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Twente | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
 Location of Twente (yellow) as if it were the 13th province of the Netherlands | |
| Capital | Enschede (de facto) |
| Official languages | |
| Ethnic groups | Predominantly European |
| Area | |
• Total | 1,504 km2 (581 sq mi) |
• Water (%) | 1.06% |
| Population | |
• 2012 estimate | 626,586 |
• Density | 421.6/km2 (1,091.9/sq mi) |
Twente (Dutch:Twente[ˈtʋɛntə]ⓘ,Tweants dialect:Tweante) is a region in the easternNetherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province ofOverijssel. Twente is most likely named after theTuihanti or Tvihanti,[1] aGermanic tribe that settled in the area and was mentioned by theRoman historianTacitus. The region's borders are defined by the Overijssel region ofSalland in the northwest and west (the riverRegge roughly defines the western border), theGermanCounty of Bentheim in the northeast and east (the riverDinkel roughly defines the eastern border) and theGelderland region of theAchterhoek in the south.
Twente has approximately 620,000 inhabitants, most of whom live in its three largest cities:Almelo,Hengelo andEnschede, the latter being the main city of the region. It comprises fourteenmunicipalities:Almelo,Borne,Dinkelland,Enschede,Haaksbergen,Hellendoorn,Hengelo,Hof van Twente,Losser,Oldenzaal,Rijssen-Holten,Tubbergen,Twenterand andWierden. The whole of Hellendoorn and the western parts of both Rijssen-Holten and Twenterand historically belong to the cultural region ofSalland, but to thecity region of Twente.
Various sources provide several explanations of the nameTwente. In his workGermania, the Roman historianTacitus mentions a tribe calledTvihanti, who lived near or in present-day Twente. This same name was found on two altar stones found in the ruins ofVercovicium, a Roman guard post onHadrian's Wall near present-dayHousesteads inNorthern England. The Tvihanti served in a Roman-Frisian cavalry unit that was stationed there.
Another explanation of the origins of the name is that Twente was part of theOversticht, a medieval administrative construction which included the adjacentshires of Twente andDrenthe. As the name Drenthe is said to stem from *þrija-hantja meaning "three lands", Twente is said to stem from *twai-hantja or "two lands".[2]
Although Twente is the most urbanized part of the province of Overijssel, it is renowned for its scenic countryside. This is sometimes characterized as abocage landscape, attracting many tourists from other parts of the country, with popular sights such as theLutterzand on the meandering Dinkel, or the wideheather fields on theFrezenbaarg nearMarkelo. Twente is bisected from north to south by a range of hills in western Twente (Holterberg, Rijsserberg, Friezenberg, Nijverdalse Berg, Hellendoornse Berg), and hills in the east, with theTankenberg nearOldenzaal being the highest point. The towns ofOotmarsum, and Oldenzaal to a lesser extent, are known for their scenic historical buildings, the latter of which has a noteworthy Romanesque church calledOale Grieze (the ‘Old Grey’), which is the oldest Romanesque church in the Netherlands. Eight Twents towns have obtainedcity rights:Almelo,Delden,Diepenheim,Enschede,Goor,Oldenzaal,Ootmarsum, andRijssen.
Since Twente's economy is to a great extent reliant on agriculture, this leaves its marks on the landscape, with manymeadows andpastures, alternating withundergrowth,scrubs andcopse. There are severalfens,marshes andpeat bogs, which long made Twente less accessible for the rest of the Netherlands, and which formed some natural defence. It also made the inhabitants of Twente incline towards the east (Westphalia andMünster, more precisely) in trade, politics and fashion, rather than to the more western parts of the Netherlands.
Geologically, Twente is one of the most interesting areas of the Netherlands. It has strata (earth layers) from various eras concentrated in a relatively small area. There is an open stone quarry atLosser, while there are several salt mines at Hengelo andBoekelo. The western Twente town ofNijverdal is the only place in the Netherlands wheregold was ever found.
Twente is largely reliant onagriculture, next toservices, and to a lesser degreetourism. The improved national image of Twente has stimulated an increase in sales of regional products. One of the largest Dutch beer breweries, theGrolsch Brewery, is in Twente.
Twente has many construction companies, most notably in the town ofRijssen, which houses over twenty companies in construction and related services, such aselectricity,plumbing, andinsulation. Some north-western Twents villages, such asWesterhaar-Vriezenveensewijk, are known for their many inhabitants employed inroad engineering. Some construction companies have set up or invested in offices overseas, such as in theUS andAsia.
Twente also has many machine manufacturing companies, like machinery for agriculture, oil piping, food manufacturing, assembly automation, etc. Many of them with a global customer base.
Next to aforementioned occupations, many Twents people are engaged in thetransport sector. The second half of the twentieth century saw an explosive increase in the number of freight transportation companies.
The flag of Twente is a bright red cloth with a white rampant horse, which is believed[according to whom?] to be derived from theSaxon Steed, the rampant horse in the coats of arms ofWestphalia andLower Saxony, also introduced in the (modern) coat of arms of theEnglish county ofKent. People in Twente sometimes go by the epithet "Tukker".
