Understand
Geleen is a city in the southern part of the province of Limburg in the Netherlands. With over 30,000 inhabitants, it is part of the municipality of Sittard-Geleen. Until the end of the 19th century, Geleen was a small village. The remains of one of the oldest prehistoric farms in the Netherlands were found here. In the 20th century the exploitation of coal mines in this area brought a fast population increase. During the 1960s and 1970s all Dutch coalmines, that were all located in this part of this province, were closed. The State mining company DSM privatised in 1989 however remained active in Geleen, now purely as a chemicals producer.
