Kennemerland

Kennemerland (Dutch pronunciation: [ˌkɛnəmərˈlɑnt]) is a coastal region in the northwestern Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It includes the sand dunes north of the North Sea Canal, as well as the dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park.

Kennemerland gets its name from the Kennemer people, Frisians who fought unsuccessfully with the Counts of Holland in the Middle Ages. The name is said to derive from the Canninefates. Because of the wars and the Dutch rerouting of waterways, the original borders of Kennemerland have been lost. During the 20th century, the term Kennemerland was redefined to denote municipal regions of North Holland. Because the Kennemers, according to folklore, were always on the attack, many sports teams in Haarlem are called Kennemers.

Precisely who the Kennemer people were is unclear. The knights of Kennemerlant, as the area was then called, quarrelled continually over trading rights and land ownership. The local farmers who paid rent were often asked for goods from either Egmond Abbey or their local church, as well as from these knights. In North Holland during the years 900–1300, castles were often built and later destroyed, and archaeologists today are still trying to piece together evidence.