Urk - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Urk is a municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

and a town

Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

in the Flevoland

Flevoland

Flevoland is a province of the Netherlands. Located in the centre of the country, at the location of the former Zuiderzee, the province was established on January 1, 1986; the twelfth province of the country, with Lelystad as its capital...

province in the central 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...

.

Urk is first mentioned in historical records dating to the 10th century, when it was still an island in the Almere, a lake that would become part of the Zuiderzee in the 13th century after a series of incursions by the 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...

. In 1939, a dike from the mainland to Urk ended the town's island status, just as the Afsluitdijk

Afsluitdijk

The Afsluitdijk is a major causeway in the Netherlands, constructed between 1927 and 1933 and running from Den Oever on Wieringen in North Holland province, to the village of Zurich in Friesland province, over a length of and a width of 90 m, at an initial height of 7.25 m above sea-level.It is...

project was changing the salt water Zuiderzee surrounding Urk to the less saline IJsselmeer

IJsselmeer

IJsselmeer is a shallow artificial lake of 1100 km² in the central Netherlands bordering the provinces of Flevoland, North Holland and Friesland, with an average depth of 5 to 6 m. The Ĳsselmeer is the largest lake in Western Europe....

. Later in the 20th century, seabed areas surrounding Urk were reclaimed

Land reclamation

Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, is the process to create new land from sea or riverbeds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or landfill.- Habitation :...

from the sea and became the Noordoostpolder

Noordoostpolder

Noordoostpolder is a municipality in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. Formerly, it was also called Urker Land. Emmeloord is the administrative center, located in the heart of the Noordoostpolder. The municipality has the largest land area in the Netherlands...

.

The mainstay of the town's economy has always been fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

, and the products of the sea coming in through Urk's harbor continue to be exported widely, although today Urk's fishing boats must travel greater distances to gather them than was required in most historical periods. Religious life has also traditionally been very important to Urk's inhabitants, with active, conservative congregations of the Dutch Reformed

Reformed churches

The Reformed churches are a group of Protestant denominations characterized by Calvinist doctrines. They are descended from the Swiss Reformation inaugurated by Huldrych Zwingli but developed more coherently by Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger and especially John Calvin...

denominations playing key roles in the life of the community.

Geography

Around the IJsselmeer

IJsselmeer

is an arc of boulder clay

Boulder clay

Boulder clay, in geology, is a deposit of clay, often full of boulders, which is formed in and beneath glaciers and ice-sheets wherever they are found, but is in a special sense the typical deposit of the Glacial Period in northern Europe and North America...

high areas of land, which formed during the Ice Age

Ice age

An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...

glaciations of the Pleistocene

Pleistocene

The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....

epoch: Texel

Texel

Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark...

, Wieringen

Wieringen

Wieringen is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It consists of a former island, also named Wieringen, and there are plans to make Wieringen an island again by widening the Amsteldiepkanaal into a lake called the Wieringerrandmeer.-Population centres :The...

, Urk, de Voorst

Voorst

Voorst is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands.- Population centres :* Appen * Bussloo...

, and Gaasterland. To south of that arc, as a result of meltwater, a lake formed, which became known as Almere. North of the boulder clay highland of Urk, the Vecht

Vecht (Utrecht)

river flowed into the Almere, while the river IJssel

IJssel

River IJssel , sometimes called Gelderse IJssel to avoid confusion with its Hollandse IJssel namesake in the west of the Netherlands, is a branch of the Rhine in the Dutch provinces of Gelderland and Overijssel...

with tributaries flowed in to the south of Urk. As the climate became warmer during the Middle Ages, the sea level rose; and since the Ice Age ended the Netherlands and around have been slowly steadily sinking because of forebulge

Forebulge

In geology, a forebulge is a flexural bulge in front of a load on the lithosphere. This load causes the lithosphere to flex by depressing the plate beneath it. Because of the flexural rigidity of the lithosphere, the area around the load is uplifted by a height that is 4% of that of the depression...

effect. During the 13th century (and especially after a large storm in 1282) the Zuiderzee formed, and the water round Urk suddenly became tidal sea. Because there was no sea defence, in the course of time large pieces of the island were eroded away. The southwest side of Urk, which rose perpendicularly out of the sea, was called het Hoge Klif ("the High Cliff"). Around 1700 the municipality

Municipality

of Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

gave sea defences to Urk.

History / Lordship of Urk en Emmeloord

The oldest instance of the name "Urk" is a donation certificate of 966 from Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor

The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...

Otto I to the Sint Pantaleonsklooster monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

in Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

. The text reads: "cuiisdam insulae medietatem in Almere, que Urch vocatur" (Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

: "of a certain island in the middle of Almere, which is called Urch").

Until 1475 the High and Low Lordship of Urk and Emmeloord (the most northern village of Schokland

Schokland

Schokland is a former island in the Dutch Zuiderzee. Schokland lost its status as an island when the Noordoostpolder was reclaimed from the sea in 1942...

) was in the hands of the Van Kuinre family.

