Meppel

Meppel (Drents: Möppelt) is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It constitutes the southwestern part of the province of Drenthe. Meppel is the smallest municipality in Drenthe, with a total area of about 57 km2. As of 1 July 2021, it had a population of 34,506 with over 30,000 inhabitants within city limits.

People born in Meppel are occasionally referred to as Meppeler Muggen in Dutch; this translates as 'mosquitoes from Meppel'. The nickname comes from a traditional folk tale. The people of Meppel thought the church tower was on fire, but after closer inspection, they realised it was only a swarm of mosquitoes.

History
Meppel developed in the 16th century as an inland harbour for peat transport and distribution. There used to be a lot of waterways in the town, but now only one remains. Meppel received city rights in 1644. On 1 October 1867, Meppel railway station opened to service, drastically improving connectivity in the region. On 1 January 1998, the municipality of Nijeveen, northwest of Meppel, was merged with that of Meppel, retaining the latter name.

Geography
Meppel is located at 52.7°N, 6.18333°W in the southwestern part of the province of Drenthe in the northeastern part of the Netherlands.

The Meppelerdiep, the Drentsche Hoofdvaart and the Hoogeveense Vaart connect Meppel to Zwartsluis, Assen and Hoogeveen. To offload professional transport vessels the Omgelegde Hoogeveense Vaart was dug out south of the city. The Meppelerdiep is accessible for boats with a size of 2,000 ton.

The streams Reest and Wold Aa run through the city. The Reest end in the Meppeler Diep.

The population centres in the municipality are:


 * Nijeveen
 * Nijentap
 * Havelterberg (part)
 * Broekhuizen
 * Rogat
 * De Schiphorst

Transportation
Meppel is served by national and regional train connections with Zwolle to the southwest, which leads to the rest of the country, as well as Leeuwarden and Groningen to the northwest and northeast respectively. The city's station is located on both the Arnhem–Leeuwarden railway (Staatslijn A) and Meppel–Groningen railway (Staatslijn C).

There are regular and frequent bus lines within Meppel and towards Zwolle, Hoogeveen and Assen.

Twin towns – sister cities
Meppel is twinned with:
 * 🇨🇿 Most, Czech Republic

Notable people

 * Jan Jansen Bleecker (1641–1732) a merchant and political figure, Mayor of Albany, New York
 * Arent Magnin (1825–1888) a Dutch politician in the administration on the Dutch Gold Coast
 * Petrus Johannes Waardenburg (1886 in Nijeveen – 1979) a Dutch ophthalmologist and geneticist; Waardenburg syndrome is named after him
 * Ben Nijboer (1915–1999) a Dutch physicist and academic in optics and solid-state physics
 * Louise Fresco (born 1952) a Dutch scientist and writer on globally sustainable food production
 * Catrien Santing (born 1958) a Dutch medievalist
 * Erik Kwakkel (born 1970) a Dutch scholar who specialises in medieval manuscripts, paleography and codicology
 * Albert van der Haar (born 1975) is a Dutch former footballer with almost 500 club caps

The arts

 * Petrus Kiers (1807–1875) a Dutch painter, graphic artist and photographer
 * Sir Joseph Joel Duveen (1843–1908) an art dealer and benefactor of art galleries
 * Henry J. Duveen (1854–1919) an art dealer
 * Eduard Frankfort (1864–1920) a Dutch Jewish painter
 * Jan Mankes (1889–1920) a Dutch painter, sometimes categorized as a symbolic realist
 * Jelle Taeke de Boer (1908–1970) a Dutch art collector
 * Roelof Frankot (1911–1984) a Dutch painter, a strong relation with the CoBrA movement
 * Emmanuel Ohene Boafo (1993) a Dutch-Ghanaian actor, and winner of the Louis d'Or 2021