About the town » Valkenswaard, Gemeente Valkenswaard, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands

• Bevolkingsregister 50.263
• DTB Dopen 44.505
• BS Overlijden 35.694
• Bidprentjesverzameling 30.219
• BS Huwelijk 24.793
• BS Geboorte 21.573
• DTB Begraven 15.044
• DTB Trouwen 6.972
• Notariële archieven 4.616
• DTB Lidmaten 93

Valkenswaard is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant. The municipality had 30,671 citizens (as of February 1, 2012) and spans an area of 56,50 square kilometers (1,15 of which is water). The name Valkenswaard stems from its history of falconers, who caught wild falcons there; valk is Dutch for "falcon". It lay on a route where falcons migrated south each year. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, Valkenswaardian falconers were active at many European courts, in which falconing was a beloved pastime. In the 19th and 20th century, a number of large cigar factories were founded in Valkenswaard, the two most renowned of which being Willem II and Hofnar. Valkenswaard's falcon-catching area has now been built over and falcons are no longer caught there.