Uitkerke is in West Flanders and is part of the coastal city of Blankenberge

Blankenberge

Blankenberge is a town and a municipality in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the town of Blankenberge proper and the settlement of Uitkerke.On 1 January 2010 Blankenberge had a total population of 18,907...

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. The two neighboring communities were officially united in the early 1970s.

History

Uitkerke, as an independent village, is more than a thousand years old. Historically, since its main occupation was agriculture, it once occupied more in territory than its neighbor, Blankenberge.

Derivation

Translated from the Flemish

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

Uitkerke means "outer church".