Haren (; ) is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and a former

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the northeastern

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. It is located in the direct urban area of the

City of Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of ...

and, in January 2019, was merged into municipality of Groningen. Haren is a

commuting Commuting is periodically recurring travel between a place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regular o ...

town with many wealthy inhabitants. It lies on the northern part of a ridge of sand called the

Hondsrug image:Hoogstraatje RA.JPG, 300px, The Hoogstraatje in Groningen (province), Groningen, the northernmost hill of the Hondsrug The Hondsrug () is a Dutch ridge of sand that is mainly located in the province Drenthe and partly in the province Gronin ...

. It contains one of two

dolmen A dolmen, () or portal tomb, is a type of single-chamber Megalith#Tombs, megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the Late Neolithic period (4000 ...

s in the province of Groningen (in the village of Noordlaren) and the largest

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

of the Netherlands called Hortus Haren. The municipality comprises a woodland area called Appèlbergen (east of the village of Glimmen) and a lake called . The first mention of Haren was in 1249. On 21 September 2012, riots broke out in Haren when over 5,000 people turned up to a birthday party that was accidentally made public on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. There were over 30 arrests after vandalism and looting caused over a million euros in damage.

Population centres

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

* * Glimmen * Haren * * * Noordlaren * Onnen * Paterswolde (partly) The town of Haren contains among others the following residential areas: * Hemmen * Maarwold * Molenbuurt * Oosterhaar * Stationsbuurt * Voorveld

Transport

In addition to Haren railway station, there are regular bus services to and from Groningen, Assen and Emmen. Groningen Airport Eelde is nearby, albeit with a limited number of regular international flight destinations. Leisure flights to different international destinations are scheduled throughout the year.

Politics

The

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

of Haren had 17 seats. The table below gives

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

and seat counts since 1998. The last executive board consisted of VVD, PvdA and D66. There was an election in November 2018 for the council of the newly expanded Groningen municipality that commenced work on 1 January 2019, replacing Haren council.

References

External links

* * (2017) {{Authority control Groningen (city) Former municipalities of Groningen (province) Populated places in Groningen (province) Municipalities of the Netherlands disestablished in 2019