Hallig
Encyclopedia
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...
islands without protective dikes in the North Frisian Islands
North Frisian Islands
The North Frisian Islands are a group of islands in the Wadden Sea, a part of the North Sea, off the western coast of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The German islands are in the traditional region of North Frisia and are part of the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park and the Kreis of...
on 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...
's Wadden Sea
Wadden Sea
The Wadden Sea is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of Frisian Islands, forming a shallow body of water with tidal flats and wetlands. It is rich in biological diversity...
-North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
coast 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...
.
The name comes from a Celtic
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...
word hal, meaning “salt”, a reference to the low-lying land in the region which is often flooded over with saltwater
Seawater
Seawater is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% . This means that every kilogram of seawater has approximately of dissolved salts . The average density of seawater at the ocean surface is 1.025 g/ml...
by the tide
Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....
s. A greater number of Halligen existed in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
than in the 21st century. The very existence of the Halligen is a result of frequent floods and poor coastal protection. The floods were much more common in the Middle Ages and coastal protection was much poorer. A look at the maps on this page will demonstrate that this part of the North Sea coast is very much at the sea's mercy.
The Halligen have areas ranging from 7 to 956 ha, and are often former parts of the mainland
Mainland
Mainland is a name given to a large landmass in a region , or to the largest of a group of islands in an archipelago. Sometimes its residents are called "Mainlanders"...
, separated therefrom by storm tide
Storm tide
A storm tide is a tide with a high flood period caused by a storm. Storm tides can be a severe danger to the coast and the people living along the coast. The water level can rise to more than 5 meters above the normal tide....
erosion
Erosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
. Some are also parts of once much bigger islands sundered by the same forces. Sometimes, owing to sediment deposition, islands have actually grown together to form larger ones. Langeneß
Langeneß
Langeneß is a municipality in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It consists of the halligen Langeneß and Oland. Before the flood of 1634 the two islands were directly attached....
(or Langeness) includes a former island by that same name, and two others that were called Nordmarsch and Butwehl.
Dwellings and commercial buildings are built upon metre-high man-made hills, called Warften in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, to guard against storm tides. Some Halligen also have overflow dikes.
Not very many people live on the Halligen. Their livelihoods are mainly based on tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
, coastal protection, and agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
. This last activity mainly involves raising cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
in the fertile, often flooded, salt meadows.
The Halligen are to be found in the Schleswig-Holsteinisches Wattenmeer National Park
Wadden Sea National Parks
The Wadden Sea National Parks, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are located along the German coast of the North Sea. Named after the Wadden Sea, they consist of three national parks:...
. The commercially developed Halligen Nordstrandischmoor, Gröde, Oland, Langeneß, and Hooge are surrounded by the protected area, but not an integral part of it. The smaller Halligen Habel
Hallig Habel
The Hallig Habel is the smallest Hallig in the German Wadden Sea, and is a bird sanctuary. Length 350 metres, width 100 metres....
, Südfall, Süderoog, and Norderoog as well as the Hamburger Hallig are parts of the national park. Walks on the tidal flats
Mudflat
Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats, are coastal wetlands that form when mud is deposited by tides or rivers. They are found in sheltered areas such as bays, bayous, lagoons, and estuaries. Mudflats may be viewed geologically as exposed layers of bay mud, resulting from deposition of...
and informational meetings are offered by tourist boards and the park administration.
In the west the German Halligen are protected from the open sea by the North Frisian Barrier Island
North Frisian Barrier Island
North Frisian Barrier Island is a collective term for three drying sand banks due west of the German mudflat islands Halligen. The banks from north to south are...
.
The island of Mandø
Mandø
Mandø is one of the Danish Wadden Sea islands off the southwest coast of Jutland, Denmark in the Wadden Sea, part of the North Sea. The island covers an area of 7.63 km² and has 62 inhabitants...
in the Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
part of the archipelago
Archipelago
An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...
is also technically one of the Halligen, although it is far away from the other ten, which are quite near each other. Mandø can be reached from the mainland over the mudflat
Mudflat
Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats, are coastal wetlands that form when mud is deposited by tides or rivers. They are found in sheltered areas such as bays, bayous, lagoons, and estuaries. Mudflats may be viewed geologically as exposed layers of bay mud, resulting from deposition of...
s at low tide, when a tidal pathway (ebbevej in Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
, meaning "ebb-way") is above water.
