The ''Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland'' (BWN) is a

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 ...

biographical dictionary A biographical dictionary is a type of encyclopedic dictionary limited to biographical information. Many attempt to cover the major personalities of a country (with limitations, such as living persons only, in ''Who's Who'', or deceased people onl ...

, in which short biographies of well-known and less well-known but still notable

Dutch people The Dutch ( Dutch: ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Netherlands. They share a common history and culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Aru ...

are listed. The BWN is the successor to the ''

Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek The ''Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek'' (''NNBW'') is a biographical reference work in the Dutch language. It has been succeeded by the '' Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland''. It was published in ten parts between 1911 and 1937 b ...

'' (NNBW) that was published between 1911 and 1937 in ten parts. This work only included people who died before 1910. In 1971, historian I. Schöffer from

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...

took the initiative for a continuation. The first part of the BWN was published in 1979. The sixth and last part was published in 2009. The biographies in the BWN were written by many different authors. Since 2002 all biographies are available for free online at the ''Institution for Dutch History'', based in

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 ...

References

External links

Official website for the BWN
2009 non-fiction books Dutch biographical dictionaries {{bio-dict-stub