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Enschede is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel, in the Twente region. The municipality of Enschede consisted of the city of Enschede until 1935, when the rural municipality of Lonneker, which completely enclosed the city was annexed after the rapid industrial expansion of Enschede, which had begun in the 1860's and involved the building of railways and the digging of the Twentekanaal.
Population centres
The city of Enschede
History
Enschede was granted city rights in 1325.
The city center of Enschede was destroyed by fire on May 7, 1862. The fire coincided with the start of the growth of the city into a large production center of textiles.
On May 13, 2000, a fireworks factory in Enschede exploded, destroying an entire neighbourhood and killing 22 people, including 4 firemen. This catastrophe is known in the Netherlands as the Vuurwerkramp, Dutch for fireworks disaster.
In 2001 a plebiscite confirmed the proposal of the city council to expand the built-up area into the Usseler Es, an area of some historic (agri-)cultural importance.
In 2004 large scale construction and renovation activities in the city center, which had stretched for over a decade, were completed.
On September 30, 2004, two police officers were shot (one deadly) by a German drugdealer.
Economy
The city is a former centre of textile production. When this industry left the area for cheaper production centers in South-East Asia, Enschede became one of the poorest municipalitites in the Netherlands. The biggest challenge of the city is to prevent higher educated (wealthy) citizens to move to the west (Randstad).
The city is cooperating with the nearby municipalities of Almelo, Borne and Hengelo as Netwerkstad Twente. A governmental plan to merge with Hengelo was discarded by local opposition.
Education
The Universiteit Twente, a university with mostly technical studies, is located in Enschede. It is one of the three technical universities in the Netherlands (besides Delft University of Technology and Eindhoven University of Technology) and there are plans to merge them for cost saving reasons.
Because of the lack of female students, the university recently (2002) launched courses in Psychology, Applied Medicine and Biomedical Technology which has equalized the ratio of male and female students somewhat. Enschede also has a conservatory and an academy of arts and design.
Transport
Enschede is a terminal station of the NS railway network on the west.
On the east there is a line to Gronau, Germany, with two more stations of the latter are in the Netherlands: "Enschede De Eschmarke" and "Glanerbrug". The line is served by:
See also and railway services in Nordrhein-Westfalen 407 and 412.
Enschede has a regional airport in former air base Twente airport, and is situated at the south-east terminus of the Twentekanaal.
Culture
Enschede is well-known for its local football club, FC Twente. There are several museums in Enschede, among them the Rijksmuseum Twenthe for art, a museum of natural history and a museum dedicated to the history of the textiles industry.
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