Oostzaan is a municipality and a town in the Zaanstreek,
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, in the province of
North HollandNorth Holland |West Frisian]]: Noard-Holland) is a province situated on the North Sea in the northwest part of the Netherlands. The provincial capital is Haarlem and its largest city is Amsterdam.-Geography:...
. The town has a population of 9.104 inhabitats in december 2010. Oostzaan has got 11.49 km² land and 4.64 km² water.
Oostzaan—together with
Westzaan and
Assendelft—are part of the Zaanstreek: the region around the
River ZaanThe Zaan is a small river in the province of North-Holland in The Netherlands and the name of the district through which it runs. The river was originally a side arm of the IJ bay and travels 10 kilometers through the municipality of Zaanstad north of Amsterdam, from West-Knollendam in the north...
). This means that they are the three oldest towns around the
ZaanThe Zaan is a small river in the province of North-Holland in The Netherlands and the name of the district through which it runs. The river was originally a side arm of the IJ bay and travels 10 kilometers through the municipality of Zaanstad north of Amsterdam, from West-Knollendam in the north...
. Oostzaan also plays a role in the VOC and WIC shipping and shipbuilding. Oostzaan had his own pirate called Claes Compaen. He sailed away from the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
as a legal pirate captain, in the possession of pirate letters, but soon he began to ship their own account to conquer the English Channel, the Mediterranean, the African-Atlantic coast into the Caribbean to. The booty he was liquidated on the coast of Ireland, later in Sale and the Barbary Coast. There are a pair of streets called "Claes Compaen" in Oostzaan too.
The village has a reformed Oostzaan cruciform (1760), Great Church, which includes two ship models that recall the days when Oostzaan community was a key shipping. In the eastern stands the windmill of Oostzaan, Zijderveld De Windjager (The Wind Hunter).
Hamlets
Oostzaan consists of several hamlets,
- Achterdichting (Get Behind The Seal),
- De Heul,
- Kerkbuurt (churchneighborhood),
- Noordeinde (northend),
- Zuideinde (Southend).
Kerkbuurt and the northern part of Zuideinde are the center of Oostzaan.
Local government
The municipal council of Oostzaan consists of 13 seats, which are divided as follows:
- Gemeente Belangen - 3 seats
- GroenLinks - 3 seats
- VVD
The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party located in the Netherlands. The VVD supports private enterprise in the Netherlands and is often perceived as an economic liberal party in contrast to the social-liberal Democrats 66 alongside which it sits in...
- 3 seats
- CDA
The Christian Democratic Appeal is a centre-right Dutch Christian democratic political party. It suffered severe losses in the 2010 elections and fell from the first to the fourth place...
- 1 seat
- D66
Democrats 66 is a progressive and social-liberal political party in the Netherlands. D66 was formed in 1966 by a group of politically unaligned, young intellectuals, led by journalist Hans van Mierlo. The party's main objective was to democratise the political system; it proposed to create an...
- 1 seat
- Partij Luijendijk - 1 seat
- PvdA
The Labour Party , is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands. Since the 2003 Dutch General Election, the PvdA has been the second largest political party in the Netherlands. The PvdA was a coalition member in the fourth Balkenende cabinet following 22 February 2007...
- 1 seat
External links