Hoorn,

Hoorn, a decaying town and seaport of North Holland, on a bay of the Zuider Zee, 27 miles NNE. of Amsterdam by rail. In the 17th century it had 20,000 inhabitants, and still it is full of antique carved houses; but, like the other 'dead cities of the Zuider Zee,' it has greatly fallen off in prosperity. There is still, however, a trade in butter and cheese. Here the large nets for herring-fishing were invented. Pop. 11,311.