Groningen

Groningen grew up at the northernmost point of the Hondsrug, a sandy ridge above the surrounding marshes. The area was settled long before the first written mention of the town in 1040, and it gained city rights in practice by 1245. In the 13th century it was already an important trade centre with a city wall, and as a Hanseatic city it belonged to the North German trading network. Its most powerful period came at the end of the 15th century, when it administered neighbouring Friesland and the Martinitoren was built; it could then be considered an independent city-state.

That autonomy ended in 1536, when Groningen accepted Charles V as its ruler. In 1594 Maurice of Nassau's Dutch and English forces besieged and captured it, and the city and province joined the Dutch Republic. The university was founded in 1614. In the 17th century Groningen was an important base for the Dutch West India Company, whose ships carried enslaved Africans to plantations in Brazil, Suriname and the Antilles, and warehouses along the Noorderhaven stored colonial goods. In 1672 the city withstood a siege by the Bishop of Münster, still celebrated every 28 August.

French rule followed, and from 1811 to 1813 the city was annexed to Napoleon's empire. In April 1945 the Battle of Groningen largely destroyed the Grote Markt, though the Martinitoren, the Goudkantoor and the city hall survived. The discovery of the vast Slochteren gas field in 1959 brought wealth to the country but, from 1991, earthquakes that damaged homes across the province; the government decided to end extraction by 1 October 2023. In 2019 the municipality merged with Haren and Ten Boer.

Groningen is known nationally as the "Metropolis of the North" and as Martinistad, after its tower. With about a quarter of residents studying at the University of Groningen, the second-oldest university in the country, or at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences, it is the youngest city in the Netherlands, and that shapes everything from the nightlife to the cultural calendar. The Grote Markt, Vismarkt, Poelestraat and Peperstraat are crowded nightly, and many bars stay open until five in the morning.

Music is a particular strength. Eurosonic Noorderslag brings bands and the European music industry every January, the Vera club, the Oosterpoort and Simplon host concerts year-round, and jazz cafés such as De Spieghel play live music. Summer brings Noorderzon to the Noorderplantsoen, Noorderlicht runs an international photography festival, and the Forum, opened in 2019, combines a library, cinema and exhibitions. Groningen also has a long chess tradition: the first major international tournament after the Second World War was held here in 1946.

The city's dialect, Gronings, became common across the surrounding countryside during its medieval dominance. Sport centres on FC Groningen and the basketball club Donar, seven-times national champions, and the 4 Miles of Groningen draws more than 23,000 runners each October.

The municipality had 244,807 inhabitants in January 2025, making it the sixth-largest in the Netherlands, and the metropolitan area about 557,000. More than 70 per cent of residents are non-religious, and the population is unusually young. The University of Groningen has about 31,000 students, 22 per cent of them international, and the Hanze more than 28,000.

Hotels and catering are a significant part of the city's economy, alongside business services and a growing mix of IT, life sciences, tourism, energy and environmental work. Gasunie and GasTerra, the insurer Menzis, the publisher Noordhoff and the Hooghoudt distillery are based here, and as of 2017 the Vierverlaten factory at Hoogkerk was the city's one remaining beet sugar plant. The aftermath of the gas earthquakes — the slow strengthening of houses and settlement of damage claims — remains a major issue in the wider province.

Daily life runs on the bicycle: around 57 per cent of residents cycle for their regular commute, and the centre has been remodelled so that cars cannot cross it directly. Q-Link buses tie the suburbs to the centre, and students crowd the morning buses to the Zernike campus.

Groningen's best-known specialities are robust. Groninger worst is a sausage of raw minced pork that is air-dried, and specialty shops sell it alongside local mustard and cheese. At the snack bar the local choice is the eierbal, a ball-shaped croquette filled with veal and a whole egg, regarded as the Groningen version of the Dutch croquette; elsewhere snack bars sell the usual bitterballen and kroketten.

The weekly markets on the Grote Markt and the Vismarkt are the best place to see local produce: farmers and food producers sell cheese, meat, honey, fruit and vegetables, and there are street-food stalls on market days, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Folkingestraat, running south from the Vismarkt, has a specialty shop for local wine, sausages, mustard, cheese and sweets.

With so many students, cheap café-restaurants serving a dish of the day are everywhere, and an old sailing ship on the Schuitendiep canal serves Dutch pancakes. The Hooghoudt distillery is a Groningen firm, and the bars stock Dutch and Belgian beers in growing variety.