Four merger municipalities to be renamed Hollands Kroon

ANNA PAULOWNA - Four municipalities in the northern part of the province of North Holland will be amalgamating as of January 1, 2012. A contest with 430 participants gave the solution to the search for a name that seemed suitable for the new entity which covers a population of 47,000, 22 villages and an area of 620 square kilometers. Wieringen, Wieringermeer (a lake reclaimed in the 1930s), Anna Paulowna and Niedorp will following the merger be known as Hollands Kroon (which translates as Holland's Crown). The new municipality is part of the region commonly referred to as the Kop van Noord-Holland (which translates as The Head or Top of North Holland) and will be the second largest in the country. The latter entity includes two coastal municipalities and the marine port of Den Helder and is one already existing as one Chamber of Commerce and as a separate Tourism bureau VVV.