Hoorn

In the beginning of the eighth century, the threat of Viking raids led to unrest in the Frisian Kingdom, causing many people to leave their hometowns and settle elsewhere.[10] Following this example, Hornus – a bastard son of Redbad – allegedly moved westward along with his companions and, in 719, built a settlement west of the river Vlie, which he named after himself.[10] This legendary settlement did not exist for long, as it burnt down only a few years later.[10]

In the Late Middle Ages, the site of present-day Hoorn was a swampy area that was not at all suitable for agriculture, as opposed to the more fertile inland.[12][18] Here, overproduction of dairy products led to the establishment of a marketplace within the domain of Zwaag, where excesses could be traded for other goods.[18] This marketplace was located near a sluice in the river Gouw, which was the most convenient passage into the Zuiderzee for the surrounding villages.[18]

The marketplace attracted many foreign traders, most notably from Hamburg and Bremen, who came to sell their goods (mostly beer) to the local population in return for butter and cheese.[18] This also brought three brothers from Hamburg to the area, who recognized its convenient location and decided to each build an inn near the marketplace to increase the sale of their beers.[19] The construction of these buildings was completed in 1316 and led to the expansion of the settlement, as more merchants from Northern Germany and Denmark now visited the place to trade.[12][19] As a result, the settlement quickly developed into a village, which was then given the name of Hoorn.[12] The town officially became a city in 1357, when Hoorn was awarded city rights by William V, Count of Holland, after a lump sum payment of 1,550 schilden.[5][lower-alpha 1]

Hoorn rapidly grew to become a major port city and a prosperous center of trade, which flourished during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, also known as the Dutch Golden Age.[5] It was the seat of the Committed Councils of West Friesland and the Noorderkwartier (Dutch: Gecommitteerde Raden) from 1573 to 1795, and the seat of the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier from 1589 to 1795, together with Enkhuizen.[5][21] Furthermore, the city was an important home base for the Dutch East India Company (VOC), the Dutch West India Company (WIC) and the Noordsche Compagnie.[5]

The city's fleet plied the seven seas and returned laden with precious commodities from the East Indies. Exotic spices such as pepper, nutmeg, cloves and mace were sold at vast profits.[5] With their skill in trade and seafaring, sons of Hoorn established the city's name far and wide. In 1619, Jan Pieterszoon Coen (1587–1629), controversial for his violent raids in Southeast Asia, "founded" the capital of the Dutch East Indies, which he intended to name New Hoorn at first, though it was later decided that its name would be Batavia (present-day Jakarta).[22] A statue of Coen was placed on the city's central square Roode Steen in 1893.[23] In 1616, the explorer Willem Schouten, together with Jacob Le Maire, braved furious storms as he rounded the southernmost tip of South America. He named it Kaap Hoorn (Cape Horn) in honor of his home town.[24]

Roode Steen in 1975

Hoorn's fortunes declined somewhat in the eighteenth century. The prosperous trading port became little more than a sleepy fishing village on the Zuiderzee.[5] Following Napoleonic occupation, there was a period during which the town gradually turned its back on the sea.[5] It developed to become a regional center of trade, mainly serving the smaller villages of West Friesland.[5] Stallholders and shopkeepers devoted themselves to the sale of dairy products and seeds.[5] After the introduction of railways and metalled roads in the late nineteenth century, Hoorn rapidly took its place as a conveniently located and easily accessible hub in the network of towns and villages of North Holland. In 1932, the Afsluitdijk was completed, and Hoorn was no longer a seaport.

The years after World War II saw a period of renewed growth.[5] At the center of a flourishing horticultural region, the city developed a highly varied and dynamic economy.[5] In the 1970s, Hoorn was designated as an "overflow" city (groeikern) by the Dutch government to relieve pressure on the overcrowded Randstad region.[5] As a consequence, thousands of people swapped their cramped little apartments in Amsterdam for a family house with a garden in one of Hoorn's newly developed residential areas.[5]

Tour skating from Hoorn to Warder over a frozen Markermeer (1981)

Hoorn has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb) strongly influenced by its proximity to the North Sea to the west, with prevailing westerly winds. Both winters and summers are considered mild, although winters can get quite cold, while summers are quite warm occasionally.

