Groningen Netherlands (painting) by Bert Hooijer

Groningen (Gronings: Grunn, Grunnen or Stad, Frisian: Grins, [ɡre:ⁿs]?), is the capital of the Dutch province of Groningen, and the largest nucleus in the municipality of the same name. The place is referred to as City in the provinces of Groningen and Drenthe. In 2021, the city of Groningen had a population of 202,900. It is the largest city in the northern Netherlands. Groningen is part of the Groningen-Assen Region partnership. No written city rights are known about Groningen. Due to its relatively isolated location in relation to successive actual power centres (Utrecht, The Hague, and Brussels), the city historically depended mainly on itself and its immediate surroundings. As a Hanseatic city, Groningen was part of the North German trade network, but it later became mainly a regional market centre. After this, Groningen gradually developed into an influential centre of power. During the 15th century, at the height of its power, the city could actually be considered a city-state. Since the Republic, Groningen nominally belonged to the Netherlands, but until the French era, Groningen actually remained an autonomous city, lord of most of the province. After the French era, the city lost its dominant position in the province, and Groningen developed from a municipality of 23,000 inhabitants in 1795 to a municipality of around 100,000 inhabitants in 1930. There was fighting in Groningen at the end of World War II, and much of the city centre went up in flames during the liberation in 1945. Today, Groningen is a city of varied commerce and industry. Groningen is also a student city with over 60,000 students, nearly 35,000 of whom live in the city (2018).