| Bovensmilde | |
| Settlement Type: | Village |
| Native Name Lang: | nl |
| Image Map1: | Map NL - Midden-Drenthe - Bovensmilde.png |
| Map Caption1: | The town centre (dark green) and the statistical district (light green) of Bovensmilde in the municipality of Midden-Drenthe. |
| Pushpin Map: | Netherlands Drenthe#Netherlands |
| Pushpin Label Position: | left |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in the Netherlands |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Netherlands |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Drenthe |
| Subdivision Type2: | Municipality |
| Subdivision Name2: | Midden-Drenthe |
| Coordinates: | 52.9758°N 6.4811°W |
| Elevation Footnotes: | [1] |
| Elevation M: | 13 |
| Area Total Km2: | 15.49 |
| Population Footnotes: | [2] |
| Population Total: | 3,350 |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Population Density Urban Km2: | auto |
| Timezone: | CET |
| Utc Offset: | +1 |
| Timezone Dst: | CEST |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +2 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | 9421 |
| Area Code Type: | Dialing code |
| Area Code: | 0592 |
Bovensmilde is a village in the Netherlands' province of Drenthe. It is a part of the municipality of Midden-Drenthe, and lies about 6spell=inNaNspell=in southwest of Assen.
The village was first mentioned in 1847 as Boven-Smilde (literally: Upper-Smilde), and refers to north-eastern part of the peat excavation of Smilde.[3] Bovensmilde is a linear settlement which started as a peat excavation village along the . It was sometimes referred to as Nieuw-Smilde (New Smilde).[4]
Bovensmilde was home to 896 people in 1840.[5] The Dutch Reformed church is an aisleless church built between 1868 and 1869 in neoclassic style. It has a wooden tower.[4]
See main article: 1977 Dutch school hostage crisis. In 1949, Indonesia became independent, and the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army was disbanded. The islands of Ambon, Buru, and Seram had fought on side of the Netherlands. They were opposed to a Java-dominated Indonesia, and proclaimed the Republic of South Maluku which resulted in an attack by Indonesia. In 1951, 12,000 refugees from South Maluku were temporarily resettled in the Netherlands. They started to feel betrayed, because it developed into permanent exile.[6]
On 23 May 1977, four armed Moluccans occupied an elementary school in Bovensmilde and took 105 children and five teachers as hostages. After five days the children were released. On 11 June, the five remaining teachers were freed when the school was stormed by a Dutch army tank, and the hostage takers were apprehended.[7]
There are two primary schools, De Meenthe and De Wingerd.[8]