Introduction
City and municipality in Overijssel, the Netherlands
This article is about the Dutch municipality. For the similarly named German municipality, see Eschede. For the borough and districts in Stockholm, Sweden, see Enskede (disambiguation). For other uses, see Enschedé (disambiguation).
City and Municipality in Overijssel, NetherlandsEnschede
Eanske (Twents)City and MunicipalitySkyline of EnschedeRijksmuseum TwentheWhite HouseSynagogue of EnschedeDe Grolsch VesteSt. James ChurchHistoric city centre
FlagCoat of armsBrandmarkInteractive map of EnschedeEnschedeLocation within OverijsselShow map of OverijsselEnschedeLocation within the NetherlandsShow map of NetherlandsCoordinates: 52°13′21″N 06°53′33″E / 52.22250°N 6.89250°E / 52.22250; 6.89250CountryNetherlandsProvinceOverijsselGovernment • BodyMunicipal council • MayorRoelof Bleker (Independent)Area • Municipality142.72 km2 (55.10 sq mi) • Land140.83 km2 (54.37 sq mi) • Water1.89 km2 (0.73 sq mi)Elevation42 m (138 ft)Population (Municipality, January 2021; Urban and Metro, May 2014) • Municipality160,341 • Density1,134/km2 (2,940/sq mi) • Urban158,004 • Metro315,807 • Twente626,586DemonymEnschedeërTime zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)Postcode7500–7549Area code053Websitewww.enschede.nl
Enschede (Dutch: [ˈɛnsxədeː] ⓘ; local Twents: Eanske [ˈɛːnskə]) is a city and municipality in the province of Overijssel and the Twente region of the eastern Netherlands. The east of the urban area reaches the border of the German city of Gronau.
Enschede began as a small settlement in the Middle Ages and was granted city rights in 1325. It grew as a regional centre for trade and agriculture before becoming a major hub of the textile industry in the 18th and 19th centuries. Until 1935, the municipality of Enschede consisted only of the city of Enschede, when the rural municipality of Lonneker, which surrounded the city, was annexed after the rapid industrial expansion of Enschede that began in the 1860s and involved the building of railways and the digging of the Twentekanaal.
Enschede is home to the football club FC Twente, a one-time Dutch champion; the University of Twente; Saxion University of Applied Sciences and the last Polaroid film factory.
History
[edit]
Preindustrial era[edit]
Balcony of the city hall depicts Enschede receiving its city rights.
The early history of Enschede is largely unknown, but a settlement existed around the Old Marketplace in early medieval times. The name of this settlement is mentioned as Anescede or Enscede meaning either "near the border" (with Bentheim) or "near the Es" and sported a church, a marketplace and a fortified aristocratic house.
Enschede was granted city rights around 1300 which were confirmed in 1325 by Bishop Jan III van Diest and henceforth was allowed to protect itself with a wall. Because a stone wall was too expensive (since stone had to be imported), Enschede had a system of ditches, palisades and hedges instead, which is still reflected in the street-names Noorderhagen and Zuiderhagen (North Hedge and South Hedge, respectively). The city plan of this era is still recognisable in the street-pattern. The city was spared destruction in 1597 at its capture during the Eighty Years' War when after a short siege, the Spanish garrison surrendered the city and the defences were razed.
Because the medieval city was largely built of wood and stone houses were the exception, fire was a constant risk and a series of fires in 1517, 1750 and again on 7 May 1862 earned the people from Enschede the nickname Brandstichters (arsonists).
Industrial era[edit]
The last fire coincided with the start of the growth of the city into a large production center for textiles, stimulating a large increase in population, which by 1894 had reached an estimated 18,267: nineteenth-century urban growth was at first rather chaotic. The names of the slums (like De Krim and Sebastopol) are still notorious, although they have long since been torn down.[citation needed] In 1907 the laissez faire mentality was dropped and Enschede was the first city in the Netherlands to draw up an official expansion plan, incorporating the surrounding municipality of Lonneker.[citation needed]
Textile production, originally a cottage industry, reached an industrial scale at the start of the 19th century. In particular, bombazijn (a mixture of cotton and linen) proved a successful export. One such factory to have produced textiles in the late 19th century is the Hardick & Seckel Factory.[citation needed]
World War II[edit]
British troops advancing from Enschede, April 1945
During World War II, Enschede was one of the first Dutch cities to be captured by German troops due to its proximity to the German border. Resistance members helped many of the Jews from Enschede to hide on farms in the vicinity. Out of approximately 1300 Jews in Enschede, 500 were saved (38.5%), compared to less than 20% in the rest of the Netherlands.[citation needed] This higher survival rate is attributed to three members of the Jewish Council of Enschede, Sig Menko, Gerard Sanders and Isidoor Van Dam who took the initiative, against the advice of the Jewish Council of Amsterdam, of urging their community to go into hiding and not to answer the call-up of the Germans for "labour in the East." Another notable hero of the era was Enschede Pastor Leendert Overduin, who saved hundreds of Jewish children and adults, with help from his sister and others, through a network of safehouses in and around Enschede.[citation needed]
Enschede was bombed on several occasions, most notably on 10 October 1943, and 22 February 1944. During the first raid the nearby airport (then Fliegerhorst Twente) was a target of opportunity for the VIII Bomber Command during a raid on rail- and waterways in Münster. 141 people died and many houses were damaged.[citation needed] The latter mission named Enschede as a target of opportunity during Big Week after bombers had been recalled due to adverse weather.
The end of the industrial age[edit]
In the 1960s, the textile industry was completely lost, at the cost of approximately 30,000 jobs.[citation needed] Most of the large factory complexes were demolished in the 1970s and 1980s, some were renovated and given a new purpose. For example, homes were built in the former factories of Jannink and Van Heek. In addition, part of the Jannink complex was converted into a museum. Enschede developed into a service city.
In the 1970s, the textile production in Enschede came to a halt, due to fierce competition from mainly the Far East. This had a profound effect on the populace. Enschede became one of the poorest municipalities in the Netherlands and went bankrupt. Large areas of industrial wasteland came to mark the city. With the support of the national government, this property was acquired and rebuilt. The city center was rendered a car-free zone.
Monument commemorating the Enschede fireworks disaster. The inscription says: "The vanished house between heaven and earth."
In 1961, it was announced that a third technical university would be founded, placed on an estate on the western border of Enschede. This green campus called Drienerlo was donated by the city of Enschede. Building was complete in 1964, when the first and only full-facility university of the Netherlands was realised.
On 13 May 2000, a fireworks storage depot in Enschede exploded, destroying part of the neighborhood of Roombeek and killing 23 people, including 4 firemen. In 2001, a referendum confirmed the proposal of the city council to expand the built-up area into the Usseler Es, an area of historic cultural significance and of geological importance, as it was here that the Usselo horizon was discovered. The renovations at Roombeek were finished in the year 2012. The place where the factory used to be is now a monument.
The Alpha Tower was completed in 2008 and this tower block with 91 apartments spread over 29 floors, with a height of 101 meters, is the tallest building in Enschede and the whole province of Overijssel. In the period 1995–2010, Enschede grew by approximately 10,000 inhabitants, but since then the growth has stagnated.
