Zeeland

For the U.S. towns of the same name see Zeeland, Michigan and Zeeland, North Dakota respectively.

Zeeland (Zealand in English) is a province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands (hence its name, meaning "sea-land") and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. Its population is about 380,000 and its area is about 2930 km², of which almost 1140 km² is water.

Large parts of Zeeland are below sealevel. The last great flooding of the area was in 1953. Tourism is an important economic activity. Its sunny beaches make it a popular holiday destination in the summer. Most tourists are Germans. In some areas, the population quadruples in the summer.

Contents

1 Constituent parts 1.1 Municipalities 2 History 3 Transportation 4 Zeeland and New Zealand 5 See also 6 External links

Constituent parts

From north to south, it consists of

• Schouwen-Duiveland
• Tholen
• Noord-Beveland
• Walcheren, Zuid-Beveland
• Zeeuws-Vlaanderen (Zealandic Flanders)

The numbers and letters on the image indicate the following land and water features:

1. The former island of Walcheren
2. The former island of Zuid-Beveland
3. The former island of Noord-Beveland
4. The island of Tholen
5. The former island of Sint-Philipsland
6. The former island of Schouwen-Duiveland
7. Part of the former island of Goeree-Overflakkee (province of South Holland)
8. The mainland, part of the province of North Brabant
9. Part of the region of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen (Zealandic Flanders)

1. River Scheldt (in Belgium, near Antwerp)
2. The Westerschelde estuary
3. The Braakman bay (now dammed off)
4. The Ghent-Terneuzen Canal
5. The Sloe strait which once separated Walcheren from Zuid-Beveland (now the port area of Flushing)
6. The Veerse Meer (Lake Veere)
7. The Zandkreek strait
8. The Scheldt-Rhine Canal
9. The Oosterschelde estuary, once a branch of River Scheldt; in the west Neeltje-Jans
10. The Eendracht, once a branch of River Scheldt, now a section of the Scheldt-Rhine Canal
11. The Keeten-Mastgat strait
12. The Krabbenkreek strait
13. The Krammer strait
14. Lake Grevelingen
15. The North Sea

Municipalities

A list of the municipalities, with links to maps:

• Borsele
• Goes [1] (http://www.plattegronden.nl/gemeentegoes/)
• Hulst
• Kapelle [2] (http://www.plattegronden.nl/gemeentekapelle/)
• Middelburg [3] (http://www.plattegronden.nl/gemeentemiddelburg/)
• Noord-Beveland [4] (http://www.plattegronden.nl/gemeentenoordbeveland/)
• Reimerswaal [5] (http://www.plattegronden.nl/gemeentereimerswaal/)
• Schouwen-Duiveland [6] (http://www.plattegronden.nl/schouwenduiveland/)
• Sluis
• Terneuzen
• Tholen
• Veere [7] (http://www.plattegronden.nl/veere/)
• Flushing (Vlissingen) [8] (http://www.plattegronden.nl/vlissingen/)

History

Zeeland has been a contested area between the counts of Holland and Flanders until 1299, when the count of Holland gained control of the county of Zeeland. Since then, Zeeland followed the fate of Holland. In 1432 it became part of the Low Countries possessions of Philip the Good of Burgundy, the later Seventeen Provinces. Through marriage, the Seventeen Provinces became property of the Habsburgs in 1477.

In the Eighty Years' War Zeeland was on the side of the Union of Utrecht, and became one of the United Provinces. The area now called Zeeuws-Vlaanderen was not part of Zeeland, but a part of Flanders that was conquered by the United Provinces: Staats-Vlaanderen (see: Generality Lands).

After the French occupation (see Bouches-de-l'Escaut) and the formation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, the present province Zeeland was formed. The catastrophic North Sea Flood of 1953, which killed over 1,000 people in Zeeland, led to the construction of the protective Delta Works.

Transportation

There is one passenger railway, line 12, here with municipalities and official station abbreviations: Vlissingen (vs, vss) - Middelburg (mdb, arn) - Goes (gs) - Kapelle (bzl) - Reimerswaal (krg, kbd, rb) - connecting to Bergen op Zoom (bgn) (Noord-Brabant).

Bus connections (of Connexxion, except # 395) include:

• bus 133: Vlissingen - Middelburg - Vrouwenpolder - Oosterscheldedam - Renesse - Zierikzee - Grevelingendam - connecting to Oude-Tonge, Rotterdam-Zuidplein
• Interliner Express bus 395: Zierikzee - (Grevelingendam) - connecting to Rotterdam-Zuidplein
• bus 104: Renesse - Brouwersdam - connecting to Ouddorp - Spijkenisse
• bus 20 and 50: see Westerschelde.

Zeeland and New Zealand

The country of New Zealand was originally named Nieuw-Zeeland after this province by the Dutch. The country is at least one order of magnitude larger than the province and has about 10 times the population. The name "New Zealand" is only one letter away from the literal translation to English: New Sealand. The Z was possibly retained to partially preserve the Dutch pronuncation.

Note. Not to be confused with Zealand, Denmark.

See also

• Zwin

External links

(note the years, there have been changes as of January 2003!)

• Province government (http://www.zeeland.nl)
• Map, also showing municipalities: http://www.zeeland.nl/getfile.php?/zeeland/kaarten/gemeenten/zeeland2003.pdf (2003) (pdf, 570 KB)
• Basic information: http://www.sdu.nl/staatscourant/scdata/prov/zeeland.htm (2002)
• province map showing subdivision in municipalities, link for each municipality to basic data page (http://www.sdu.nl/staatscourant/gemeentes/gemprovin.htm#Z) (2002)
• Geography of Zeeland (http://www.zeeland.nl/zeeland/kort/geografie)

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