Nijmegen

Sister cities

• Suzhou
• Albany
• Pskov
• Gaziantep

History

The first mention of Nijmegen in history is in the first century BC, when the Romans built a military camp on the place where Nijmegen was to appear; the location had great strategic value because of the surrounding hills, which give a good view over the river Waal and Rhine valley. By 69, when the Batavi, the original inhabitants of the Rhine and Meuse (Maas) delta, revolted, a village called Oppidum Batavorum had formed near the Roman camp. This village was destroyed in the revolt, but when it had ended the Romans built another, bigger camp where the Legio X Gemina was stationed. Soon after, another village formed around this camp. In 98, Nijmegen was the first of two settlements in what is now the Kingdom of the Netherlands to receive Roman city rights. In 103, the X Gemina was restationed in Vindobona, now Vienna, which may have been a major blow to the economy of the village around the camp, losing around 5000 inhabitants. In 104 Emperor Trajan renamed the town, which became known as Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum, Noviomagus for short, the ultimate origin of the current name. A collection of artifacts from Roman antiquity were compiled by Johannes Smetius in the 17th century, called the Smetius Collection. In January 2022, archeologists led by Pepijn van de Geer announced the discovery of an intact 2,000-year-old blue glass bowl with a vertical stripe pattern in Nijmegen. Researchers assume that this well-preserved bowl was made in a glass workshop. According to van de Geer, this type of bowl was made by allowing molten glass to cool and harden over a mould. Beginning in the latter half of the 4th century, Roman power decreased and Noviomagus eventually became part of Francia. It also appeared around this time on the . In the 8th century Emperor Charlemagne…

Geography

Nijmegen has an oceanic climate (Cfb). It is one of the warmest cities of the Netherlands, especially during summer, when the highest temperatures in the country are usually measured in the triangle Roermond–Nijmegen–Eindhoven. The lack of north–south oriented mountain ranges in Europe make this area prone to sudden shifts in weather, giving the region a semi-continental climate. Some of the northernmost wineries in the world are found just outside Nijmegen, around Groesbeek, a suburban village south-east of Nijmegen. During the 2006 European heatwave, closest official weather station Volkel reached a high of on 19 July. The heat wave coincided with that year's Four Day Marches, which were cancelled after the first day, when two people died of hyperthermia-related causes. Temperatures on that day, 18 July, reached around in the city. Few Roman remains are visible today; a fragment of the old city wall can be seen near the casino and the foundations of the amphitheatre are traced in the paving of the present-day Rembrandtstraat. The Valkhof Museum, on the Valkhof, has a permanent display of the history of Nijmegen, including artifacts from the Roman era. Additionally, they usually have temporary exhibitions of more and less famous artists. During building works in the Waalsprong area, ruins from before the Roman times were found which were identified in 2022 as those of a sauna. This 3,600 year-old sauna is the first of its kind in mainland Europe. Not many very old buildings are left in town: first the Americans bombed it in February 1944, later the Germans shelled it for about five months after the liberation in September 1944, and finally there were a number of vigorous city planners in the 1950s, 60s and 70s who finished the demolition. There are still a few…

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Coot

  Fulica atra Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  44,052
• Common Buzzard

  Buteo buteo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  39,703
• Common Chiffchaff

  Phylloscopus collybita (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  38,969
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  38,086
• Gray/Purple Heron

  Ardea cinerea Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  37,073
• Great Egret

  Ardea alba Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  35,629
• Graylag Goose

  Anser anser (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  35,282
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  34,422

Most recent

• M 2.9 — 2018-05-25
  1 km S of Reppel, Belgium
• M 2.9 — 2013-01-20
  0 km WNW of Brachterbeek, Netherlands
• M 4.2 — 2011-09-08
  3 km ENE of Heijen, Netherlands
• M 4.1 — 2009-07-24
  2 km NW of Kamp-Lintfort, Germany
• M 3.2 — 2008-12-25
  6 km ESE of Rheinberg, Germany
• M 2.9 — 2008-12-23
  2 km ESE of Kamp-Lintfort, Germany