How do we deal with our space in the countryside? That question is more topical than ever. But how did they actually do that in the past? Researcher Floor van Gils of Wageningen University and the CEPRO Foundation is studying the Colonies of Benevolence in the hope of getting closer to the answer to that question.
Drenthe, 1818. A travelogue by the Amsterdammer Petrus Ameshoff praises Drenthe. It is a province with a lot of wasteland, few buildings and a lot of heathland that can be turned into fertile soil, he notes. The land is also cheap, which makes investing easier.
Ameshoff’s report plays an important role in the plans for the Society of Benevolence that later settles in Frederiksoord, Wilhelminaoord and Veenhuizen, among others. It will be a reform that will have a major impact on the Drenthe landscape. Angelie Sens describes this in the book Droom en Weldaad, written for the 200th anniversary. “First of all, the agricultural area has been expanded, partly due to the Society of Benevolence. The population has increased, especially around the villages where the Colonies are located. In the municipalities of Vledder and Norg, for example, the population quadrupled in the period 1815-1830.”