Groningen was created as a single-member district in 1848 and briefly became a two-member district in 1888 before being reverted to a single-member district in 1897. It was named after the city of
Groningen. In the first period, the municipalities of Groningen and
Haren were consistently part of the district, while it also contained the municipalities of
Adorp,
Hoogezand,
Hoogkerk,
Noorddijk,
Sappemeer,
Winsum and
Ten Boer at various points. As a two-member district, Groningen included the municipalities of Groningen, Haren, Hoogezand, Noorddijk, Ten Boer,
Bedum and
Slochteren. In 1897, it was reconstituted as an exclusively urban single-member district containing only the municipality of Groningen; all other municipalities were moved to the newly created district of
Hoogezand. Throughout its first iteration, Groningen's population increased slightly from 21,459 in 1848 to 23,424 in 1878. In 1888, after the district's considerable enlargement, the district had a population of 90,573. After it was reduced again to include only the municipality of Groningen, its population increased from 66,537 in 1897 to 74,613 to 1909. From 1848 to 1869, the district's religious makeup was fairly stable, with around 72–75% of the population being
Dutch Reformed, 13–15% being
Roman Catholic, 1–5% being
Gereformeerd, and another 9–11 % belonging to other denominations. From 1878 onward, the share of people identifying with the Dutch Reformed Church fell to 46% in 1909, while the share of people identifying as
Gereformeerd rose to 14%, and the "others" grouping rose to 28%, which included 17% not belonging to any denomination. The district of Groningen was abolished upon the introduction of
party-list proportional representation in 1918. ==Members==