Veendam

Veendam (Template:IPA) is a town and municipality with a population of 27,752 in the province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. Veendam was established in 1648 as a peat colony by Adriaan Geerts Wildervanck.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Holland America Line has named four ships Veendam after the town.

The municipality includes Westerdiepsterdallen, the smallest town in the Netherlands.

Geography

The population centres in the municipality are: Template:Div col

Veendam has two sister cities:

Template:Flagicon Gniezno, Poland<ref name=sister>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Flagicon Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada<ref name=sister/>

Veendam was the start place of stage 4b at the 2012 Energiewacht Tour and the finish place of stage 2 at the 2013 Energiewacht Tour.

Hendrik de Cock, 1829

Renate Groenewold, 2007

Hendrik de Cock (1801–1842) Dutch minister responsible for the 1834 Dutch Reformed Church split
Anthony Winkler Prins (1817 in Voorst – 1908) Dutch writer, chief editor of the Winkler Prins encyclopedia.
Herman Mees (1880–1964) Dutch artist, portrait painter, watercolorist and academic
Herman Johannes Lam (1892–1977) Dutch botanist
Addeke Hendrik Boerma (1912–1992) first Executive Director of the World Food Programme 1962-1967
Gerda Geertens (born 1955 in Wildervank) Dutch composer

Bert Romp (1958–2018) Dutch equestrian, gold medallist at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Janette Bouman (born 1964) Dutch-born Kazakhstani dressage rider
Rick Slor (born 1971) retired professional footballer with 509 club caps
Anneke Venema (born 1971) retired rower, silver medallist at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Linda Moes (born 1971) former breaststroke swimmer, competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics
Peter Windt (born 1973) Dutch former field hockey player
Renate Groenewold (born 1976) Dutch former long track speed skater, silver medallist at both the 2002 and the 2006 Winter Olympics
Henk Grol (born 1985 in Winschoten) Dutch judoka, bronze medallist at both the 2008 and the 2012 Summer Olympics
Jeroen Zoet (born 1991) Dutch professional football goalkeeper with over 250 club caps