--- Haarlem is a city and municipality in the Netherlands and the capital of the province of North Holland. The city is located on the river Spaarne and in the Zuid-Kennemerland region.
--- Haarlem is one of the medium-sized cities in the Randstad. The municipality of Haarlem includes the city of Haarlem and the western part of the village of Spaarndam. Haarlem has 162,914 inhabitants,
--- making it the largest city in North Holland after Amsterdam and the thirteenth largest municipality in the Netherlands. The metropolitan agglomeration of Haarlem (Haarlem, Heemstede, Bloemendaal and Zandvoort)
--- has approximately 230,000 inhabitants,and the urban district of Haarlem (Zuid-Kennemerland and IJmond) has more than 380,000 inhabitants. Haarlem is first mentioned in a document from the 10th century.
--- In 1245 it received city rights from William II of Holland. At the end of the Middle Ages, Haarlem had become one of the most important cities in Holland. In the Early Modern Period, the city
--- developed industrially as a textile city and culturally as a painter's city.