Westland ( ) is a municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It covers an area of 90.59 km² (of which 10.69 km² is covered by water) and had a population of 97,270 in 2004.

Towns and other settlements: De Lier, 's-Gravenzande, Monster, Naaldwijk, Wateringen, Heenweg, Honselersdijk, Kwintsheul, Maasdijk, Poeldijk, and Ter Heijde.

History

Westland was created on 1 January 2004 by a merger of the municipalities De Lier, 's-Gravenzande, Monster, Naaldwijk and Wateringen. These are also the names of five of the settlement. The others are Heenweg, Honselersdijk, Kwintsheul, Maasdijk, Poeldijk, and Ter Heijde. Westland itself is not the name of a settlement or town, but rather of the region. The City hall is located in the middle of Westland, in Naaldwijk, the second largest settlement in Westland.

The town of Honselersdijk also possesses the largest Flower Auction, FloraHolland, which also has a location in Rijnsburg. This is a very important sector of the Westland economy. Flowers produced in Westland are sold all over the world.

Coastal towns are Ter Heijde (near Monster), Monster itself and 's-Gravenzande. These towns are popular with Germans and people from the Eastern Netherlands. It is not unknown for every holiday campsite to be fully booked with tourists. This is because of their relative proximity to the more popular Scheveningen

Wider area

In a wider sense, Westland is also the name of the region south-west of the line The Hague - Delft - Rotterdam , approximately consisting of the municipalities Westland and Midden-Delfland, as well as Hoek van Holland (municipality of Rotterdam).

Westland is most known for its horticulture in greenhouses, growing flowers and vegetables.

External links

• Law on merger, in Dutch, with map
• Map of municipality Westland