Rijswijk

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is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It is a suburb of The Hague (population: 47,693 in 2004) and covers an area of 14.48 km² (of which 0.43 km² is covered by water).

The municipality of Rijswijk also includes the following towns, villages and townships: 't Haantje and Sion.

History

Archeological excavations indicate that this area of the coastal dunes were already inhabited some 5500 years ago. The formation of the village Rijswijk took place in the 13th century, and its history was dominated by presence of mansions and estates of the nobility and affluent. Among the many country estates known to have been in Rijswijk are:

Arentsburg Burchvliet Cromvliet Den Burgh De Voorde Drievliet 's-Gravenmade Haag- en Delftzicht Hilvoorde Hoekenburg Hofrust Hoornwijk

Huis te Werve Huis ter Nieuwburg Oversteen Overvoorde Schoonoord Sion Steenvoorde Te Blotinghe Tollenshuis Vredenoord Welgelegen Zuidhoorn

The Treaty of Ryswick was signed at the Huis ter Nieuwburg in 1697, ending the War of the Grand Alliance. A monument, built in 1792, to commemorate the treaty now stands in the Rijswijk Forest.

Until 1900 Rijswijk remained a relative small community but it became urbanized during the 20th century when it expanded rapidly. Today, Rijswijk's area has almost been completely built-up. The last major development is the new View on Ypenburg.jpg, built on the lands of the former Ypenburg Airfield but this part of Rijswijk was transferred to The Hague by the provincial government in 2002.

Economy

Rijswijk is home to:

• The Biomedical Primate Research Centre (BPRC), Europe's largest ape research centre.
• The Netherlands Patent Office, at the same location as the Dutch branch of the European Patent Office.
• A large technology centre of the oil company Shell, called Kesslerpark, on Volmerlaan.
• The Dutch national Forensic Laboratory, researching clues and objects in order to aid police investigations.

Recreation

The Von Fisenne Park has a children's farm. The Wilhelmina Park has a nudist part.

Notable people from Rijswijk

• Adriaen van der Kabel, painter (1630-1705)
• Hendrik Tollens, poet (1780-1856)
• Henri ter Hall, artist and politian (1866-1944)
• Otto Kriens, painter (1873-1930)
• Johan Buziau, comedian and artist (1877-1958)
• Louis Otten, football player (1883-1946)
• Teddy Scholten, winner Eurovision Song Contest 1959 (born 1926)
• Felix Thijssen, writer (born 1933)
• Johan van Benthem, logician (born 1949)
• Peter Slaghuis, DJ and musician (1961-1991)
• Karin de Groot, television personality (born 1965)
• Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, poet (born 1968)
• Odette Simons, television actress (born 1976)
• Richard Knopper, football player (born 1977)

External links

• Official Website
• http://www.plattegronden.nl/rijswijk/

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Last updated on Tuesday March 04, 2008 at 15:58:00 PST (GMT -0800)
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