From 1475 to 1614, the Zoudenbalch

Zoudenbalch

The Zoudenbalch family was one of the most prominent families of Utrecht throughout the Middle Ages to the age of the Dutch Revolt. They occupied all posts of importance in the city government, possessed various lordships in the vicinity and played a leading role in the history of the Sticht...

family of Utrecht

Utrecht

Utrecht is a city in the Netherlands.The name may also refer to:* Utrecht , of which Utrecht is the capital* Utrecht , including the city of Utrecht* Bishopric of Utrecht* Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht...

were Lords of Urk and Emmeloord.

From 1614 to 1660, Urk and Emmeloord were ruled by Jonkheer

Jonkheer

Jonkheer is a Dutch honorific of nobility.-Honorific of nobility:"Jonkheer" or "Jonkvrouw" is literally translated as "young lord" or "young lady". In medieval times such a person was a young and unmarried son or daughter of a high ranking knight or nobleman...

van der Werve

House of van de Werve

Van de Werve is a family and is one of the oldest noble family from Antwerp that is still in existence.-Notable members:* Charles-Henri van de Werve , Lord of Schilde* Charles-Philippe van de Werve , count of Vorselaar...

. (from an important family of Antwerp.)

From 1660 to 1792 Urk and Emmeloord belonged to the municipality

Municipality

of Amsterdam, and ruled from 1660 to 1672/1678 by Andries de Graeff

Andries de Graeff

Free Imperial Knight Andries de Graeff was a very powerful member of the Amsterdam branch of the De Graeff - family during the Dutch Golden Age. He became a mayor of Amsterdam and a powerful Amsterdam regent after the death of his older brother Cornelis de Graeff...

.

From 1792 to 1950 Urk belonged to the province of Noordholland.

From 1950 to 1986 Urk belonged to the province of Overijssel

Overijssel

Overijssel is a province of the Netherlands in the central eastern part of the country. The region has a NUTS classification of NL21. The province's name means "Lands across river IJssel". The capital city of Overijssel is Zwolle and the largest city is Enschede...

.

Since 1986, Urk has belonged to the province of Flevoland

Flevoland

.

After WWII

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Urk's town spread into the polder. Many Urkers who had to leave the town because of overcrowding before the polder reclamation was completed were able to return to Urk.

The Noordoostpolder

Noordoostpolder

in its early years had an alternative name "Urker Land," from which Urk's newspaper, Het Urkerland, gets its name.

Economy

The important economic pillar of the village is the fishery. After the IJsselmeer was formed, the Urkers fished on the North Sea

North Sea

. Due to rising prices of fish, at present Urk is a very prosperous village. In the past, many lives were lost in storms on the Zuiderzee and North Sea. There is a memorial to lost fisherman on Urk, popularly known as the "Urker vrouw": a statue of a woman looking out to sea, vainly awaiting the return of her husband and sons.

Local

After 2010's local elections, the town council is made up of five political parties:

Christian Union: 4 seats (down 2 compared to previous elections)
SGP
Reformed Political Party
The Reformed Political Party is an orthodox Protestant Dutch political party. The term Reformed is not a reference to political reform, but is a synonym for Calvinist. The SGP is the oldest political party in the Netherlands in its current form, and for its entire existence has been in opposition...

: 3 seats (down 2)
CDA
Christian Democratic Appeal
The Christian Democratic Appeal is a centre-right Dutch Christian democratic political party. It suffered severe losses in the 2010 elections and fell from the first to the fourth place...

: 4 seats (no change)
Unie Gemeentebelangen: 2 seats (no change)
Hart voor Urk: 4 seats (plus 4)

Unie Gemeentebelangen and Hart voor Urk are local parties. Hart voor Urk was founded by former SGP-counciller Jan Koffeman with a largely identical party policy as SGP's.

A majority coalition of ChristenUnie, SGP and Hart voor Urk are currently in power. The town council is lead by (non-elected) mayor Jaap Kroon (CDA).

None of these parties can be described as either left-wing (socialist) or liberal. National parties such as the VVD (conservative/liberal), D66

Democrats 66

Democrats 66 is a progressive and social-liberal political party in the Netherlands. D66 was formed in 1966 by a group of politically unaligned, young intellectuals, led by journalist Hans van Mierlo. The party's main objective was to democratise the political system; it proposed to create an...

(liberal), GroenLinks (green party) and PvdA

Labour Party (Netherlands)

The Labour Party , is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands. Since the 2003 Dutch General Election, the PvdA has been the second largest political party in the Netherlands. The PvdA was a coalition member in the fourth Balkenende cabinet following 22 February 2007...

(labour) are not represented in Urk's town council and support for these parties in national and regional elections remains minimal. However, due to slowly growing support for the VVD, an Urk affiliate of the conservative/liberal party was founded in early 2011, with the intention of entering 2014's local elections. If elected, it would mark the first occasion that an outspoken non-religious party enters Urk's town council.

