Oost-Vlieland is a small — and the only —village on the island of Vlieland

Vlieland

Vlieland is a municipality in the northern Netherlands. The municipality of Vlieland has only one major town: Oost-Vlieland . It is the second-least densely populated municipality in the Netherlands ....

 in the province Friesland

Friesland

Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...

 of the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 and has about 1150 citizens. It is situated on the east end of the island as its name indicates: Oost means "east" in Dutch.

Oost-Vlieland is first mentioned in the sources in 1245. First mainly inhabited by poor farmers and fishermen, the settlement became wealthier in the 17th century when the Vlie

Vlie

The Vlie or Vliestroom is the seaway between the Dutch islands of Vlieland, to its southwest, and Terschelling, to its northeast. The Vlie was the estuary of the river IJssel in medieval times...

 estuary was used as moorage by the expanding Dutch trade fleets. There used to be a second village on Vlieland, West-Vlieland

West-Vlieland

West-Vlieland was a village on the island of Vlieland in the province Friesland, the Netherlands. It disappeared under the waves in 1736, with only two houses remaining. The site where the village was located is now 15 fathoms beneath sea level...

, but this was destroyed by a flood in 1736.