Den helder

The community of Den Helder includes the villages of Den Helder, Huisdoynen and Julianadorp, as well as the Friese-Bürth and De Coy farms. The city of Den Helder itself is divided into Old Den Helder, New Den Helder (built in the 1950s) and De Schoten (built in the 1960s).

Historically, the main settlement of the community was Hössdeinen, and Helder was only a small neighboring farm. However, Helder's strategic position at the northern tip of the North Dutch peninsula led to the construction of a large number of fortifications here, at the entrance to Zuiderz . One version of the origin of the name "Helder" just takes him from this fortified zone, which formed the "hellish door" ("Helledore") into the internal waters. In the Golden Age of Holland, all ships had to pass Helder before setting sail for the ocean.

Since the end of the 18th century, Den Helder has been a naval base. In the 1820s, the North Holland Canal was dug from Amsterdam to Den Helder. Since 1947, Den Helder has officially been the main base of the Royal Navy of the Netherlands .

• Edward W. Bock (1863), American publicist of Dutch descent, Pulitzer Prize winner
• Anton Peak (1895), artist and graphic artist
• Gerard Hooft (1946), physicist, 1999 winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize
• Edith Bos (1980), Judo World Champion, silver medalist at the 2004 Judo Summer Olympics

• The capture of the Dutch fleet at Den Helder

• Fort Kakedane