Haarlem

a city in the netherlands, capitol of the province north holland, 20km from amsterdam.

the oldest mentioning of haarlem dates from the 10th century. the name comes from “haarlo-heim” or “harulahem”, which means ‘place, on sand covered with trees, higher than the others’.

haarlem is known to be one of the only places in holland that has trees & is higher (land level) than other munic-p-lities.

harlem, manhattan –
in 1658, peter stuyvesant, the director-general of the dutch colony of nieuw nederland (new netherland), founded the settlement of nieuw haarlem in the northern part of manhattan island as an outpost of nieuw amsterdam (new amsterdam) at the southern tip of the island.

after the english capture of new netherland in 1664, the new english colonial administration renamed both the colony and its princ-p-l city “new york,” but left the name of haarlem more or less unchanged.

the spelling changed to harlem in keeping with contemporary english usage, and the district grew (as part of the borough of manhattan) into the vibrant center of african american culture in new york city and the united states generally by the 20th century.
p1: where did you holiday?
p2: in haarlem
p1: what, you mean in manhattan?
p2: nah, haarlem in the netherlands, the real haarlem. where it all began!