Hoorn, as well as most of the North Holland province, lies in USDA hardiness zone 8b. Frosts mainly occur during spells of easterly or northeasterly winds from the inner European continent. Even then, because Hoorn is surrounded on three sides by large bodies of water, nights rarely fall far below 0 °C (32 °F).

Summers are moderately warm with a number of hot days every month. The average daily high in August is 21.6 °C (70.9 °F), and 30 °C (86 °F) or higher is only measured on 1.8 days per year on average (2009–2018),[25] placing Hoorn in AHS heat zone 2. It is also common to have at least a couple of snowy days each year.

The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute has one of its weather stations located in Berkhout, a village situated west of Hoorn. Climatological data from this station can be found in the table below. The record extremes range from −21.9 °C (−7.4 °F) to 34.6 °C (94.3 °F). The average annual precipitation is 855.5 millimetres (34 in).

The municipality of Hoorn consists of the city of Hoorn (postal codes 1620–1628) and the villages of Zwaag (postal code 1689) and Blokker (postal code 1695), which are further divided into the following districts:[28]

Districts of Hoorn

Many of the houses in the historical city center date back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, especially in the area north of the harbor. Other notable buildings include:

• Hoofdtoren (1464), the former harbor control tower
• Maria-/Kruittoren (1508), a tower built in late gothic style as part of the city wall
• Oosterpoort (1578), the only remaining city gate
• Waag (1609), weigh house at the junction of Grote Oost and Roode Steen
• Statenlogement (1613), former city hall
• Burgerweeshuis (1620), the former orphanage in the Korte Achterstraat
• Statencollege (1632), which houses the Westfries Museum
• Koepelkerk (1882), a Roman Catholic basilica
• Claes Stapelhof (1682), a hofje

Hoorn has notable modern buildings as well, such as:

• Schouwburg Het Park, a theater and congress center that was opened on 25 June 2004 by Queen Beatrix. The opening was delayed, as the fly tower collapsed in the night of 20 April 2001 due to faulty construction work.

Notable museums in Hoorn include:

• Westfries Museum
• Museum of the 20th Century

As of 16 June 2022, the municipal executive of Hoorn consists of:[29][30]

Hoorn is connected to the Dutch railway network and has two train stations: Hoorn and Hoorn Kersenboogerd. From these stations, it is possible to travel in the directions of Enkhuizen, Alkmaar and Amsterdam. It is also the starting point of the Hoorn–Medemblik heritage railway.

The A7 motorway, which runs from Zaandam to the German border via the Afsluitdijk, passes along Hoorn. The exit Hoorn North connects to the provincial road N302, also called Westfrisiaweg, which runs from Hoorn to Lelystad via the Houtribdijk.

The following is a list of notable people who were born in Hoorn:

The following is a list of people who were born elsewhere, but are notable (former) residents of Hoorn:

Hoorn is twinned with the following cities and municipalities:

• Beersel, Belgium (since 1968)[lower-alpha 2]
• Příbram, Czech Republic (since 1992)

• Lewes, Delaware, United States

Lewes was the site of the first European settlement in Delaware: a whaling and trading post that Dutch settlers led by David Pieterszoon de Vries established in 1631 and named Zwaanendael.[32] Upon their arrival in the Delaware Bay, they entered a kill which De Vries named "Hoornkill" after his hometown Hoorn.[33] Nowadays, the city's Zwaanendael Museum is located in a replica of the Statenlogement, the former city hall of Hoorn. Although Hoorn and Lewes have never officially been partner cities, there is close informal relationship between the two towns. Delegations from Hoorn and Lewes have visited each other's cities in light of Lewes's 375th and Hoorn's 650th anniversary in 2006 and 2007 respectively.[34]

• Malacca City, Malaysia (since 1989)

In 1641, the Dutch conquered the colony of Malacca from the Portuguese.[35] During the Dutch rule, the iconic Stadthuys was built – a replica of the first city hall of Hoorn, which was demolished in 1797.[36][37] Hoorn and Malacca became sister cities in 1989, but the partnership was officially ended in 2005.[34] The cities still maintain an informal relationship as "friendship cities".

• Lourens, Piet; Lucassen, Jan (1997). Inwonertallen van Nederlandse steden ca. 1300–1800. Amsterdam: NEHA. ISBN 9057420082.