OEGSTGEEST

'' (population: 21,188 in 2004) is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of 7.75 km² (of which 0.54 km² is covered by water).
It is the birthplace of the famous Dutch writer Jan Wolkers. Marinus van der Lubbe was also born here.

Contents

History

External links

History

Oegstgeest is one of the earliest inhabited places along the coast. Evidence of a Batavian settlement from the second century was found in 1946 in an extension of a coastal dune in the Elgeesterpolder, although it is not certain if this location remained permanently inhabited since.
In the ninth century there was already a little church in the same location as the current Little Green Church (''Groene Kerkje'') which, according to legend, was dedicated by Willibrord. The presence of this church may indicated that there was a community here.
From the 11th to the 14th century, Oegstgeest enjoyed a period of progress which ended when Leiden became a city and trades and construction was no longer permitted within a certain distance from the city. In 1399, the fiefdoms Oegstgeest and Poelgeest were merged because its declining population could no longer afford the required taxes to the Count of Holland.


Until the 19th century the boundary of Oegstgeest was located right at the city walls and moats of Leiden. But in the 19th and 20th century, it had to concede more and more lands to the rapidly expanding city of Leiden.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, Oegstgeest consisted of several unconnected population centres. Only after 1900, new neighbourhoods were being built between them. First Wilhelminapark, followed by Prins Hendrikpark (circa 1915), Buitenlust or Indische Buurt (1925), Julianapark, Oranjepark, and Emmapark (1920-1950), and Grunerie and the area between Emmalaan and Lange Voort (1950s). In the 1980s and 90s, Haaswijk and Morsebel neighbourhoods were built, followed by Poelgeest in the 2000s. In 2006 construction started on the neighbourhood Nieuw Rhijngeest.

External links

★ Official website

★ Interactive map of Oegstgeest

★ [1]