Assen (
Dutch: is a
municipality and a
city in the northeastern
Netherlands, and is the
capital of the province of
Drenthe. It received
city rights in 1809. Assen is known for
TT Circuit Assen, the
motorcycle racing circuit, where on the last Saturday in June the
Dutch TT is run; and also for the annual Assen Dance Festival.
Population centres
History
The history of the capital of
Drenthe can be traced back to at least 1258, when a new location had to be found for
Marienkamp Abbey, which had originally been built near
Coevorden as a penalty for the slaughter in 1227 of the army of the Bishop of
Utrecht at the hands of Drenthe's peasants, in what has come to be known as the
Battle of Ane – a battle, incidentally, in which the bishop was killed. His successor ordered the nunnery to be built as a penalty. As it was located in a barren
peat area, which also happened to flood from time to time, a better location had to be found. A better and especially drier spot for the
Cistercian abbey was found in an area known as
Witten, where at the time only a few farms were located. Around it were village communities like
Deurze,
Witten and
Peelo. The latter has a history which goes back to the times from when
Dolmens were built, but it is now situated between two new districts of Assen. The "relocated" abbey probably was erected in the 1260s, and over the centuries Assen developed around it.
source: Wiki