

, and

Ter Heijde Ter Heijde is a village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Westland, and lies about 6 km southwest of The Hague. The area "Ter Heijde", which also includes the surrounding countryside, has a populat ...

History

Westland was created on 1 January 2004 by a merger of the municipalities De Lier, 's-Gravenzande, Monster, Naaldwijk and Wateringen. These are also the names of five of the settlements. The others are Heenweg, Honselersdijk, Kwintsheul, Maasdijk, Poeldijk, and Ter Heijde. Westland itself is not the name of a settlement or town, but rather of the region. The City hall is located in the middle of Westland, in Naaldwijk, the second largest

settlement Settlement may refer to: * Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building *Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

in Westland. The town of Honselersdijk also possesses the largest Flower Auction,

FloraHolland Royal FloraHolland, legally Koninklijke Coöperatieve Bloemenveiling Royal FloraHolland U.A., is a Dutch conglomerate of florists. It is one of the largest auction companies in the world. Royal FloraHolland is headquartered in Aalsmeer, with ...

, which also has a location in

Rijnsburg Rijnsburg () is a village in the eastern part of the municipality of Katwijk, in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The name means Rhine's Burg in Dutch. History The history starts way before the 2th century when there wa ...

. This is a very important sector of the Westland

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

. Flowers produced in Westland are sold all over the world. Coastal towns are Ter Heijde (near Monster), Monster itself and 's-Gravenzande. These towns are popular with

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

and people from the Eastern Netherlands. It is not unknown for every holiday campsite to be fully booked with tourists because of their relative proximity to the more popular

Scheveningen Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict (''wijk'') of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is ...

Wider area

Westland is part of the

Haaglanden :''Parts of this article have been translated from the Dutch version of this page'' Haaglanden (, literally ''Haguelands'') was a conurbation surrounding The Hague in the Netherlands from 1992 until 2015. The city's position as the country's se ...

conurbation. In a wider sense,

Westland Westland or Westlands may refer to: Places *Westlands, an affluent neighbourhood in the city of Nairobi, Kenya * Westlands, Staffordshire, a suburban area and ward in Newcastle-under-Lyme *Westland, a peninsula of the Shetland Mainland near Vaila ...

is also the name of the region south-west of the line

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

Delft Delft () is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, and The Hague, to the northwest. Together with them, it is part of both the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolita ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...

, approximately consisting of the municipalities Westland and

Midden-Delfland Midden-Delfland () is a municipality (''gemeente'') in the Westland region in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. It had a population of in , and covers an area of of which is water. It was formed on January 1, 2004, through the m ...

, as well as

Hook of Holland Hook of Holland ( nl, Hoek van Holland, ) is a town in the southwestern corner of Holland, hence the name; ''hoek'' means "corner" and was the word in use before the word ''kaap'' – "cape", from Portuguese ''cabo'' – became Dutch. The English t ...

(municipality of

). Westland is most known for its horticulture in

greenhouse A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic conditions are grown.These ...

s, growing

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanis ...

s and

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the edible flower, flowers, ...

Westland, Hook of Holland, and Europoort

Notable people

* Martinus Dorpius (1485 in Naaldwijk – 1525) a humanist, friend and correspondent of

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' w ...

Arnold Vinnius Arnold Vinnius (4 January 1588 – 1 September 1657) was one of the leading jurists of the 17th century in the Netherlands. Life Vinnius was born in Monster. He attended the University of Leiden from 1603 where he read law. He gained his degre ...

(1588 in Monster – 1657) a leading jurist * Franco Burgersdijk (1590 in De Lier – 1635) a Dutch

logician Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...

* Maria Ponderus (1672 in Monster – 1764), an art collector and

hofje {{inline refs needed, date=May 2012 A hofje (diminutive of 'hof', 'court') is a Dutch word for a courtyard with almshouses around it. Hofjes have existed since the Middle Ages. A hofje provided housing for elderly people (mostly women). ...

founder *

Gerrit van Poelje Gerrit Abraham van Poelje (January 31, 1884, in Naaldwijk – September 8, 1976, in The Hague) was a Dutch civil servant, lawyer and Public Administration scholar. He is considered one of the most important founders of the science of Public Ad ...

(1884 in Maasdijk – 1976) a Dutch civil servant, lawyer and Public Administration scholar * Peter Van de Wetering (1931 in Naaldwijk – 2014) an American horticulturist and nurseryman *

Huub Kortekaas Huub and Adelheid Kortekaas present themselves as artists duo since 1999, although they actually have worked together since their marriage in 1969. Huub Kortekaas Huub Kortekaas, a Dutch sculptor, was born 17 July 1935 in 's-Gravenzande, the s ...

(born 1935 in 's-Gravenzande) a Dutch sculptor * Rein Welschen (1941–2013) Dutch politician, acting Mayor of Westland in 2014 *

Hans Strikwerda Johannes (Hans) Strikwerda (born 3 December 1952, Naaldwijk) is a Dutch organizational theorist, management consultant, and Professor of Business Administration at the University of Amsterdam, known for his work on implementation of shared services ...

(born 1952 in Naaldwijk) a Dutch organizational theorist and academic *

Marc Lankhorst Marc Martijn Lankhorst (born 1968) is a Dutch computer scientist, researcher and consultant, known for his publications on enterprise architecture, and as key developer of ArchiMate, a modelling language for enterprise architecture. Biography ...

(born 1968 in Naaldwijk) a Dutch computer scientist, researcher and consultant, works on enterprise architecture and ArchiMate *

Anneliese Van Der Pol Anneliese Louise van der Pol (born September 23, 1984) is a Dutch-born American actress and singer. She is known for her theatre work, and for starring as Chelsea Daniels on the Disney Channel series ''That's So Raven'' (2003–2007) and its sp ...