List of Halligen
Currently, there are 10 Halligen in Germany. The following list does not include formerly existing Halligen that have either vanished or merged with current Halligen or the mainland:- LangeneßLangeneßLangeneß is a municipality in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It consists of the halligen Langeneß and Oland. Before the flood of 1634 the two islands were directly attached....
– 956 ha, 16 WarftenArtificial dwelling hillAn artificial dwelling hill is a mound, created to provide safe ground during high tide and river floods....
, about 110 inhabitants. narrow gauge railway connection to Oland (over causewayCausewayIn modern usage, a causeway is a road or railway elevated, usually across a broad body of water or wetland.- Etymology :When first used, the word appeared in a form such as “causey way” making clear its derivation from the earlier form “causey”. This word seems to have come from the same source by...
). - Hooge – 574 ha, 10 Warften, about 120 inhabitants.
- GrödeGrödeGröde is a municipality in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. With only ten inhabitants, the municipality, which is coterminous with the hallig it is situated on, has the third-smallest population of any municipality in Germany. The inhabitants of the island make a...
– 277 ha, 2 Warften, 17 inhabitants. - NordstrandischmoorNordstrandischmoorNordstrandischmoor is a Hallig off the North Frisian coast in Germany and lies within the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park.- Geography :...
; 175 ha, 4 Warften, 18 inhabitants. One-room schoolOne-room schoolOne-room schools were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In most rural and small town schools, all of the students met in a single room...
house. Narrow gauge railway connection to mainland. - OlandOland (German island)Oland is a small hallig which is connected by a narrow gauge railway to the mainland and to hallig Langeneß.Germany's smallest lighthouse is located here, being also the only one with a thatched roof....
– 96 ha, 1 Warft, about 30 inhabitants. Narrow gauge railway connection to mainland and Langeneß. - SüderoogSüderoogSüderoog is one of the Halligen, a group of islands in the North Frisian Wadden Sea, off the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein in north Germany. It belongs administratively to the parish of Pellworm and is a bird reserve....
– 60 ha, 1 Warft, 2 inhabitants. - Südfall – 50 ha, 1 Warft, bird sanctuary.
- Hamburger Hallig – 50 ha, 2 Warften, uninhabited, inn occupied in summer, joined to the mainland by a 4 km-long causeway and a polderPolderA polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes, that forms an artificial hydrological entity, meaning it has no connection with outside water other than through manually-operated devices...
. - NorderoogNorderoogNorderoog is one of the ten German halligen islands of the North Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, which is part of the North Sea off the coast of Germany. It is only temporalily inhabited by a bird warden from March to October. The refuge hut at the northeastern end is called Jens Wand Hütte,...
– 9 ha, no Warften, bird sanctuary tended year-round. - HabelHallig HabelThe Hallig Habel is the smallest Hallig in the German Wadden Sea, and is a bird sanctuary. Length 350 metres, width 100 metres....
– 3.6 ha, 1 Warft, uninhabited, bird sanctuary occupied in summer.
On the Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
side, three Halligen are to be noted, current or past:
- MandøMandøMandø is one of the Danish Wadden Sea islands off the southwest coast of Jutland, Denmark in the Wadden Sea, part of the North Sea. The island covers an area of 7.63 km² and has 62 inhabitants...
(aforementioned) - LangliLangliLangli is a small marsh island in the Ho Bugt near Esbjerg on the Danish North Sea Coast.It is 0.8 km long and is accessible from Ho over a 3 km long causeway at low tide. Langli was up to the flood of 1634 part of a peninsula...
- JordsandJordsandJordsand was a small Danish hallig located in the Wadden Sea southeast of the Danish island Rømø and east of the German island Sylt. The island was first known by the name Hiortsand and was possibly connected to both the mainland and the island of Sylt...
(disappeared, only a sandbank is left)
See also
- UthlandeUthlandeUthlande, Utlande is a term for the islands halligen and marshes off the mainland of North Frisia in modern Nordfriesland district, Germany.- History :...
- List of islands of Germany
- List of islands of Denmark
- Tidal islandTidal islandA tidal island is a piece of land that is connected to the mainland by a natural or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide. Because of the mystique surrounding tidal islands many of them have been sites of religious worship, such as Mont Saint Michel with its...