Urk is a municipality and a town in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. The modern day Netherlands are divided into twelve provinces (provincies in Dutch), listed below with their capital city: Map of the Netherlands, with provinces and capital cities See also the ranked list of Dutch provinces // Structure A Dutch province represents the administrative layer in between the national government and the... Flevoland is a province of the Netherlands. ... Area is a physical quantity expressing the size of a part of a surface. ... Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. ... The purpose of this page is to lay out our policies for handling sounds, and give people some useful information for handling sound files. ... A municipality or general-purpose district (compare with: special-purpose district) is an administrative local area generally composed of a clearly defined territory and commonly referring to a city, town, or village government. ... Main street in Bastrop, Texas, a small town A town is a residential community of people ranging from a few hundred to several thousands, although it may be applied loosely even to huge metropolitan areas. ... Flevoland is a province of the Netherlands. ...

Urk is first mentioned in the 10th century, when it was still an island in the Zuider Zee. In 1939, a dike from the mainland to Urk ended the town's island status. Later in the 20th century, surrounding areas were reclaimed from the sea and became the Noordoostpolder. As a means of recording the passage of time, the 10th century was that century which lasted from 901 to 1000. ... Landsat photo The Zuider Zee (pronounced , Dutch: Zuiderzee, pronounced ) was a shallow inlet of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands, extending about 100 km inland and at most 50 km wide, with an overall depth of about 4 to 5 meters and a coastline of about 300... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... A dike (or dyke) is an earthen wall, constructed as a defence or as a boundary. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... Land reclamation is either of two distinct practices. ... Noordoostpolder is a municipality in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. ...

Still a fisherman's town, Urk's inhabitants are known as being very religious (Reformed). Fishing is the activity of hunting for fish. ... The Reformed churches are a group of Protestant denominations historically related by a similar Zwinglian or Calvinist system of doctrine but organisationally independent. ...

The former island of Urk

Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ...

Geography

Around the IJsselmeer is an arc of boulder clay high areas of land, which were made in the Pleistocene: Texel, Wieringen, Urk, de Voorst, Gaasterland. To south of that arc, as a result of meltwater, a lake formed, the later Almere. North of the boulder clay highland of Urk the Vecht river flowed into the Almere. South of Urk the river IJssel with tributaries flowed in. As the climate became warmer, the sea level rose. Around 1200 the Zuiderzee formed, and the water round Urk became tidal sea. Because there was no sea defence, in the course of time large pieces of the island were eroded away. The southwest side, which rose perpendicularly out of the sea, was called het Hoge Klif = "the High Cliff". Around 1700 the municipality of Amsterdam gave sea defences to Urk. IJsselmeer seen from space The IJsselmeer (or Lake IJssel) is a shallow lake of some 1250 km² in the central Netherlands bordering the provinces of Flevoland, North Holland and Friesland, with an average depth of 5 to 6 m. ... Boulder clay in geology, is a deposit of clay, often full of boulders, which is formed in and beneath glaciers and ice-sheets wherever they are found, but is in a special sense the typical deposit of the Glacial Period in northern Europe and America. ... The Pleistocene Epoch is part of the geologic timescale. ... This article is about the Dutch island Texel. ... Satellite image of the northernmost part of the Dutch province of North Holland, showing Wieringen (bottom right) and the island of Texel (center). ... Voorst is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands. ... Almere can mean: A large lake that in early times was in the area of the southern part of the Zuiderzee, which see for more information. ... Vecht is the name of two Dutch rivers: Vecht, a Rhine branch from the city of Utrecht to the Eemmeer (Lake Eem) near the town of Muiden, sometimes called Utrechtse Vecht Vecht (German: Vechte), a river that originates in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and ends in confluence... Almere can mean: A large lake that in early times was in the area of the southern part of the Zuiderzee, which see for more information. ... Satellite image of the IJssel basin River IJssel, sometimes called Gelderse IJssel (Gelderland IJssel) to avoid confusion with its Holland counterpart, is a 120 km long branch of the Rhine in the Dutch provinces of Gelderland and Overijssel. ... Landsat photo The Zuider Zee (Dutch: Zuiderzee, pronounced ZIGH-der-zee) was a former shallow inlet of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands, extending about 100 km inland and at most 50 km wide, with an overall depth of about 4 to 5 meters and a coastline... A municipality or general-purpose district (compare with: special-purpose district) is an administrative local area generally composed of a clearly defined territory and commonly referring to a city, town, or village government. ... Amsterdam Location Flag Country Netherlands Province North Holland Population 742,951(1 January 2005) Coordinates 52°22′N 4°54′E Website www. ...

History

The oldest well-known indication of the name "Urk" is the donation certificate of 966 of Holy Roman Emperor Otto I to the Sint Pantaleonsklooster monastery in Cologne. The text reads: "cuiisdam insulae medietatem in Almere, que Urch vocatur" (Latin: "a certain island in the middle of Almere, which is called Urch").
From 1660 to 1792 Urk and Emmeloord (the most northern village of Schokland) belonged to the municipality of Amsterdam.
From then to 1950 Urk belonged to the province of Noordholland.
From then to 1986 Urk belonged to the province of Overijssel.
From then to nowadays Urk belongs to the province of Flevoland. The Holy Roman Emperor was, with some variation, the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, the predecessor of modern Germany, during its existence from the 10th century until its collapse in 1806. ... The Tikse monastery in Ladakh, India A monastery is the habitation of monks, derived from the Greek word for a hermits cell. ... Cologne Cathedral with Hohenzollern Bridge Cologne (German: (help· info) [kœln]; Kölsch: Kölle) is Germanys fourth-largest city after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Almere can mean: A large lake that in early times was in the area of the southern part of the Zuiderzee, which see for more information. ... Schokland (mun. ... A municipality or general-purpose district (compare with: special-purpose district) is an administrative local area generally composed of a clearly defined territory and commonly referring to a city, town, or village government. ... ... Flag of Overijssel Overijssel is a province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country. ... Flevoland is a province of the Netherlands. ...

