Harderwijk

Harderwijk stood on the shore of the Zuiderzee at the western edge of the Veluwe. Fishing and seafaring sustained the town, which joined the Hanseatic League and shared in the commerce of the northern seas. Count Otto II of Guelders granted it town rights in 1231, and a wall enclosed it by the end of the century. The Fish Gate opened towards the waterfront. The town expanded southward around 1315, when its great church was built, and northward around 1425. From 1648 Harderwijk also had a university; the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus received his degree there. The university continued until 1811, when Napoleon abolished it along with those of Zutphen and Franeker.