Vaassen is situated between Apeldoorn and Zwolle, on the eastern edge of the Veluwe in the province of Gelderland.

They inhabited wooden huts and lived from agriculture, livestock, cultivation of herbs, and hunting deer and boar.

The town was mentioned for the first time in a certificate from the Codex Laureshamnensis of the monastery of Lorschin in the year 891 or 892, when someone called Brunhilde gave a farmhouse and the church to Lorsch.

On 14 October 1976, friction with the government regarding housing led to the evacuation of the Moluccans from this dwelling place.

Vaassen's most remarkable historical building is the 16th century Cannenburgh Castle, once home to the knight Maarten van Rossum.