Assen

Assen (Dutch: [ˈɑsə(n)]) is a municipality and a city in the northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital of the province of Drenthe. It received city rights in 1809. Assen is known for TT Circuit Assen, the motorcycle racing circuit, where on the last Saturday in June the Dutch TT is run; and also for the annual Assen Dance Festival.

Population centres

Anreep, Assen, De Haar, Graswijk, Loon, Rhee, Schieven, Ter Aard, Ubbena, Witten, Zeijerveen, and Zeijerveld.

History

The history of the capital of Drenthe can be traced back to at least 1258, when a new location had to be found for Marienkamp Abbey, which had originally been built near Coevorden as a penalty for the slaughter in 1227 of the army of the Bishop of Utrecht at the hands of Drenthe's peasants, in what has come to be known as the Battle of Ane – a battle, incidentally, in which the bishop was killed. His successor ordered the nunnery to be built as a penalty. As it was located in a barren peat area, which also happened to flood from time to time, a better location had to be found. A better and especially drier spot for the Cistercian abbey was found in an area known as Witten, where at the time only a few farms were located. Around it were village communities like Deurze, Witten and Peelo. The latter has a history which goes back to the times from when Dolmens were built, but it is now situated between two new districts of Assen. The "relocated" abbey probably was erected in the 1260s, and over the centuries Assen developed around it.