(born 1984 in Naaldwijk) a Dutch-American actress and singer IMDb Database
retrieved 07 October 2019

Sport

* Cornelis van Dalen (1885 in Monster – 1953) a Dutch sports shooter, competed at the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1920; nl, Olympische Zomerspelen van 1920; german: Olympische Sommerspiele 1920), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIe olympiade; nl, Spelen van ...

* Hans Houtzager (1910 in Honselersdijk – 1993) a Dutch hammer thrower, competed at the

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

and

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ...

Wim van der Voort Willem "Wim" van der Voort (24 March 1923 – 23 October 2016) was a Dutch speed skater. At the 1952 Olympics in Oslo Van der Voort was the silver medalist in the men's 1500 meters, finishing 0.2 seconds behind Hjalmar Andersen of Norway.

(1923 in 's-Gravenzande – 2016) a Dutch speed skater, silver medalist at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

Kees Broekman Cornelis "Kees" Broekman (2 July 1927 – 8 November 1992) was a Dutch speed skater. At the 1952 Olympics in Oslo Broekman was silver medalist on both the 5000 meter and the 10000 meter, the first ever Winter Olympic medals for the Netherlands. ...

(1927 in De Lier – 1992) a Dutch former speed skater, silver medalist at the

Leo van Vliet Leonardus Quirinus Machutus ("Leo") van Vliet (born 15 November 1955) was a professional racing cyclist from 1978 to 1986. He came in 40th in the road race at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.Gerrit Solleveld (born 1961 in De Lier) a former Dutch professional road bicycle racer *

Menno Boelsma Menno Boelsma (8 January 1961 – 10 September 2022) was a Dutch speed skater. He competed at the 1988 Winter Olympics in the 500 m and 1000 m events and finished in 16th and 24th place, respectively. Boelsma achieved his best results in the 50 ...

(born 1961 in Monster) a retired speed skater, competed at the

1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games (french: XVes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Calgary 1988 ( bla, Mohkínsstsisi 1988; sto, Wîchîspa Oyade 1988 or ; cr, Otôskwanihk 1998/; srs, Guts� ...

* Patrick van der Meer (born 1971 in Wateringen) a Dutch dressage rider, competed at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

Marinus Dijkhuizen Marinus Dijkhuizen (born 4 January 1972) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who manages Excelsior. As a player, he had notable spells in his native Netherlands with Excelsior, SC Cambuur and TOP Oss. He retired in 2009 an ...

(born 1972 in 's-Gravenzande) a Dutch football manager, coach and former player with 365 club caps *

Oscar Moens Oscar Moens (born 1 April 1973) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. After his retirement, he has held positions in the coaching staff of Sparta Rotterdam and Feyenoord. Club career Early career A youth prospec ...

(born 1973 in 's-Gravenzande) a former Dutch footballer with 401 club caps *

Guus Vogels Augustinus ("Guus") Wilhelmus Johannes Marines Vogels (born March 26, 1975 in Naaldwijk, South Holland) is a Dutch field hockey goalkeeper, who twice won Olympic gold medals with the national squad: at the 1996 Summer Olympi ...

(born 1975 in Naaldwijk) a Dutch field hockey goalkeeper, gold medallist at the

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo ...

and

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

Stefan Aartsen Stefan Remco Aartsen (born 13 March 1975 in 's-Gravenzande) is a former butterfly swimmer from the Netherlands, who twice competed for his native country at the Summer Olympics: in 1996 and 2000. Aartsen first gained attention in 1992, when he ...

(born 1975 in 's-Gravenzande) a former butterfly swimmer, competed at the

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

and

Ricardo van der Ende Ricardo van der Ende (born 13 July 1979 in Poeldijk) is a Dutch racing driver. He won the 2001 Formula Chrysler Euroseries season with the Belgian team of Vortex Motorsport. He also won the Winter Series of the British Formula Ford Championshi ...

(born 1979 in Poeldijk) a Dutch racing driver * Martine Zuiderwijk (born 1984 in Naaldwijk) a Dutch former figure skater * Johan Voskamp (born 1984 in De Lier) a Dutch footballer with over 280 club caps *

Mandy Mulder Mandy Mulder (born 3 August 1987 in Poeldijk) is a sailor from the Netherlands. Mulder represented her country at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Qingdao. With fellow crew members Annemieke Bes and Merel Witteveen, Mulder as helmsman took Silver me ...

(born 1987 in Poeldijk) a sailor, competed at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

Thiemo de Bakker Thiemo Carsten Jannick de Bakker (born 19 September 1988) is a Dutch professional tennis player. Considered a top prospect of his generation as a junior, he also made an impressive breakthrough as a young pro, reaching a career-high ranking in ...

(born 1988 in 's-Gravenzande) a Dutch tennis player * Mandy van den Berg (born 1990 in Naaldwijk) a Dutch football defender *

Arantxa Rus Arantxa Rus (; born 13 December 1990) is a Dutch tennis player. In 2008, she won the girl's singles title at the Australian Open, defeating Jessica Moore from Australia in the final. With this win she went from 35th to second place on the junio ...

(born 1990) a Dutch tennis player, lives in Monster *

Kiki Bertens Kiki Bertens (; born 10 December 1991) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA singles ranking was world No. 4, which she reached on 13 May 2019, becoming the highest ranked Dutch female player ever. Her career-high do ...

(born 1991 in Wateringen) a Dutch tennis player * Lara van Ruijven (born 1992 in Naaldwijk - 2020) a Dutch short track speed skater

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Municipalities of South Holland Municipalities of the Netherlands established in 2004