The oldest archeological findings of human activity around Arnhem are two firestones of about 70,000 years ago. These come from theStone Age, when theNeanderthals lived in this part ofEurope. In Schuytgraaf, remnants of a hunters camp from around 5000 BC have been discovered. InSchaarsbergen, twelve grave mounds were found from 2400 BC, which brought the so-calledNeolithic Revolution to the area of Arnhem, which meant the rise of the farmers.
The earliest settlement in Arnhem dates from 1500 BC, of which traces have been found on the Hoogkamp, where the Van Goyenstraat is currently located. In the inner city, around theSint-Jansbeek, traces of settlement have been found from around 700 BC, while the first traces south of theRhine have been found dating to around 500 BC, in theSchuytgraaf.
Though the early tracks of settlements did show that the early residents of Arnhem descended from the forests on the hills, Arnhem was not built on the banks of the river Rhine, but a little higher along the Sint-Jansbeek. Arnhem arose on the location where the road betweenNijmegen andUtrecht andZutphen split. Seven streams provided the city with water, and only when the flow of the Rhine was changed in 1530, was the city located on the river.
Arnhem was first mentioned as such in 893 asArneym orArentheym. In 1233, CountOtto II ofGuelders fromZutphen, conferredcity rights on the town, which had belonged to the abbey of Prüm, settled in, and fortified it. Arnhem entered theHanseatic League in 1443.[6] In 1473, it was captured byCharles the Bold of Burgundy.
From 1795 to 1813, it was reoccupied by the French, by both revolutionary and imperial forces.
In the early 19th century, the former fortifications were almost completely dismantled, to give space for town expansion. TheSabelspoort (Sabresgate) is the only remaining part of the medieval walls.
In the 19th century, Arnhem was a genteel resort town famous for its picturesque beauty. It was known as "het Haagje van het oosten" (The Little Hague of the East), mainly because a number of rich former sugar barons or planters from the Indies settled there, as they did inThe Hague. Even now the city is famous for its parks and greenery. The urbanization in the north on hilly terrain is also quite unusual for the Netherlands.
Glider infantry andparatrooper units were landed into the area on 17 September and later. The bulk of the force was dropped rather far from the bridge and never met their objective. A small element of the British 1st Airborne, the2nd Parachute Battalion underLieutenant ColonelJohn D. Frost, managed to make its way as far as the bridge but was unable to secure both sides. The British troops encountered stiff resistance from the German9th and10th SS Panzer Divisions, which had been stationed in and around the city.
The British force at the bridge eventually ran out of ammunition and was captured on 21 September, and a full withdrawal of the remaining forces was made on 26 September. These events were dramatized in the 1977 movieA Bridge Too Far. (The bridge scenes in the movie were shot inDeventer, where a similar bridge over theIJssel was available, as the area around Arnhem bridge had changed too much to represent WWII-era Arnhem). As a tribute, the rebuilt bridge was renamed 'John Frost Bridge' after the commander of the paratroopers. The official commemoration is 17 September.
A second battle of Arnhem took place in April 1945 when the city was liberated by the British49th (West Riding) Infantry Division fighting as part of theFirst Canadian Army. The inhabitants of the city, who had been forcibly evacuated by the Germans during and after the battle, returned in the summer of 1945. The reconstruction of Arnhem took until 1969 to finally be completed.
Just outside Arnhem, in the town of Oosterbeek theCommonwealth War Graves Commission built theArnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery which contains the graves of most of those killed during the September landings, and many of those killed in later fighting in the area.
The outlying areas of the following villages are bordering the municipality of Arnhem directly, which means among others that in many a case a considerable number of their inhabitants originate from Arnhem.
The city lies approximately 15 kilometers from the border withGermany, and to some extent the westernmost villages in the municipality ofElten,Germany, function as dormitories for people who work in theDutch city of Arnhem in part due to the immigration of Dutch people from the region that were attracted by the lower house pricing just across the border.
Arnhem features the same climate (Cfb, oceanic climate) as all of the Netherlands; however, its location on the foothills of the Veluwe, the largest forest in the Netherlands, contributes to some higher precipitation values.
Climate data forDeelen, Arnhem (1991−2020 normals, extremes 1953−present)
TheGrote Kerk (St. Eusebius' Church), built 1452–1560, lost most of its tower during World War II, of which a part has been reconstructed to a modern design and opened in 1964. Officially the tower is not part of the church and is owned by the municipality.
The house of Maarten van Rossum, a general serving Duke Charles van Gelre, has been the town hall since 1830: Thesatyrs in itsRenaissance ornamentation earned it the nameDuivelshuis (devil's house). TheNetherlands Open Air Museum is located outside the city. It includes antique houses, farms, factories, andwindmills from different parts of the Netherlands. Two other windmills stand in Arnhem itself,De Hoop andDe Kroon.
TheRoyal Burgers' Zoo in Arnhem is one of the biggest and most-visited zoos in the Netherlands, featuring an underwater walkthrough, desert, mangrove, and rainforest. TheGelreDome, the home ofVitesse Arnhem, the city'sEredivisie team infootball, is a unique facility that features a retractable roof and a slide-out grass pitch. The concept has been fully duplicated since then by theVeltins-Arena inGelsenkirchen, Germany, andState Farm Stadium inGlendale, Arizona, U.S., and partially by theSapporo Dome in Japan (which has a sliding pitch but a fixed roof).
TheKEMA Toren (formerly known asSEP Control Tower) is the highest structure of the town. It is a 140-m-high TV tower.
TheNational Sports Centre Papendal is the national sports development centre of theNetherlands, located in Arnhem. The first event held at Papendal was the1980 Summer Paralympics, from 21 June to 5 July. However the site was formally adopted and developed from 1993, after the merger of the Dutch National Olympic Committee (NOC) and the Nederlandse Sport Federatie (NSF).
NOC*NSF have 90 affiliated national sports organizations, representing about 2700 individual sports clubs.[13] Papendal is also the training location offootball clubVitesse Arnhem, and the club's youth development system. Supporting facilities include a conference centre and hotel.
Since January 2013 Sports Centre Papendal officially split from NOC * NSF and thus as organization demerges. This split offers Sports Centre Papendal many commercial benefits. There are facilities for various sports, including athletics, cycling and more.
Sport in the city is principally focussed on its association football clubVitesse Arnhem and its stadium theGelreDome built for theUEFA Euro 2000. The club has enjoyed some success in theEredivisie and has featured in theUEFA Cup competition. Their best result in theEredivisie was third place in 1997–98. The club won theKNVB Cup in2016–17.
Due to its central location in Eastern Netherlands, Arnhem is a hub for water, road, and rail traffic.
Arnhem isbikeable. TheRijnWaalpad is a 17 km long bicycle highway and connects Arnhem withNijmegen. It is the region's first fast-paced cycling route. In 2018 the second fast bike route was opened and Arnhem connects withWageningen.
Arnhem is the name of a march composed by A.E. Kelly.
Arnhem Land in Australia is named after theVOC-shipArnhem.
Theirs is the Glory (a.k.a.Men of Arnhem), is a 1946 British war film about the British 1st Airborne Division's involvement in theBattle of Arnhem (17 to 25 September 1944) duringOperation Market Garden in the Second World War. Another film,A Bridge Too Far, tells the story of the failure of Operation Market Garden in Arnhem.
^Megargee, Geoffrey P. (2009).The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume I. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. p. 820.ISBN978-0-253-35328-3.
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