Noordoostpolder
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Noordoostpolder is a municipality in the central Netherlands.
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Population centres
Bant, Creil, Emmeloord, Ens, Espel, Kraggenburg, Luttelgeest, Marknesse, Nagele, Rutten, Schokland and Tollebeek.
The former island of Urk, in the southwest, now surrounded by the Noordoostpolder, is a separate municipality.
Emmeloord
At the heart of the Noordoostpolder, where the three main drainage canals intersect, is the town of Emmeloord (1943). Planned from the outset to be the first and the only major town of the polder, it serves as the local governmental and services centre. Ten smaller villages, conceived more as agricultural communities, were planned in a wide circle around Emmeloord, with the distances between them determined so as to be easily reachable by bicycle. The first settlements were Ens, Marknesse and Kraggenburg (1949), followed by Bant (1951), then Creil and Rutten (1953), and finally Espel, Tollebeek and Nagele (1956). From Emmeloord three canals take their water to three pumping stations, the Buma near Lemmer, the Smeenge at Vollenhove and finally the Vissering in Urk. The first two are electrically powered (though connected to different power-plants), the latter one has diesel-engines doing the pumping. Like all pumping stations of the Zuiderzee Works they too were named after individuals who had at some point made a significant contribution to the project.
The town was named after an abandoned village on the island of Schokland (see below).
For history see Zuiderzee Works.
Schokland
Schokland used to be an island in the Zuiderzee. Schokland lost its status as an island when the Noordoostpolder was reclaimed from the sea in 1942. The remains are still visible as a slightly elevated part in the polder and by the still partly intact retaining wall of the waterfront of 'Middelbuurt'.
As a result from the increasing sea-level Schokland transformed from an attractive settlement area in the Middle Ages to a place under continuous threat by floods in the 19th century. By that time the Schoklanders had retreated to the three most elevated parts Emmeloord, Molenbuurt en Middelbuurt. A major flood in 1825 brought massive destruction and in 1859 the government decided to end permanent settlement on Schokland.
Today Schokland is a popular archeological site and host to the Schokland Museum, it was also the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in The Netherlands.
External links
- Official Website (http://www.noordoostpolder.nl)
- Schokland (http://www.schokland.nl)
- Detailed Falkplan map (http://www.ifalk.nl/noordoostpolder072effwd)
- Statistics in Dutch (http://www.cbs.nl/nl/publicaties/publicaties/nederland-regionaal/gom/2002/pdf/n/Noordoostpolder.pdf) (pdf) - with (towards the end) a map showing the neighborhoods and (a few pages further) the population figures etc. as well as the grouping into quarters
Template:Province Flevolandde:Noordoostpolder fy:Noardeastpolder id:Noordoostpolder nl:Noordoostpolder