After WWII, Urk town has spread into the polder, and many Urkers who had to leave because of overcrowding, have returned to Urk.
The Noordoostpolder in its early years had an alternative name "Urker Land". Combatants Allies: • Soviet Union, • UK & Commonwealth, • USA, • France/Free France, • China, • Poland, • ...and others Axis: • Germany, • Japan, • Italy, • ...and others Casualties Military dead: 18 million Civilian dead: 33 million Full list Military dead: 7 million Civilian dead: 4 million Full list World War II, also known as the Second World... Noordoostpolder is a municipality in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. ...

Economy

The important economic pillar of the village is the fishery. After the IJsselmeer was formed, the Urkers fished on the North Sea. At present Urk is a very prosperous village. The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ...

Politics

The municipality council in 2003 had 17 seats: SGP and Christian Union and CDA formed a coalition.

• SGP: 5 seats
• Christian Union: 5 seats
• CDA: 5 seats
• Union municipality interests: 2 seats

Urk has three aldermen. Each coalition party has provided one. The burgomaster, Mr. D.G. Schutte, is member of the Christian Union.

Dialect

The most remarkable and also oldest dialect of Dutch is the language which is spoken in Urk. Nearly everybody in this village speaks this dialect and uses it in daily life. The dialect deviates rather from standard Dutch and has preserved many old characteristics, which have disappeared in standard Dutch for a long time. It has elements, which are older than standard Dutch. For example, the old word for "father" in the Urkish dialect is taote. It is an old Indo-European word, which was also used in the Balkans. The dialect has become like this, because Urk up to WWII was an island and could be only reached by boat. Radio was unknown and the poor population didn't have much money for newspapers and books. Primary education for the children was only for two years; afterwards they had to help to maintain the family. The Urkish dialect has more vowels than standard Dutch. And each vowel has short and long forms with different meanings. Also the pronunciation of vowels deviates from standard Dutch and agrees much more with English. Because the living conditions were very poor, formerly girls aged 11 or 12 already had to become domestic servants, mostly in or around Amsterdam. They served there as help in the household, frequently with Jewish families. As a result the dialect has many loanwords from the Amsterdam dialect and from Yiddish. When Napoleon occupied the Netherlands, many French words were incorporated not only in standard Dutch but in Urkish as well. Just like in standard Dutch, it often changed form in Urkish. The Urkish dialect has always been a spoken language, and therefore there are not many old texts written in the dialect. Just in the last years people start to write also prose and poetry in the Urkish dialect. There are Urkers who have translated Bible books into Urkish, such as the book of Psalms. In spite of that, Urk is no longer an island and everyone by means of the media is always faced with Dutch and English, but the own dialect is still alive. It is still used by almost everyone on this former island. And the interest of the population for its own dialect is growing. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language used by people from a particular geographic area. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Indo-European is originally a linguistic term, referring to the Indo-European language family. ... The Balkans is the historic and geographic name used to describe a region of south-eastern Europe. ... Combatants Allies: • Soviet Union, • UK & Commonwealth, • USA, • France/Free France, • China, • Poland, • ...and others Axis: • Germany, • Japan, • Italy, • ...and others Casualties Military dead: 18 million Civilian dead: 33 million Full list Military dead: 7 million Civilian dead: 4 million Full list World War II, also known as the Second World... Look up book in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... A loanword (or a borrowing) is a word taken in by one language from another. ... Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ... For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation). ... The Bible (Hebrew תנ״ך tanakh, Greek η Βίβλος [hÄ“ biblos] ) (sometimes The Holy Bible, The Book, Good Book, Word of God, The Word Scripture), from Greek (τα) βίβλια, (ta) biblia, (the) books, is the classical name for the Hebrew Bible of Judaism or the combination of the Old Testament and New Testament of Christianity (The... Psalms (Tehilim תהילים, in Hebrew) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, and of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

Folktales

The most famous Urkish folktale must be the tale parents tell their children when they want to know where the little babies come from. The tale involves a big stone which lies about 30 metres from the shore of this former island. This stone is known as the Ommelebommelestien Just of the shores of the former island Urk in the Netherlands lies a big stone and there is something special about this stone. ...

Born on Urk

Albert Cornelis Baantjer (16 September 1923), writer. The term writer can apply to anyone who creates a written work, but the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ...

Urk based companies

Marble Marine Electronics Based in the Netherlands, on the former island of Urk, Marble Marine Electronics is the leading company in ship automation. ...

External links

• Official website
• Local news site

Flevoland Province
Almere | Dronten | Lelystad | Noordoostpolder | Urk | Zeewolde Flevoland is a province of the Netherlands. ... Flag of Flevoland (from Dutch Wikipedia) File links The following pages link to this file: Lelystad Dronten Noordoostpolder Almere Urk Zeewolde Template:Province Flevoland Categories: Flag images ... Almere can mean: A large lake that in early times was in the area of the southern part of the Zuiderzee, which see for more information. ... Dronten is a municipality and a town in the central Netherlands. ... Lelystad ( ▶ (help· info)) is a municipality and a city in the centre of the Netherlands, and it is the capital of the province of Flevoland. ... Noordoostpolder is a municipality in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. ... Zeewolde is a municipality and a town in the central Netherlands. ...
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