In the more rural parts of Twente, a notion callednoaberskop, literallyneighbourship, is deemed of great importance. In short,noaberskop involves neighbours looking after each other or giving good counsel whenever a neighbour asks for advice. For instance, it may include collecting each other's mail and watering plants and flowers while the other family is on holiday and looking after each other's pets.Noaberskop is regarded a matter of rights and obligations. A neighbour may for instance call on another neighbour for help if something needs to be repaired or otherwise taken care of, but it is very indecent to refuse if the other neighbour then asks for a favour in return. Neighbours are expected to help each other preparing wedding celebrations, funerals, birthday parties, etc. Though modernsocial security service has reduced the need for strongnoaberskop bonds, some communities do appreciate newcomers adapting to these old customs and "making neighbourship" with the others, and not fulfillingnoaberskop duties may be still regarded a grave offence.
A number of traditional cultural practices have been preserved in Twente, such as blowing mid-winter horns aroundChristmas and burning Easter fires. Twente is also known for its considerable number of so-calledklootsketersverennigings (road bowling associations), which is commonly considered the "local traditional sport".
In the small town ofOotmarsum, a tradition known asvlöggeln is practised annually aroundEaster. Firstly, a group of eight young bachelors calledPoaskearls (Easter Men) are selected. On Easter morning, thePoaskearls form a human chain by joining hands. They go through some of the houses of the town while singing psalms, after which the other inhabitants and other spectators may join the chain. After a while, the chain halts in the town centre, where fathers may lift their young children three times, while shouting "Halleluja". The gathering continues towards the fields, where a large Easter Fire has been built by the community. The gathering sings a psalm and then thePoaskearls light the bonfire. It is commonly believed to be a Roman Catholic adaptation of a pre-Christian fertility tradition.
An extravagant carnival is celebrated in Oldenzaal, which, like the most of eastern Twente has a considerable group ofRoman Catholics. The west of Twente is mainlyProtestant.
Today, Twente has one of the Netherlands’ largest exile communities ofAssyrians.
Although Twente has always been part of larger cultural areas, borrowing and adopting food traditions, there are a number of traditional "typically Twents" dishes and snacks. One of the nationally most-renowned foods from Twente is thekreantewegge. This is a type ofcurrantbread, that is traditionally baked to celebrate the birth of children. Thekreantewegge was usually a long loaf, sometimes extending over as much as one meter, cut into thick slices. It is currently still a popular accompaniment with a cup of coffee, though it is no longer exclusively linked to child birth.
Another typically Twents food isbakleaverworst (roughly translated asbaked liver sausage), mostly abbreviated tobakworst. This is a spicy pork sausage, usually approximately 15 cm in diameter. The sausage is cut into 1 cm slices and baked. It is not usually served for dinner, but is often eaten for lunch, on asandwich. It is mainly a seasonal product; as it is a hot and hearty snack, it is only available during the winters.
There are several dishes that are often termed "typically Twents", although they are not much served today. Examples includestip in de pan andbalkenbriej.
Perhaps the best internationally known beverage from Twente isGrolschlager. Though it is originally from the town ofGroenlo which is in the adjacentAchterhoek region, the brewery moved toBoekelo nearEnschede. It is therefore currently often considered a Twents brand. A relatively new brand of lager, Twents Bier, is brewed in the town ofBeckum. Twente also has a longstanding tradition of distillingbitters. There are many locally distilled bitters, which are often produced and consumed for special occasions and celebrations. Often, they aren't for sale outside the home village.
Though Twents families traditionally ate potatoes, vegetables and meat for dinner, the influx of many immigrants from all over the world to Twente, who brought with them their own food traditions, has broadened the average Twenteman's nutritional horizon.
Twente is a region with rural areas and urban centres, both of which have developed distinct architectural traditions, while the region is also known for its contemporary architecture.[3]
The Saxon heritage of Twente is reflected in the design of more traditional farms and residential houses. Twente has the only remaininglös hoes in the Netherlands (literally ‘loose house’), a type of construction design that was previously common throughout the east of the Netherlands and the north of Germany. Alös hoes consisted mostly of one room in which both humans and livestock lived together. The roofs, which are relatively large in comparison to contemporary houses, making up approximately 2/3 of the entire height, were mostly thatched and supported by a frame of thick beams. TheTwentseWelle museum inEnschede has reconstructed alös hoes on their premises. Many contemporary houses are designed with Twents Saxon elements, such as thatched roofs, wooden planks to decorate the gables, andgewelteekns [nl;nds-nl] (gable signs), which are wooden planks shaped with several stylised symbols, such as atree of life,cross,anchor andheart, a sun wheel, and two rampant horses. Thesegewelteekns are mounted vertically onto the ridge of the house at the front and the back gable. The symbols are believed to either invoke prosperity or ward off misfortune.
