Buren () is a town 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 Betuwe region of the

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 ...

. Buren has 27,168 inhabitants as of 1 January 2022.

Geography

Buren is located in

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 ...

, a province of the Netherlands. It is part of the landscape of Betuwe, a very fertile strip of land between two branches of Rhine-Meuse Delta, the

Nederrijn 300px, Course of the Nederrijn Nederrijn (; "Lower Rhine"; not to be confused with the section called Lower Rhine further upstream) is the name of the Dutch part of the Rhine from the confluence at the town of Angeren of the cut-off Rhine be ...

in the north and the

Waal WAAL (99.1 FM "The Whale") is a commercial radio station licensed to Binghamton, New York. It airs a classic rock radio format and is owned by Townsquare Media. WAAL is the oldest FM radio station in the Binghamton metropolitan area. It is an ...

in the south.

Population Centers

Population centers include:

History

The earliest known settlement of the region occurred as early as 772. The castle was built by the Lords of Buren and was first mentioned in 1298. The town was granted city rights in 1395 by Sir Alard IV of Buren which led to the construction of a defensive wall and a moat, significant portions of which still stand. In 1492, the region was promoted to a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

(i.e. a territory ruled by a count) but had limited economic influence due to its geographic isolation. By 1574, the previously Catholic parish church of Saint-Lambert ( nl, Sint Lambertus) became

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

Reformed Protestant. The Castle eventually came into the possession of the

House of Orange The House of Orange-Nassau (Dutch: ''Huis van Oranje-Nassau'', ) is the current reigning house of the Netherlands. A branch of the European House of Nassau, the house has played a central role in the politics and government of the Netherlands ...

, the royal family of the Netherlands. The Dutch royal family has been known to use the name van Buren as an alias to give themselves some degree of anonymity.

William III of England William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic f ...

obtained the title Buren. The Dutch royal family, still use this as a title. The Castle was gradually demolished between 1804 and 1883. The eighth president of the United States,

Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party, he ...

, traced his ancestry to inhabitants of the city, who had taken the surname ''Van Buren'' after relocating to the Dutch colony of

New Netherland New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva P ...

in what is now the state of New York. Following the end of his presidency, in 1853 Van Buren made a visit to the town while on a tour of Europe and reportedly met with several distant relatives. The current municipality is the result of 2 mergers. On 1 January 1978, the municipalities of Beusichem, Zoelen, and part of Buurmalsen were added to the existing municipality of Buren, that was formed in the mid 19th century. On 1 January 1999, Buren was enlarged with the addition of the municipalities of Lienden and Maurik. 20110924 40 Buren molen

Historical sites

Buren has two museums: * The Museum of the Royal Military Police, located in a 17th-century orphanage. * The Museum of the

Dutch Royal Family The monarchy of the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy. As such, the role and position of the monarch are governed by the Constitution of the Netherlands. Consequently, a large portion of it is devoted to the monarch. Roughly a third of ...

, located in the historic city hall. It is also home to ''De Prins Van Oranje'', a restored windmill.

Government and politics

The title "Count or Countess of Buren and Leerdam" is held by the Dutch monarchy due to Prince William of Orange's marriage to the Countess of Buren, Anna of Egmont, in 1551. As a result, the county and the town of Buren fall under the control of the Royal House of Orange-Nassau.

Demographics

Twin town

Buren is twinned with:

Notable people

Philip William, Prince of Orange Philip William, Prince of Orange (19 December 1554 in Buren, Gelderland – 20 February 1618) was the eldest son of William the Silent by his first wife Anna van Egmont. He became Prince of Orange in 1584 and Knight of the Golden Fleece in 1599. ...

(1554 in Buren – 1618)

Prince of Orange Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title originally associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by sovereigns in the Netherlands. The title ...

in 1584 and Knight of the Golden Fleece in 1599 * Gerard de Kruijff (1890 in Buren – 1968) a Dutch horse rider who competed in the

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China holds ...

and the 1928 Summer Olympics *

Lukas Smits Lukas Smits (born 23 May 1935 in Ravenswaaij) is a Dutch painter. Lukas Smits was born in Ravenswaaij (Buren) and studied both at the Academy of Art and Design in Den Bosch and at the Jan van Eyck-Academy in Maastricht. In 1959 he received the R ...

(born 1935 in Ravenswaaij) a Dutch painter. *

Jos Beijnen Jacob Hendrik "Jos" Beijnen (born 5 June 1956) is a Dutch pharmacist. He is the hospital pharmacist of the Netherlands Cancer Institute/Antoni van Leeuwenhoekziekenhuis and previously held the same position at the Slotervaartziekenhuis. He has been ...

(born 1956 in Beusichem) a Dutch pharmacist and academic * Ron Stevens (born 1959 in Lienden) a Dutch sprint canoer who competed in two Summer Olympics

Gallery

File:Kerk van Buren.jpg, The Culemborg gate with the Saint-Lambertus church, Buren in the background. File:Willem van Oranje en Anne van Buren.jpg, Statue in the center of Buren - William of Orange and Anna van Buren File:4116 Buren, Netherlands - panoramio - Ben Bender (24).jpg, Buren, panoramio File:Buren Herenstraat wandelaars.JPG, Buren, Herenstraat and the Rodeheldenstraat in the background. File:4116 Buren, Netherlands - panoramio (46).jpg, Weighing scales and village pump on the market square in Buren. File:Buren, vestingwerken met toren van de Sint-Lambertuskerk RM11329 foto4 2016-10-05 10.47.jpg, Buren, church, de Sint-Lambertuskerk behind the wall File:Buren, het koninklijk weeshuis RM11388 achter de vestingwerken foto8 2016-10-05 11.03.jpg, Buren, orphan house behind the wall

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Municipalities of Gelderland