The Kingdom of the Netherlands, also known as Holland, has been densely populated from medieval times with the largest part of the population living in cities. Amongst these are many well-preserved gems like the university town of Leiden, where Rembrandt van Rijn was borne, Haarlem, the city of Frans Hals, the cheese town Alkmaar in the north, the Hansa town of Deventer in the east, the astute university city of Groningen in the north and Maastricht, the capital of the province of Limburg.