Groningen (, also UK:, US:, Dutch: [ˈɣroːnɪŋə(n)] (listen); Gronings: Grun'n) is the main municipality as well as the capital city of the eponymous province in the Netherlands. It is the largest city in the north of the Netherlands and has 231,037 inhabitants (31 January 2019) on a total area of 180.21 km2 (69.58 sq mi), and land area of 168.93 km2 (65.22 sq mi) with a population density of 1,367 per km2 (3,540 per square mile). It merged with Ten Boer and Haren municipalities in 1 January 2019. The Groningen-Assen metropolitan area has about half a million inhabitants. Groningen is an old city (more than 950 years) and was the regional power of the north of the Netherlands, a semi-independent city-state and member of the German Hanseatic League. Groningen is a university city, with an estimated 32,700 students at the University of Groningen (1 October 2019), and an estimated 28,432 at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences (1 February 2020).
History
The city was founded at the northernmost point of the Hondsrug area. The oldest document referring to Groningen's existence dates from 1040. However, the city already existed long before then: the oldest archaeological traces found are believed to stem from the years 3950–3720 BC, although the first major settlement in Groningen has been traced back to the 3rd century AD.
In the 13th century, when Groningen was an important trade centre, its inhabitants built a city wall to underline its authority. The city had a strong influence on the surrounding lands and made its Gronings dialect a common tongue.
