Almelo is a city in eastern Netherlands, in the district of Twente, some 72 miles (116 km.) east of Amsterdam and about 8 miles (13 km.) from the German frontier.The lordship of Almelo, the territory around the present city, is first mentioned in 1157. Its lords became counts of the Holy Roman Empire in 1705. It kept, more than other lordships in Overijssel, its relative independence from its overlord, the bishop of Utrecht and the Lordship of Overijssel until the abolition of the lordship in 1795.