Hoofddorp

Haarlemmermeer (Dutch pronunciation: [ˌɦaːrlɛmərˈmeːr] (listen)) is a municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Haarlemmermeer is a polder, consisting of land reclaimed from water. The name Haarlemmermeer means 'Haarlem's lake', referring to the body of water from which the region was reclaimed in the 19th century. Haarlemmermeer's main town is Hoofddorp, which has a population of 76,660. Hoofddorp, along with the rapidly growing towns of Nieuw-Vennep and Badhoevedorp, are part of the Randstad agglomeration. The main international airport of the Netherlands, Schiphol, is located in Haarlemmermeer.

Hoofddorp is a railway station in Hoofddorp, Netherlands located on the Weesp–Leiden railway.

The Hoofddorp train accident in the Dutch municipality Haarlemmermeer took place on 30 November 1992. Whilst en route to Vlissingen, a Koploper-type passenger train derailed at about 7.15 near Hoofddorp. Five people were killed and 33 were injured in the accident. Two days earlier an international train from Amsterdam to Paris derailed at nearly the same location.

The 2002 Floriade international horticultural exposition took place from April 6 to October 20, 2002, in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands, with a theme of Contribution of Horticulture in the quality of life in the 21st century. Recognised by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the festival covered 65 hectares and had 30 participating countries.Across the Floriade site is the Geniedijk, part of the Defence Line of Amsterdam, while the "Lake Side" was located in the Haarlemmermeer Woods. From the artificial mountain, visitors had a substantial view of the area. The Zuidtangent was opened around the same time as the Floriade, with temporary additional stops opened along the north and south entrances to the festival. The north stop is still occasionally used during events and festivals held on the site of the Floriade. The 2002 Floriade was also the site of the Spike and Suzy album, The Bright Floriade.

Rijsenhout is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, and lies about 6 km southeast of Hoofddorp. In 2001, the village of Rijsenhout had 3072 inhabitants. The built-up area of the town was 0.63 km², and contained 1237 residences. The wider statistical area of Rijsenhout has a population of around 4540.

Vijfhuizen is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, and lies about 4 km southeast of Haarlem. In January 2011, the town of Vijfhuizen had 4387 inhabitants. The built-up area of the town was 0.48 km2, and contained 728 residences. The wider statistical area of Vijfhuizen has a population of around 2800.Vijfhuizen is located on the northwest side of the Haarlemmermeer on the ring canal opposite Haarlem. To the south of it lies Cruquius, and to the north, on the ring dike, Nieuwebrug. The characteristic Vijfhuizen bridge connects the village with Haarlem and was completely renewed a few years ago. For a number of years there has been a cycle path along the Geniedijk to Hoofddorp. The roads east of the village run dead on the Polderbaan of Schiphol.

Fort Vijfhuizen is one of forty-two forts in the Defense Line of Amsterdam (Dutch: stelling van Amsterdam), a World Heritage Site. It is located in the town of Vijfhuizen on the ringvaart which surrounds the Haarlemmermeer polder. The main fort is currently maintained by a charitable foundation called Kunstfort Vijfhuizen which leases space for twelve artist studios and a restaurant. The fort is situated on a hill surrounded by a moat and accessible during opening hours. It was built in 1889 and 1890 with sand taken from the excavations for a new sluice-gate complex in IJmuiden. On 3 May 1943 an American Ventura bomber crashed into the moat.South of this fort, also along the ringvaart, is the first fore position of the fort, currently part of a golf course. A bit further south is yet another fore position at fort Cruquius, just south of the Cruquius Museum.

Holland is a geographical region and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th century, Holland proper was a unified political region within the Holy Roman Empire as a county ruled by the counts of Holland. By the 17th century, the province of Holland had risen to become a maritime and economic power, dominating the other provinces of the newly independent Dutch Republic. The area of the former County of Holland roughly coincides with the two current Dutch provinces of North Holland and South Holland into which it was divided, and which together include the Netherlands' three largest cities: the capital city (Amsterdam), the home of Europe's largest port (Rotterdam), and the seat of government (The Hague). Holland has a population of 6,583,534 as of November 2019, and a population density of 1203/km2. The name Holland has frequently been used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. This casual usage is commonly accepted in other countries, and is even employed by many Dutch themselves. However, some in the Netherlands (particularly those from regions outside Holland or the west) find it undesirable or misrepresentative to use the term for the whole country. In January 2020, the Netherlands officially dropped its support of the word Holland for the whole country, which included a logo redesign that changed "Holland" to "NL".

KLM Cityhopper Flight 433 was a Saab 340B, registered as PH-KSH, which crashed during an emergency landing on 4 April 1994 and killing 3 occupants, including the captain. Flight 433 was a routine scheduled flight from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to Cardiff, Wales. The accident was caused by inadequate pilot training and faulty failure sensor, leading to loss of control during go-around.

The Museum De Cruquius (or Cruquiusmuseum) occupies the old Cruquius steam pumping station in Cruquius, the Netherlands. It derives its name from Nicolaas Kruik (1678–1754), a Dutch land-surveyor and one of many promoters of a plan to pump the Haarlemmermeer (Haarlem lake) dry. Like many well-educated men of his time, he latinized his name to Nicolaus Samuel Cruquius. During his lifetime the issue of the Haarlem Lake and how to pump it dry was international news, as the following excerpt from the Virginia Gazette on 31 May 1751 illustrates: "By a private letter from Rotterdam, we are told, that the Dutch Engineers, in their Plan for draining the lake of Haerlem, proposed to employ 150 mills for three Years, and had computed the Expence at a Million and Half of Florins, but that a German, who had been long employed in the Mines of Hungary and Hartz, had proposed to drain it with 50 machines, in 15 months, at a far less Expence; and that he has been ordered to erect one of those Machines, which, if it shall be found to execute what he has asserted, his Proposal will be immediately accepted."Even 50 machines proved too expensive, so it was not until successful experiments with steam pumping stations, such as at nearby Groenendaal park in 1781, that serious plans resulted in three steam-driven pumping stations, including the one at Cruquius. As a tribute to former planners, the pumping stations of the Haarlemmermeer were named after them. The one at the mouth of the Spaarne river, near Heemstede, was called Cruquius. To service the mill, the workers who lived there founded the town of the same name. The dike was built in the 1840s, the pump started work in 1850 and in the three years that had been predicted a century before, the Haarlem lake was pumped dry. The pumping station Cruquius continued to work on and off until 1933, when it was made into a museum. The foreman's house was made into a café which it still is today.

Zuidschalkwijk was a hamlet in the northwestern Netherlands. It has been annexed by the city of Haarlem and is located about 4 km south of the city centre. Zuidschalkwijk was a separate municipality between 1817 and 1863, when it was merged with Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude. On October 1, 1963, Zuidschalkwijk was transferred to Haarlem and became part of the Schalkwijk neighbourhood.

Schalkwijk is the largest borough of Haarlem, Netherlands. It has about 30.000 inhabitants, and covers about 25% of the municipality of Haarlem. Until 1963, Schalkwijk was a part of the municipality of Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude. It consisted of two hamlets, North Schalkwijk and South Schalkwijk. The area is now covered by the residential area Schalkwijk that was mostly built in the 1960s.