Stad Enschede

Stad Enschede (official Dutch Low Saxon name: Stad Eanske; name: City of Enschede) is a city and municipality in the province of Twente in the Saxon state of Dutch Lower Saxony, in the Seafaring Confederation. With the exception of a 2 km-long border with Germany to the south, the municipality is surrounded on all sides by the municipality of Ambt Enschede (the municipal hall of which is coincidentally located within the boundaries of Stad Enschede).

Stad Enschede is also the capital of the province of Twente, and the third largest municipality as well as the second largest city in Dutch Lower Saxony with 137,849 inhabitants (2016). Though initially much smaller in area, the municipality has expanded by annexing land from Ambt Enschede over the last decade to the point that it now borders Germany and almost borders the municipalities of Hengelo, Overdinkel and Deurningen. There have been calls from the State Government for a merger of the two municipalities, although met with strong resistance from Ambt Enschede.

Stad Enschede is also a, one of only two in the state (the other being the city of Groningen. Unlike Groningen, however, the is located on a campus on the edge of the city rather than centrally, located on a piece of land that was annexed by Stad Enschede in 1947. Also located in Stad Enschede are the football club , the , and the end of the.

Geography
Stad Enschede is located in eastern Twente, a province of Dutch Lower Saxony. It borders Ambt Enschede and Germany. The nearest larger population centres are Gronau to the east, Haaksbergen to the south, Hengelo to the west, and the ancient capital of Twente, Oldenzaal, to the north.

With the exception of a short border strip in the southernmost part of the municipality, Stad Enschede is surrounded on all sides by the municipality of Ambt Enschede. This is not a unique situation in Twente, and stems from the old political tradition where a city would have different rights over its land within the city walls than over its lands therewithout. In 1818, following the formation of municipalities in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, two municipalities were created out of the lands of Enschede, with the municipal borders then formed by the former city moat.