ZWOLLE, a fortified town of Holland, capital of the province of Overyssel, 55 miles by rail to the north-east of Utrecht, stands on the Zwarte Water, a right-hand tributary of the Yssel, a little above its junction with that river. On the side of the town next the railway station is the Sassen-poort, an old Gothic gateway of brick; but the town has few other historical monuments of interest. The large Gothic church of St Michael in the market place, begun in 1406, contains a fine organ and a richly carved pulpit.

The town has a considerable trade by water, and among its more important industries are shipbuilding, cotton manufacture, dyeing and bleaching, tanning, rope-making, and salt-making. The population in 1887 was 25,005.

Zwolle was first fortified in 1223 by the bishop of Utrecht. It afterwards became a free imperial city and a member of the Hanseatic League, and first joined the United Provinces in 1580. Three miles from the town on a gentle eminence stands the monastery of the Agnetenberg, where Thomas a Kempis lived for the greater part of his life. Terburg the painter was a native of Zwolle.