Cruquius, North Holland

Cruquius is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, and lies about 4 km northwest of Hoofddorp.

In 2001, the town of Cruquius had 223 inhabitants. The built-up area of the town was 0.35 km², and contained 87 residences.Statistics Netherlands (CBS), Bevolkingskernen in Nederland 2001 . Statistics are for the continuous built-up area.Statistics Netherlands (CBS), Gemeente Op Maat 2004: Haarlemmermeer .

History

Cruquius gets its name from Nicolaas Kruik (1678–1754), a Dutch land-surveyor and one of many promoters of a plan to pump the Haarlemmermeer (Haarlem lake) dry. Like many well-educated men of his time, he latinized his name to Nicolaas Samuel Cruquius. During his lifetime the issue of the Haarlem Lake and how to pump it dry was international news, as the following excerpt from the Virginia Gazette on May 31, 1751 illustrates:

<Blockquote>"By a private letter from Rotterdam, we are told, that the Dutch Engineers, in their Plan for draining the lake of Haerlem, proposed to employ 150 mills for three Years, and had computed the Expense at a Million and Half of Florins, but that a German, who had been long employed in the Mines of Hungary and Hartz, had proposed to drain it with 50 machines, in 15 months, at a far less Expense;...
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