Nieuwkoop

Nieuwkoop is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality was enlarged on January 1, 2007, through the amalgamation of Liemeer and Ter Aar.

Before 2007, the municipality covered an area of 38.50 km² (14.86 mile²) of which 8.69 km² (3.36 mile²) is water. Its population was 11,092 in 2004.

On May 3th, 2008, the Dutch newspaper het Algemeen Dagblad published an arcticle which stated that Nieuwkoop is the safest municipality of the Netherlands.

The municipality of Nieuwkoop includes the following communities:
 * Aardam
 * Korteraar
 * Langeraar
 * Nieuwkoop
 * Nieuwveen
 * Noordeinde
 * Noorden
 * Noordsedorp
 * Papenveer
 * Ter Aar
 * Vrouwenakker
 * Woerdense Verlaat
 * Zevenhoven

History
The oldest part of Nieuwkoop are the buildings along the Nieuwkoopse Plassen (Nieuwkoop's Ponds), many of which are completely surrounded by water and accessible over individual bridges to the main road. The Nieuwkoopse Plassen are shallow lakes that were dug for peat harvesting in the 16th century and are now designated as a natural monument. New neighborhoods north-west of the main road are built after World War II.