Terneuzen

Terneuzen
Terneuzen
Municipality
	Terneuzen city hall
	Flag Coat of arms
	Location in Zeeland
	Coordinates: 51°20′N 3°50′E / 51.333°N 3.833°E
Country	Netherlands
Province	Zeeland
Government
• Body	Municipal council
• Mayor	Erik van Merrienboer (PvdA)
Area
• Total	317.76 km2 (122.69 sq mi)
• Land	250.38 km2 (96.67 sq mi)
• Water	67.38 km2 (26.02 sq mi)
Elevation	4 m (13 ft)
Population (January 2021)
• Total	54,463
• Density	218/km2 (560/sq mi)
Demonym	Terneuzenaar
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postcode	Part of 4500 range
Area code	0115
Website	www.terneuzen.nl

Terneuzen (Dutch pronunciation: [tɛrˈnøːzə(n)] ^ⓘ) is a city and municipality in the southwestern Netherlands, in the province of Zeeland, in the middle of Zeelandic Flanders. With almost 55,000 inhabitants, it is the most populous municipality of Zeeland.^[5]

History

First mentioned in 1325, Terneuzen was a strategically located port on the waterways to Ghent, in present-day Belgium.

It received city rights in 1584.

Tradition has it that Terneuzen was once the home of the legendary Flying Dutchman, Van der Decken, a captain who cursed God and was condemned to sail the seas forever, as described in the Frederick Marryat novel The Phantom Ship and the Richard Wagner opera The Flying Dutchman.

Before 1877, the city was often called Neuzen.

Geography

Dutch Topographic map of the municipality of Terneuzen, June 2015

The city of Terneuzen is located on the southern shore of the Western Scheldt estuary.

The municipality of Terneuzen consists of the following population centres:^[6]

Terneuzen (city) (25,450)
Axel (7,785)
Sas van Gent (3,850)
Zaamslag (2,780)
Hoek (2,930)
Koewacht (2,495)
Sluiskil (2,240)

Philippine (2,080)
Westdorpe (1,890)
Biervliet (1,550)
Zuiddorpe (900)
Spui (175)
Overslag (250)

Economy

The Ghent–Terneuzen Canal is still an important shipping route connecting the Port of Ghent.^[7] The port of Terneuzen is the third-largest in the Netherlands, after those of Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The largest plant of Dow Chemical Company outside of the United States is located at Terneuzen, on the west side of the Ghent–Terneuzen Canal.

Transport

Terneuzen can be reached from the rest of the Netherlands via the Western Scheldt Tunnel, which opened in March 2003. Terneuzen is not linked to the rest of the Netherlands by rail, although the Dow Chemical plant is served by a freight-only line to Ghent in Belgium (Terneuzen's passenger rail service was withdrawn in 1951).

Notable residents

Lupus Hellinck (1493 or 1494 – 1541) a Flemish composer of the Renaissance
Sir Bernard de Gomme (1620–1685) a Dutch military engineer
Pieter Paulus (1753–1796) a Dutch jurist, fiscal (prosecutor) of the Admiralty of the Maze and politician
Francien de Zeeuw (1922–2015) a Dutch resistance fighter during WWII and the first female member of the Dutch armed forces
Lodewijk van den Berg (1932–2022) astronaut on a Challenger Space Shuttle mission
Jacques Hamelink (born 1939 in Driewegen) a Dutch poet, novelist and literary critic
Klaas de Vries (born 1944) a Dutch composer, co-founded the Rotterdam School of music
Eric van Damme (born 1956) a Dutch economist
Jos de Putter (born 1959) a Dutch film director, film critic and screenwriter^[8]
Mark Janse (born 1959 in Sas van Gent) research professor in Asia Minor and Ancient Greek at Ghent University
Erik de Bruyn (born 1962) film director and actor^[9]
Peter van Dommelen (born 1966) a Dutch archaeologist and academic
Sandra Roelofs (born 1968) former first lady of Georgia

References

^ "Burgemeester en Wethouders" [Mayor and aldermen] (in Dutch). Gemeente Terneuzen. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
^ "Kerncijfers wijken en buurten 2020" [Key figures for neighbourhoods 2020]. StatLine (in Dutch). CBS. 24 July 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
^ "Postcodetool for 4531GZ". Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland (in Dutch). Het Waterschapshuis. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
^ "Bevolkingsontwikkeling; regio per maand" [Population growth; regions per month]. CBS Statline (in Dutch). CBS. 1 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
^ "Netherland Statistics". statline. 28 December 2017.
^ "Kerncijfers wijken en buurten 2020".
^ www.binnenvaart.be Archived 2006-04-04 at the Wayback Machine
^ IMDb Database retrieved 3 August 2019
^ IMDb Database retrieved 3 August 2019