The Zaan () is a small river in the province of

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

in the northwestern

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 ...

and the name of a district through which it runs. The river was originally a side arm of the IJ bay and travels 13.5 kilometers (8½ miles) through the municipalities of Zaanstad ("Zaan City") and

Wormerland Wormerland () is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Population centres The municipality of Wormerland consists of the following cities, towns, villages and/or districts: It borders the municipalities of: ...

north of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, from

West-Knollendam Westknollendam is a village in the northwest Netherlands. It is located in the municipality of Zaanstad, North Holland, about 15 km northwest of Amsterdam. The village is located along the Zaan river. On the opposite shore is Oostknollendam, ...

in the north to Zaandam in the south, where it empties into the IJ. The municipality of Zaanstad and several towns along the Zaan are named for the river:

Koog aan de Zaan Koog aan de Zaan () is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Zaanstad, and lies about 11 km northwest of Amsterdam. History Koog aan de Zaan developed in the 16th century on the western bank of ...

Westzaan Westzaan is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Zaanstad, and lies about 13 km northeast of Haarlem. It is located west of Zaandam, Koog aan de Zaan and Zaandijk, southwest of Wormer, southeast ...

Oostzaan Oostzaan () is a municipality and a town in the Zaanstreek, Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The municipality had a population of in . Oostzaan has a total area of of which is water. Oostzaan—together with Westzaan and Assen ...

Zaandijk Zaandijk () is a town in the municipality of Zaanstad, province of North Holland, Netherlands. It lies about 11 kilometres (6.8 miles) northwest of Amsterdam and had a population of 8,686 in 2017.Statistics Netherlands (CBS), ''Statline: Kernc ...

and the city of Zaandam. The river also runs past the

Zaanse Schans Zaanse Schans () is a neighbourhood of Zaandam, near Zaandijk, Netherlands. It is best known for its collection of windmills and wooden houses that were relocated here from the wider region north of Amsterdam for preservation. From 1961 to 1974, ol ...

, a village with historic windmills and houses. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Netherlands.

Panorama view

The Zaan district

The region through which the river runs is called the Zaan district ( nl, Zaanstreek ). It comprises the municipalities of Zaanstad, Oostzaan, and most of

. During the

Dutch Golden Age The Dutch Golden Age ( nl, Gouden Eeuw ) was a period in the history of the Netherlands, roughly spanning the era from 1588 (the birth of the Dutch Republic) to 1672 (the Rampjaar, "Disaster Year"), in which Dutch trade, science, and Dutch art, ...

in the 17th century, the Zaan district was dotted with windmills with a variety of functions and it is often considered to be one of the world's first industrialized areas. Joining an already considerable number of

flour mills A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

were, for example, from 1592 "wood mills" for sawing wood, from 1600 "hemp mills" for extracting fibers from flax and hemp, from 1601 oil mills for crushing oil-bearing seeds and "paint mills" producing dyes and paint, and shortly after paper mills for the production of paper. By the mid-17th century, approximately 900 windmills could be found along the river, some of them still preserved, particularly in the

. The Zaan district continues to be a heavily industrialized area with many factories, particularly around the city of Zaandam. A number of major Dutch companies, like Ahold and

Verkade Royal Verkade (Dutch: Koninklijke Verkade) is a Dutch manufacturing company, owned by a Turkish conglomerate. The company is headquartered in Zaandam and was one of the oldest existing family companies in the Netherlands. In November 2014 the comp ...

, were founded in the Zaan district. The dialect spoken in the Zaan area is known as

Zaans Zaans is a dialect of Dutch spoken in the Zaan district, which lies north of Amsterdam, in the Dutch province of North Holland. Zaans is one of the oldest dialects in the country. The dialect has similarities to the West Frisian dialect which is sp ...

. It has some similarities with the West Frisian dialect. French

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painter

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

stayed in Zaandam in the summer of 1871 and produced a series of 24 paintings of the Zaan district, writing to his friend

Camille Pissarro Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro ( , ; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but t ...

that, "there is enough here to paint for an entire lifetime."Van Gogh Museum
/ref> Monet returned to the Zaan district to paint during visits to the Netherlands in following years. The name of the

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland, about 30 km north of Amsterdam. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination. The ...

-based football club AZ is short for ''Alkmaar Zaanstreek''.

References

{{Reflist Regions of North Holland Regions of the Netherlands Rivers of North Holland Rivers of the Netherlands Wormerland Zaanstad