Koninginneland (municipality)
The Kronenburg municipality of Koninginneland (= Dutch and current English designation; Kronenburgish: Dronningeland; former English: Queensland) was created in 1860 and now has around 800,000 inhabitants. It consists of the northwestern part of the West Island ('Westereiland' in Dutch) and the Queen's Island ('Koninginne-eiland' in Dutch). There are vague plans to connect the city of Marianne, which lies on the Queen's Island, has approximately 690,000 inhabitants and is the fourth largest city of Kronenburg, with a bridge to Long Island (U.S.A.), but nothing concrete has been organised yet. The original capital of Koninginneland was the town of Aalburg, but after a redivision of the municipal borders, Aalburg became part of Westerland and the city of Marianne became the new capital of Koninginneland.
Marianne
The present-day capital of Koninginneland, the city of Marianne, was founded in 1917 and named Koninginnestad (Queen's city), but in 1953, after the death of queen Marianne, the city was renamed after the late queen. The city's infrastructure seems straight and uninviting, but once arrived, this first impression turns out to be nothing more than prejudice. The centre of the city is composed of a small shopping and business area, surrounded by seven large residential towers, which are gradually different in height. In 1987, these towers got the status of Protected Monument of Kronenburg ('Kronenburgs Beschermd Monument'), because of their extraordinary architecture. The Central Station is worth visiting as well: in 1998 the complex was entirely renovated into a hypermodern combination of railways and digital infrastructure. The exuberant use of glass gives the building a transparent image.
A lot further from the actual city centre than one would expect, is the city hall, which is built according to post-war architecture - which many people don't like. There are plans to move the municipal institutions to the part of the city that is located on the West Island, as the Queen's Island is becoming too small for the city and the current city hall could indeed use a make-over.
On the Koningin Wilhelminalaan there is the controversial war museum of 1951 about the occupation of Kronenburg by the U.S.A. during the second world war. Other musea are, among others, the Sampler museum on the Amundsenstraat as well as the Museum of Film and Photography on the Edisonplein. And finally: miracles of architecture are the two bridges between the West Island and the Queen's Island.
Marianne was Cultural Capital of the AGL in 2003.
Nijenstijn
The current second city of Koninginneland is Nijenstijn, a young city which celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2009. In 1999 the city was founded as the first of four projected in the Vierstedenplan by the then minister of regional planning Anton Wolff. Originally meant to take some pressure away from the over-populated cities of Alexanderstad and Friescheburg, Nijenstijn became very popular among wealthier Kronenburgers. Not only rich people however live in Nijenstijn; although the city now has the highest villa density of Kronenburg, there are some housing-estates and appartment buildings for persons who cannot afford to live in a villa. In ten years, the number of inhabitants of Nijenstijn has reached approximately 103,000, but without really causing the desired effect on the over-population in Alexanderstad and Friescheburg. Due to the economic crisis the city's growth has slightly slowed down.
The villas of Nijenstijn are nice to take a look at. Although there are no official tours, the municipality does hand out headphones with spoken information about building styles and the short history of the city. This information can be listened to real-life when following the route of bus 17, which therefore has a partial status of tourist bus. The central square, which is surrounded by shops one would normally find in taxfree areas on an airport, is decorated with a large, modern statue consisting of three large, snake-like pilars with bent tips.
Kloosterholt, Iefte en Baseul
The rest of Koninginneland are sloping fields with some small forests. Three villages that are also part of this municipality, are Kloosterholt in the north, Iefte in the west and Baseul in the south. Iefte has an attractive lighthouse, which is one of the oldest in Kronenburg and can be visited by the public.
Mayors
# | mayor of Koninginneland | took office | left office | remarks |
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1 | Bengt Thorsteinsson | 1860 | 1872 | |
2 | Karel Geugies | 1872 | 1875 | |
3 | Harm-Willem Posthumus | 1875 | 1888 | |
4 | Frans Posthumus | 1888 | 1895 | |
5 | Steven Woldringh | 1895 | 1911 | |
6 | Sebastiaan Jaltada | 1911 | 1917 | |
7 | Evert Evertsen | 1917 | 1930 | |
8 | Klaas-Jan Isebrandt | 1930 | 1939 | |
9 | Jan Berendsen | 1939 | 1948 | |
10 | Frank Willems | 1948 | 1955 | |
11 | Theunis Boonman | 1955 | 1959 | |
12 | Herman Trenning | 1959 | 1972 | |
13 | Jacques de Boer | 1972 | 1976 | |
14 | Aletta Beaufort-Fultsema (f) | 1976 | 1993 | |
15 | Arjan Grevinga | 1993 | 1998 | |
16 | Sjors Tjeenk Willink | 1998 | 2008 | |
17 | Hans-Peter Thollius | 2008 | incumbent |
Elements and Municipalities of the Kingdom of Kronenburg |
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The Four Elements: Kronenburg proper · West-Cod · White Islands · Kronenburg Virgin Islands |
The Municipalities of Kronenburg proper: Alexanderstad · Bredenburg · Dietzland · Friescheburg · Groningen · Hinte · Jaltadaburg Koninginneland · Markenland · New-Stavoren · Oosterland · Oranjewijk · Old-Kronenburg · Waterland · Westerland · Westerport |
Former municipality: Zuiderland |