Muntendam | |
Settlement Type: | Village |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Name: | Netherlands |
Subdivision Type1: | Province |
Subdivision Name1: | Groningen |
Subdivision Type2: | Municipality |
Subdivision Name2: | Midden-Groningen |
Pushpin Map: | Netherlands Groningen#Netherlands |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Muntendam in the province of Groningen |
Coordinates: | 53.1336°N 6.8686°W |
Area Total Km2: | 12.88 |
Elevation Footnotes: | [1] |
Elevation M: | 2.2 |
Population As Of: | 2021 |
Population Footnotes: | [2] |
Population Total: | 4,635 |
Population Density Km2: | auto |
Timezone: | CET |
Utc Offset: | +1 |
Timezone Dst: | CEST |
Utc Offset Dst: | +2 |
Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
Postal Code: | 9649 |
Area Code Type: | Dialing code |
Area Code: | 0598 |
Muntendam is a village in the municipality of Midden-Groningen, in the Dutch province of Groningen. The village has a population of 4,635 (2021). Muntendam had been an independent parish since the Middle Ages, but until 1840 it was ecclesiastically part of Zuidbroek.
From 1811 until 1990 it was a separate municipality, which boasted the title 'reddest (most socialist) municipality in the Netherlands', with a council of 11 containing 7 PvdA (Labour Party) members and 2 CPN (Communist Party) members. (However, nearby Reiderland had had a vast CPN majority since WWII, so the claim is rather too strong). When a new mayor had to be appointed in 1980 (at the time a municipality had no say in the matter), it was assumed that it would become a PvdA mayor as it had always been. However, the then minister of the interior, Hans Wiegel of the right-wing VVD, decided that this very left-wing part of the Netherlands needed a change and appointed a D66 (left of centre) mayor. This led to a cold reception and the first time a Dutch mayor was not officially inaugurated. Over time, however, people started to like him and when he moved to a bigger municipality there was even an action to keep him (to no avail). Not much later, the method of appointing a mayor in the Netherlands was changed, with the municipality putting up a request which is usually followed.