.Paul_Gerritsen

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Ok, someone asked me to tell some more about Hoorn, so here comes a lesson in history. Founded in 1357, Hoorn rapidly grew to become a major harbour town. During Holland's 'Golden Century', Hoorn was an important home base for the Dutch East India Company and a very prosperous centre of trade. The Hoorn fleet plied the seven seas and returned laden with precious commodities. Exotic spices such as pepper, nutmeg, cloves and mace were sold at vast profits. With their skill in trade and seafaring, sons of Hoorn established the town's name far and wide. In 1616, the explorer Willem Corneliszoon Schouten braved furious storms as he rounded the southernmost tip of America. He named it Kaap Hoorn (Cape Horn) in honour of his hometown. Hoorn's fortunes declined somewhat in the eighteenth century. The prosperous trading port became little more than a sleepy fishing village on the Zuiderzee. Following the Napoleonic occupation, there was a period during which the town gradually turned its back on the sea. It developed to become the market for the entire West Friesian agricultural region. Stallholders and shopkeepers devoted themselves to trading in dairy produce and seeds. When the railway and metalled roads came to Hoorn in the late nineteenth century, the town rapidly took its rightful place as a conveniently located and readily accessible centre in the network of towns and villages which make up the province of Noord-Holland. In 1932, the Afsluitdijk, or Great Enclosing Dyke, was completed and Hoorn was no longer a seaport. Hoorn's many historic buildings form a spectacular backdrop to the art and culture of today. There are 365 Grade I listed buildings - one for every day of the year - placing Hoorn in third place on the Netherlands' league table of historic cities (after Amsterdam and Haarlem). The historic character of Hoorn is not confined to the town itself, or indeed to the Netherlands! In the Japanese city of Nagasaki one can visit Holland Village, which includes reproductions of sixteen Hoorn buildings including the Hoofdtoren. Built in 1632, this tower is one of Hoorn's most striking landmarks. Around the town, the defensive earthworks offer a marvellous view of the harbour with its fleet of old trading vessels, now largely used for recreation. These are the town's 'floating monuments' - typical Hoorn fishing vessels revelling in such quaint names as scows and smacks. They provide a lasting reminder of Hoorn's rich maritime history. Are you still with me? Well done!