gemeente (municipality), northeastern Netherlands, at the northeastern end of the Drentsche Hoofd (also called Smilder) Canal. Founded in 1257 around a small convent, it was not chartered until 1807, when King Louis Bonaparte (Bonaparte, Louis) made it the provincial capital. An agricultural and dairy centre, it also has some light industry. It is a rail junction, and Eelde airport is 10 miles (16 km) north. The 13th-century Cistercian convent church remains and houses a museum of antiquities; in the vicinity of Assen are prehistoric stone monuments (hunebedden). Pop. (2007 est.) 64,391.