Slochteren (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈslɔxtərən]) is a village and municipality with a population of 15,546 in the province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands.The municipality can be characterized as a chain of small villages dividing a mostly agricultural landscape. Having an agricultural background for at least a thousand years, the community houses for the most part commuters to nearby towns like Hoogezand, Groningen and Delfzijl.