Zoetermeer is a city in the Western Netherlands, in
the province of South Holland. A small village until the late 1960s, it had 6.392
inhabitants in 1950. By 2013 this had grown to 123.328, making it the third
largest population centre in the province of South Holland, after Rotterdam and
The Hague. It is part of the Haaglanden conurbation. The name Zoetermeer (Dutch
for "freshwater lake") refers to the former lake north of the town
(reclaimed in 1614). Because the name literally translates as "sweet
lake" local residents have dubbed Zoetermeer "Sweet Lake City".
In the tenth century Zoetermeer was a small village
primarily home to farmers and fishermen. In the 13th century a village centre
was formed, which still exists as the historic Dorpsstraat. Until the 17th
century there was a lake called the Zoetermeer. A reminder of this is the
"Zoetermeerse Plas" in the Noord Aa recreation area at the northern
edge of town; this artificial lake was created when tons of sand were needed to
lay the foundation for new housing development, and the area north of
Zoetermeer was a good source of this resource. Until 1935 the village centre
was split into two villages, Zoetermeer and Zegwaard. The standard of living at
the time was said to be higher in Zoetermeer than in Zegwaard. Seghwaert, an
older way of spelling of Zegwaard, is now the name of a neighbourhood outside
the old village centre.
Zoetermeer began to grow slightly when the first train
service came around 1868. A few decades later the Numico factory started near
the station. The real growth started in 1966, when there was an urgent need of
houses from people around The Hague. From then they started to build new
quarters around the old village centre, so Zoetermeer began to grow and became
a city in the meantime.
Although contemporary Zoetermeer has the image of a
modern city, there are still remains of the past. Like the old village centre
with its small houses and the church with late medieval 15th-century clock
tower, and the old farms, surrounded by modern houses nowadays.
Lake Dobbe divides the old town from the new city
centre, with the medieval village centre on one side of the lake and the modern
high-rise and skyscrapers on the other side.
City/town: Zoetermeer
Municipality: Zoetermeer
Area: 37,05 km²
Population: 124.947 (1 January 2019)
Website: zoetermeer.nl
Parcel
point
2theloo Stadshart Zoetermeer
Westwaarts 49
2711
AD ZOETERMEER
(the parcel point closed somewhere in 2018)
(the parcel point closed somewhere in 2018)
Date sent: 14 July 2017
Date postmark: 14 July 2017
Date received: 15 July 2017
Number of days: 1
Envelope in collection: 233
