Hamont-Achel

Hamont-Achel

Hamont-Achel

City and municipality in Flemish Community, Belgium

"Hamont" redirects here. For the Norfolk ploughwright burnt at the stake, see Matthew Hamont.

Hamont-Achel (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɦaːmɔnt ˈɑxəl]; Limburgish: Haëmet-Achel) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. It was founded in 1977 by a fusion of the city Hamont and the village Achel. On January 1, 2020, Hamont-Achel had a total population of 14.294. The total area is 43.66 km2 which gives a population density of 315 inhabitants per km2. The municipality houses the Trappist Abbey of Achel, part of which is Brouwerij de Achelse Kluis, one of the 11 Trappist breweries.

Quick Facts Country, Community ...

The professional tennis player Elise Mertens (WTA 35 - 2017) lives in Hamont-Achel.

Demographics

Languages

  • Dutch in Hamont-Achel is often spoken with a distinctive Limburgish accent, which should not be confused with the Limburgish language.
  • Limburgish (or Limburgian) is the overlapping term of the tonal dialects spoken in the Belgian and Dutch provinces of Limburg. The Hamont-Achel dialect is only one of many variants of Limburgish.[2]

Deadly explosion

Main article: fr:Catastrophe d'Hamont

On 18 November 1918, the municipality was the site of one of the worst train explosions in history, when two German munitions trains caught fire and exploded. Not only were the trains destroyed, but three German ambulance trains were also wiped out, along with most of the town. More than 1,000 individuals were killed.

Tumulus on Haarterheide

Tumulus (2000-1000 BC)

References

  1. [1]
    "Bevolking per gemeente op 1 januari (1992—2020)". Statbel. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  2. [2]
    Bernaerts, J. (1991), Hamonts-Achels dialectwoordenboek. Etymologische verkenningen in het dialect van Hamont en Achel, Hamont-Achel{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Bibliography

  • Verhoeven, Jo (2007), "The Belgian Limburg dialect of Hamont", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37 (2): 219–225, doi:10.1017/S0025100307002940
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Hamont-Achel, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.