Borgsum is a municipality on the island of Föhr

Föhr

Föhr is one of the North Frisian Islands on the German coast of the North Sea. It is part of the Nordfriesland district in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. Föhr is the second-largest North Sea island of Germany....

 in the district of Nordfriesland

Nordfriesland

Nordfriesland, English "Northern Friesland" or "North Frisia", is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It includes almost all of traditional North Frisia along with adjacent areas to the east and south and is bounded by the districts of Schleswig-Flensburg and Dithmarschen, the North Sea and...

, in Schleswig-Holstein

Schleswig-Holstein

Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

History

The name means "Settlement at the castle". Said castle is the Lembecksburg, in fact a medieval ring wall with a diameter of 95 meters and a height of ten meters which had been constructed in the 9th century as a stronghold against the Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

s. It is named after the knight Klaus Lembeck who had allegedly been residing there as a steward of king Valdemar IV of Denmark

Valdemar IV of Denmark

Valdemar IV of Denmark or Waldemar ; , was King of Denmark from 1340 to 1375.-Ascension to the throne:...

. After breaking his feudal oath, though, Lembeck is said to have been sieged by the king's host. Other sources claim, however, that Lembeck never set foot on the island.

In 1991 a wind mill was erected in place of an older, dilapidated mill. Today, Borgsum counts about 350 inhabitants.

Politics

Since the communal elections of 2008, the BWG constituents' association holds six of nine seats in the municipality council. Another seat is held by the ABB. The ninth seat is vacant, no major German parties are represented in the council.

Economy

Borgsum is dominated by agriculture and tourism. Additionally, there are a few crafts businesses.

External links

• Borgsum