In 2004 a sculpture was put up in Zandaam by the Yugoslavian artist Slavomir Miletic called “The Woodworker” in honour of the craft.įrom The 1600’s onwards, the land around Zanstreek was one of the main food producing areas of the Netherlands and made a contribution so great to the national food production that it was referred to as “the food basket of the Netherlands” Whaling was also very important at this time, with the area having access to the North Sea. In 1697, the Russian Tsar “Peter the Great” stayed in the area for 4 months under a pseudonym so that he could study and learn about carpentry and shipbuilding. Wood from Scandinavia used to be highly thought of in industry as the cold conditions made it grow slowly, this in turn made it very strong. Later on the wood from these mills also went to the making of paper. From the 1500’s the area around the river Zaan that was known as Zaanstreek contained a great many windmills whose primary purpose was to take in the lumber that had been imported from Scandinavia and to season and cut it so that it could be used in the shipbuilding industry. Much of the local wealth in the Zaanstad region has been built up in the timber industry. But the history of its components however goes much further back. The history of Zaanstad as a municipality did not itself begin until 1974, when the various towns and villages were formed in to the one region. All together they form Zaanstad, making it the 14th largest municipality in the Netherlands. All of the areas that go to make up Zaanstad are by or around the river Zaan. It has a population of around 150,000 and is a very industrial area.The municipality is made up of several towns and villages, Koog aan de Zaan, Wormerveer, Westzaan, Zaandijk, Zaandam, Krommenie and Assendelft. Zaanstad is not of itself a city, but is rather a municipality of North Holland near to Amsterdam.
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