's-Hertogenbosch, unofficially called Den Bosch, is the capital
of the province of North Brabant. It is also the capital of the
municipality of 's-Hertogenbosch. The city is nicknamed 'Swamp
Dragon'. The city has acquired this name from its role in the Eighty
Years' War. 's-Hertogenbosch was then a fortified city surrounded by
marshes such as Het Bossche Broek and the Moerputten, which made the
city' impregnable '.
The city is located on 4 rivers, De
Maas, De Aa, De Dommel and De Dieze.
In 2019, the
municipality had 154,220 inhabitants, making it the 4th city in
North Brabant. 'S-Hertogenbosch, together with the other 4 large
Brabant cities and surrounding areas, forms the Brabantstad
metropolitan region. An area with about 1.8 million inhabitants that
is strongly oriented towards the facilities and employment in the 5
cities.
In the twelfth century there were no large cities in
the northern half of the Duchy of Brabant. To properly govern the
growing duchy, a capital in the northern part was also needed.
Around 1160 Den Bosch became the administrative center in the north
of the Duchy. In 1184 it received city rights from Godfrey III.
The diocese of 's-Hertogenbosch is located in St. John's
Cathedral. The city has been a popular pilgrimage site (at least)
from 1380 onwards by the Sweet Lady of Den Bosch. As director of the
Meierij, 's-Hertogenbosch became one of the four capitals of the
Duchy of Brabant.
After the second wall was completed, it
grew into the second city (after Utrecht) on the territory of the
present-day Netherlands. The city functioned as a garrison city for
a long time. The bastions, fortifications and the historic center
are protected heritage.
Sights and attractions in
's-Hertogenbosch are the Museum Quarter, the St. John's Cathedral,
the Zwanenbroedershuis, the Jheronimus Bosch Art Center, Museum
Slager, the Moriaan, the Binnendieze, the Parade, the Sportiom, the
Brabanthallen, the Dragon Fountain, the Bolwoningen, the Bossche
Town Hall and the Fortifications of 's-Hertogenbosch.
The
city has a University "The Jheronimus Academy of Data Science
(JADS)" and several colleges.
The name Den Bosch is older than the official name
's-Hertogenbosch, which literally means the duke's forest. With this
duke was meant the Duke of Brabant. A comparable articulation can be
found in the city of The Hague, of which the official name is The
Hague, and can be understood as the Hague (= the forest) of the
Count of Holland
In many other languages' s-Hertogenbosch is
referred to by its translation: Bois-le-Duc in French, Boscoducale
in Italian, Bolduque in Spanish and Herzogenbusch in German. Its
Latin name is Silva Ducis or Buscum Ducis.
The Society for
the Promotion of the Use of the Name 's-Hertogenbosch tries to
promote the use of the official name, which was established by law
on January 1, 1996.
's-Hertogenbosch received city
rights in 1184 from Count Godfrey III of Leuven, who was also Duke
of Lower Lorraine as Godfrey VII. Some time before that, it had
originated on the territory of Orthen as a settlement of merchants
at the confluence of the Aa and the Dommel, which now converge at
the Citadel in the city. It was the fourth city of Duchy of Brabant.
The earliest mention of 's-Hertogenbosch is in a document from 1196.
It is one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands. At the time, it
was not so common to establish such rights explicitly and many other
(new) cities in the Netherlands took the Bossche written city law as
an example.
In 1629 's-Hertogenbosch was captured by Frederik
Hendrik after a siege.
From April 13 to May 17, 1809, Louis
Napoleon made an inspection trip through the North Brabant
department. During this trip, the Dutch king visited
's-Hertogenbosch. During his visit, he showed a lot of interest in
infrastructure, poor relief, churches, culture and industry.
During the Second World War, the city was liberated by Allied troops
in October 1944. after the city was ignored by the advance of the
ground troops from the south during Operation Market Garden in
September 1944, when Eindhoven and Nijmegen and areas in between on
the route to Arnhem were liberated.
In November 2013, during
works in a parking garage, a Neanderthal settlement was discovered
that is dated between 40,000 and 70,000 BC. What is now
Noord-Brabant was then a bare sandy plain, a tundra. There was then
the Würm Ice Age.