Nijkerk
Nijkerk (; Dutch Low Saxon: "Niekark") is a municipality and a city located in the middle of the Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. Population centres. Some people state that "Groot Corlaer" is a population centre on its own, but it is officially part of Nijkerk. Transportation. Railway station: Nijkerk The city of Nijkerk. The name Nijkerk stems from Nieuwe Kerk (Dutch for New Church). This new church was built after the old chapel had been destroyed by fire in 1221. Nijkerk was strategically located between the Duchy of Guelders "(Dutch: Hertogdom Gelre)" and the Bishopric of Utrecht. Because of  this strategic location Nijkerk regularly was the scene of war, and in 1412 the village was completely destroyed. It was restored and Nijkerk received city rights in 1413. In 1421 the church that gave Nijkerk its name burnt down and was replaced; this happened several times, until a new church, the "Grote-of-Sint-Catharinakerk"; was built in the 18th century. It still stands today. The organ in this church was built in 1756 by Mathijs van Deventer. In the 18th century Nijkerk was a flourishing merchant city. Several inhabitants traveled to the New World, such as Arent van  Curler and Kiliaen van Rensselaer and founded new cities. Since World War II, Nijkerk has been growing fast. It is situated on the (former) shore of the IJsselmeer, which allows for transportation of goods via ships, and in the proximity of two major motorways, the E30 (A1) and E232 (A28). This allowed local industries to grow, and also encouraged a lot of people who work in the nearby Randstad to move to the more rural and peaceful town of Nijkerk. The easy access to the Veluwe is also a contributing factor to this growth. Politics. In 2000, the municipalities of  Nijkerk and Hoevelaken merged to form the new municipality of Nijkerk. On August 24, 2011, the municipality announced that Nijkerk had passed the mark of 40,000 inhabitants. The city council was consequently expanded to 27 seats for the 2014 election. Currently (March, 2020) the seats are divided as follows: Progressief 21 is a local party combining the local chapters of the Democrats 66, GroenLinks and the Labour Party. The last two parties are local parties that have no national connection. Twin town. Nijkerk is twinned with