Eindhoven is a town (
200,000 inhabitants) in the
Dutch province of
Noord-Brabant.
It was settled at a crossing of the Dommel stream, gained local importance as a market town, and was granted the status of a borough (stadsrechten) in 1232.
From the 14th century, economic and social problems affected the area, culminating in the 80-year war (1568-1648) that brought the situation in Eindhoven to an acute crisis: in 1592, the remaining few hundreds of families in Eindhoven wrote a letter to the provincial government (headquarters is a better term) threatening to abandon the city unless the city tax, instated when the town was 10 times its current size, was substantially reduced.
This war and its outcome severely affected Noord-Brabant's future. It became a backwater with little economic activity, until industrialization arrived; as an area with low labour costs (i.e. dirt poor), it attracted industry. The industrial revolution and reinstatement of religious and political equality in the 19th century, those towns in Brabant that managed to attract industry started to grow very quickly. Eindhoven finally outgrew its surrounding villages, Woensel, Strijp, Gestel, Stratum, and Tongelre; they were annexed in the 1920s.
During the 20th century, the town was dominated by Philips, a light bulb manufacturer started around 1900 that blossomed into a high tech multinational company with (in the 1970s) 300,000 employees, and a strong research department (Natlab). The local high-tech industry was boosted further by engineering schools, such as Eindhoven University of Technology (opened in 1957).
Another major employer in town was car manufacturer DAF.
The Dutch economy boomed in the 1960s and 1970s, and caused labour to be cheaper elsewhere. The traditional local industry (cigars, textiles) went all but extinct; the high tech industry (Philips, DAF) went through major restructuring in the 80s and 90s, but still blossoms today; Philips itself split up into many separate companies and moved a lot of its production and research abroad. Economic activity has become much more service and knowledge oriented, and Eindhoven is one of the focal points of Europe's high-tech industry today.