The development of modern architecture in the region has been closely related to its industrial development in the 19th and 20th century, as can be recognized in multiple factory complexes, public buildings, as well as housing projects, includinggarden villages such as Tuindorp 't Lansink (1910s, arch. Karel Muller).[4] Many well-known names within Dutch architectural history have left their traces in the region, among themPiet Blom,Van den Broek &Bakema,Willem Dudok,Han van Loghem, andGerrit Rietveld, to name but a few. Of particular interest is the architecture at the campus of theUniversiteit Twente,[5] located in Enschede, built in 1961 according to the masterplan by Wim van Tijen and Samuel van Embden. Other examples of modern and contemporary architecture can be found in Enschede too, as well as in the other main urban centres, Almelo and Hengelo, but also in some smaller towns. In the town ofGoor, for example, a construction company has built their main office in the style ofFriedensreich Hundertwasser, who was known for using lively colours and natural forms.
Many construction companies have their origins, or main office, in Twente. Especially in the town of Rijssen, which houses over twenty more or lesser known construction companies next to companies that provide related services, such asplumbing,building insulation andelectricity. This makes Twente an attractive place for architects.
The local language variety isTwents. It is a dialect of theWestphalian branch of theLow German language group, which, together withLimburgs, is one of the two officially recognised regional languages of the Netherlands. Twents is spoken in all parts of Twente, but may vary from village to village in pronunciation or lexicon, though such varieties are mutually intelligible and form part of the Low Germandialect continuum. Dialects are often divided into two main categories, namely East-Twents and Twents-Groafskops, though the differences are largely insignificant. The dialects work as a certainshibboleth; minor accent differences help speakers define others' place of origin. As a result, speakers do not usually refer to their dialect by the umbrella termTwents, but rather by the name of their local variety. Speakers fromMarkelo, for instance, may call their dialectMaarkels, whereas speakers fromOverdinkel may state that they speakOaverdeenkels.
Although the dialect has been stigmatised for a considerable period over the last century, leading to a decline in use, interests in preserving and promoting the use of it are currently rising, resulting in initiatives such as dialect festivals, writing competitions and other culturally engaging projects. The municipality council ofRijssen-Holten holds one conference per year in dialect, and in 2008 declared their desk workers officially bilingual, to lower the threshold for the inhabitants of Rijssen who feel more comfortable in speaking Twents, rather thanDutch. Other municipality councils have recently indicated that they are willing to try dialect conferences, such as the municipalities ofHellendoorn andWierden.
The formerVan Deinse Instituut, which is now incorporated in theTwentseWelle museum, is involved in researching the past and present of Twente. It is located in Enschede and studies the regional culture, folklore, language, cultural history and landscape of Twente. It also collects, maintains, studies and displays an extensive collection of material from the history of Twente, with a full-size historic Twentslös hoes (‘open house’, a farmhouse without separate rooms, where both livestock and humans lived together) as one of its main attractions. The museum has designated a specific part of its premises for the Twentse Taalkamer (‘language room’), where visitors may become (further) acquainted with the language.
Twents is largely mutually intelligible with dialects from surrounding areas, such asAchterhooks to the south,Sallaands in the west, Grafschafter Platt (Grafschaft Bentheim) and Münsterlandisch (Münsterland) across theDutch-German border.
On a professional level, Twente houses twofootball clubs that play in the nationalEredivisie league:Heracles Almelo andFC Twente fromEnschede, the latter of which is one of the most successful sides of recent years, having won the Eredivisie title in 2010 and theKNVB Cup in 2011. Twente is also the home region ofOlympic Goldswimmers such asMarleen Veldhuis andHinkelien Schreuder, and of internationally renownedequestrians (horse driving andhorse jumping), such asJeroen Dubbeldam,Gerco Schröder andJos Lansink.
A number of well-knownbicycle racing pros are from Twente, includingBram Tankink,Tom Stamsnijder andJoost Posthuma.
On an amateur level, many people participate for leisure in popular team sports with local clubs, such as handball, tennis, soccer andvolleyball.
A local traditional sport,klootskeetn, which is similar toIrish road bowling, has seen an increase in interest over the last decades. It is mainly played for leisure or for cultural engagement. There are, however, a number of (semi)-professionalklootsketer clubs. It is a popular activity for staff trips.
Aadorp --Albergen—Beckum --Beuningen --Boekelo --Borne --Bornerbroek --Breklenkamp -- Buurse --Daarle --Daarlerveen --Delden --De Lutte --Denekamp --Deurningen --Diepenheim --Enschede --Enter --Fleringen --Glanerbrug --Goor --Haaksbergen --Hengelo --Hengevelde --Lattrop --Lonneker --Losser --Mander --Markelo --Oldenzaal --Ootmarsum --Overdinkel --Rossum --Saasveld --Tilligte --Tubbergen --Twekkelo --Usselo --Vasse --Vriezenveen --Vroomshoop (partlySalland) --Weerselo --Wierden --Zenderen
52°19′18″N6°46′13″E / 52.32167°N 6.77028°E /52.32167; 6.77028
Overijssel province | ||
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