HDNG

The Historical Database of Dutch Municipalities [Historische Database Nederlandse Gemeenten] is a database that holds different historical characteristics of Dutch municipalities, such as population size, election results, industrialization, and migration. The roots of the database date back to the 1970s when prof dr E.W. Hofstee combined two collections of historical data on 1811-1850 and 1851-1880 into one database. These datasets were soon incorporated into the Historical Ecological Database (HED) by prof dr H. Knippenberg who maintained and extended the database between 1970 and 2000. The HED was rebranded as the HDNG in 2003 when all historical data was georeferenced using the Amco coding.

You can read more about this project in the book De Historische Databank Nederlandse Gemeenten (HDNG), Akskant, 2003.

Since 2020, the HDNG is being maintained by the HSNDB. The HSNDB strives to keep the database accessible to a new generation of scholars and periodically update the database, so that it meets the latest data standards. These efforts have resulted in the restoration of ‘lost’ variables, better descriptions of variable names, and removal of redundant rows. An overview of all updates is available on Github.