Uden () is a municipality and a town in the province of Noord-Brabant, Netherlands.

History

Uden was hardly affected by the Eighty Years' War and gained religious freedom in 1631. A result of this was the establishment in the municipality of the Crosiers, who fled from Protestant Dutch oppression in 's-Hertogenbosch in 1638. After the peace of Munster in 1648, Uden remained outside the Dutch republic and was a haven of religious tolerance and Catholics from the nearby villages of Veghel, Nistelrode and Erp were able to build churches at the municipality’s boundaries. The period of 1648-1795 saw an increase in prosperity due to the weekly markets, however, the village was almost destroyed by a fire in 1746. The Dutch folk-hero Kobus van der Schlossen was locally active at this time.

In 1795 Uden was taken by French troops and incorporated into the Dutch republic and has been a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands since 1810. From then on Uden’s wealth diminished mainly due to competition from the neighbouring Brabant villages, resulting in emigration to Wisconsin and other parts of the United States.

On 12 June 1840, a meteorite weighing approximately 720 grams fell into a field just outside Uden. It narrowly missed a group of labourers digging for peat nearby.

In 1855 the village of Volkel founded its own parish.

The Dominican missionary, Father Theodore Van de Broek led a group in 1848 from Uden to Little Chute, Wisconsin, beginning a pattern of immigration to northeast Wisconsin that would last until the early twentieth century. The village began to specialise in the growth of cherries from 1860 onwards and in 1886 the old Petrus-church was demolished by fire and replaced by a new larger one.

During World War I (in which the Netherlands stayed neutral) North Brabant was inundated by Belgian refugees. A refugee camp was erected at Vluchtoord in Uden, which housed several thousand Flemish refugees until 1918.

In the 1920s people started to cultivate the massive heathlands in the eastern part of the municipality, called "De Peel". In 1922 a new village was built, called Terraveen and later renamed Odiliapeel.

Uden was visited by Wilhelmina, queen of the Netherlands after it had been struck by a cyclone in 1925 which caused much devastation.

Since the 1950s Uden has become a centre of development, providing much needed economic growth. Uden has now become a regional centre. Due to the growth, very little is left of the old village character.

Shortly after the assassination of Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam, an Islamic school in Uden 'Bedir' was burnt down. Since that incident Uden's residents have taken up the task of investigating and re-evaluating the local education system during and out of school hours.

Population centres

Places of interest

People from Uden

Relationships with other towns

See also

References

External links

Category:Cities in the Netherlands Category:Municipalities of North Brabant Category:Populated places in North Brabant

External links

Category:1972 births Category:Living people Category:People from Middelfart Municipality Category:Danish Eurovision Song Contest entrants Category:Danish female singers Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1990