Aalter ( Dutch pronunciation: [ˈaːltər] ) is a municipality located between Bruges and Ghent in the Belgian province of East Flanders . The municipality comprises the towns of Aalter, Bellem , Lotenhulle [ nl ] , Poeke [ nl ] , Knesselare and Ursel [ nl ] . It is bordered on the north by Maldegem , on the east by Zomergem and Nevele , on the south by Deinze , and on the west by the province of West Flanders . The mayor is Pieter De Crem .
4-500: Effective 1 January 2019, the municipality of Knesselare was merged into Aalter. Aalter was home to 29,242 people in 2021. Aalter is located on the border of the Meetjesland with the forest of Flanders. The area was inhabited since prehistory. Artefacts have been recovered from 3,000 to 2,000 BC . The village was first mentioned in 1974 as "Villa Haleftra". The etymology is unclear. The current name started to emerge around 1700. Aalter
8-461: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Knesselare Knesselare ( Dutch pronunciation: [ˈknɛsəˌlaːrə] ) is a village and deelgemeente in the municipality of Aalter and a former municipality located in the Belgian province of East Flanders . The municipality comprised the towns of Knesselare proper and Ursel [ nl ] . The municipality's name
12-532: Is derived from the Germanic words " klisse " (herb) and " laar ", (a soggy brushwood terrain), and was first attested in 1128. Knesselare became an independent parish in 1171. It was originally a village heerlijkheid , but during the rule of Louis II, Count of Flanders (1330–1384), the area had been split into four different administrations. Until the 19th century, large parts of the municipality still contains forests and heaths. On 1 August 2015, Knesselare had
16-522: Was home to several small heerlijkheden (landed estates), some of which had motte-and-bailey castles . Between 1613 and 1623, the Ghent-Bruges Canal [ nl ] was dug, and several fortifications were built by Spanish against the Dutch. In 1838, a railway station opened and Aalter started to develop into a town which nowadays has many commuters. This East Flanders location article
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