Hook of Holland (Dutch: Hoek van Holland, - literally "Corner of Holland"), also known as the Hook (De Hoek), is a town in the western Netherlands. It is situated on the North Sea coast, on the north bank of the Nieuwe Waterweg ship canal. The town is administered by the municipality of Rotterdam as a district of that city. Its district covers an area of 16.7 km2 (of which 13.92 km2 is land). On 1 January 1999 it had an estimated population of 9,400.
Nearby towns include Monster, 's-Gravenzande, Naaldwijk and Delft to the northeast and Maassluis to the southeast. On the other side of the river is the Europoort and the Maasvlakte. The wide sandy beach, one section of which is designated for use by naturists, runs for approximately 18 kilometres to Scheveningen and for most of this distance is backed by extensive sand dunes through which there are foot and cycle paths.
On the north side of the Nieuwe Waterweg, to the west of the town, is a pier part of which is accessible to pedestrians and cyclists.
The Berghaven is a small harbour on the Nieuwe Waterweg where the Rotterdam and Europort pilots are based. This small harbour is only for the use of the pilot service, government vessels and the Hoek van Holland lifeboat.
During World War II this was one of the most important places for the Germans to hold because of the harbour.
Famous quotes containing the words hook and/or holland:
“... with her shoulders as bare as a building,
with her thin foot and her thin toes,
with an old red hook in her mouth,
the mouth that kept bleeding
into the terrible fields of her soul . . .”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“The tragedy of Northern Ireland is that it is now a society in which the dead console the living.”
—Jack Holland (b. 1947)