51°31N 5°06E, pop (2000e) 168 000. Industrial city in North Brabant province, S Netherlands; on the Wilhelmina Canal, 54 km/34 mi SE of Rotterdam; railway; woollens, metalworking; major business and cultural centre in the S; capital of Dutch Catholicism.
| Tilburg | |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Province | North Brabant |
| Area | 118.83 km² |
| - Land | 116.38 km² |
| - Water | 2.45 km² |
| Population (2006) | 200,251 |
| - Density | 1,720/km² |
Tilburg (pronunciation (help·info)) is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of Noord-Brabant.
The Universiteit van Tilburg (formerly the Katholieke Universiteit Brabant) is located in Tilburg.
There are three railway stations within the municipality: Tilburg Centraal, Tilburg West, and Tilburg Reeshof.
History
Not much is known about the earliest history of Tilburg. Documents from the year 709 show the name Tilburg for the first time.
In the 15th century, one of the lords of Tilburg, Jan van Haestrecht, built Tilburg Castle. In 1803 Goirle was separated from Tilburg and in 1809 Tilburg was granted city status.
The herd places
Tilburg grew up around one of the so-called "herd places", three-cornered plots where a number of roads (usually sand roads) met.
Tilburg as wool capital of the Netherlands
The poor farmers living in these hamlets soon decided to stop selling the wool of the sheep and to weave it themselves. In the 17th century the number of looms in Tilburg was about 300. From that point on, the woollen industry underwent rapid growth and in 1881 Tilburg had as many as 145 woollen mills. After the Second World War, Tilburg retained its place as wool capital of the Netherlands, but in the 1960s the industry collapsed and by the 1980s the number of woollen mills could be counted on the fingers of one hand.
King William II
King William II (1792-1849) always bore a warm heart towards Tilburg. King William II always supported Tilburg, also in a financial way. The local football team in Tilburg, who play in the Dutch first division, are themselves called Willem II, in remembrance of him.
More on present-day Tilburg and the corporate line followed by the Tilburg city council is to be found in the article on Tilburg, Modern Industry City, on the Tilburg City site.
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