National

Urk is one of the most politically conservative areas in the Netherlands. As part of the so-called Dutch 'Bible belt', a vast majority of election votes go to the three Christian parties in the Netherlands, SGP

Reformed Political Party

The Reformed Political Party is an orthodox Protestant Dutch political party. The term Reformed is not a reference to political reform, but is a synonym for Calvinist. The SGP is the oldest political party in the Netherlands in its current form, and for its entire existence has been in opposition...

, ChristenUnie and CDA

Christian Democratic Appeal

The Christian Democratic Appeal is a centre-right Dutch Christian democratic political party. It suffered severe losses in the 2010 elections and fell from the first to the fourth place...

. Urk is also known for its high turnout at each election, which is usually considerably higher than the national average (although general turnout percentages have dropped approx. 10% since 2002).

Voting patterns used to be relatively stable, with approximately 85-90% of the votes spread out evenly over SGP, ChristenUnie and CDA (each between 25-35%). CDA in Urk usually got more votes in national elections than in local elections, while ChristenUnie's support is sometimes twice locally compared to what it receives from Urk voters in national elections (this is sometimes attributed to the apparent left-wing leanings of the ChristenUnie nationally, while ChristenUnie in Urk tends to be more conservative). SGP's support locally is not much different from its support in national elections.

However, in recent years a few changes in voting patterns occurred, such as a growing support for national protest parties such as the LPF or Geert Wilders

Geert Wilders

Geert Wilders is a Dutch right-wing politician and leader of the Party for Freedom , the third-largest political party in the Netherlands. He is the Parliamentary group leader of his party in the Dutch House of Representatives...

'PVV

Party for Freedom

The Party for Freedom is a Dutch right-wing political party. Founded in 2005 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man party in the House of Representatives, it won nine seats in the 2006 general election, making it the fifth largest party in parliament, and third largest opposition party. It...

Freedom Party. Also, voting patterns these days tend to show bigger swings, as shown in 2010's national elections in which CDA lost 11% and in 2011's regional elections, in which ChristenUnie lost 18%.

Support for established left wing parties (such as Labour PVDA

Labour Party (Netherlands)

or the socialist SP

Socialist Party (Netherlands)

The Socialist Party is a democratic socialist political party in the Netherlands. After the 2006 general election, the Socialist Party became one of the major parties of the Netherlands with 25 seats of 150, an increase of 16 seats. The party was in opposition against the fourth Balkenende cabinet...

) remains minimal.

Summary of the 9 June 2010 Dutch House of Representatives election results

Dutch general election, 2010

The 2010 Dutch general election was held on Wednesday, 9 June 2010. After the fall of the cabinet Balkenende IV on 20 February, Queen Beatrix accepted the resignation of the Labour Party ministers on 23 February...

(Urk)
|-
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left colspan="2" valign=top|Parties
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center valign=top|Political Ideology
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left valign=top width=100|Top candidate

Lijsttrekker

Lijsttrekker is a Dutch term for the top candidate of a party on a party list. He or she is almost always the party's political leader. After an election, this person usually leads the party's faction in the States-General, or serves in a senior position in the Cabinet if his party is part of...

Reformed Political Party

(Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij, SGP)
|align="left"|Conservatism

Conservatism

Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...

, Reformed Christian

Reformed Churches in the Netherlands

The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands was the second largest Protestant church in the Netherlands until it merged into the Protestant Church in the Netherlands in 2004.-History:...

|align="left" |Kees van der Staaij

Kees van der Staaij

Cornelis Gerrit "Kees" van der Staaij born September 12, 1968) is a Dutch politician of the Reformed Political Party . As a member of the Reformed Political Party he has been an MP since May 19, 1998...

Christian Democratic Appeal

The Christian Democratic Appeal is a centre-right Dutch Christian democratic political party. It suffered severe losses in the 2010 elections and fell from the first to the fourth place...

(Christen-Democratisch Appèl, CDA)
|align=left|Christian Democracy

Christian Democracy

Christian democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. It emerged in nineteenth-century Europe under the influence of conservatism and Catholic social teaching...

|align=left|Jan Peter Balkenende

Jan Peter Balkenende

Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende is a Dutch politician of the party Christian Democratic Appeal .He was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 until 14 October 2010, having led four coalition governments, cabinets Balkenende I, II, III and IV, none of which served a full...

ChristianUnion

The ChristianUnion , abbreviated to CU, is a Dutch Christian democratic political party. A centrist party, the CU's policies combine social conservatism and soft euroscepticism with more centre-left positions on economic, immigration, and environmental issues.Founded in 2000 as a merger of the...

(ChristenUnie, CU)
|align=left|Social-Christianity /Orthodox Protestantism
|align="left" |André Rouvoet

André Rouvoet

André Rouvoet is a former Dutch politician of the ChristianUnion . First as a member of the RPF until the party merged with the Reformed Political League to form the ChristianUnion. He served as a Member of the House of Representatives from May 17, 1994 until February 22, 2007...

Party for Freedom

(Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV)
|align=left|Right-wing populism

Right-wing populism

Right-wing populism is a political ideology that rejects existing political consensus and combines laissez-faire liberalism and anti-elitism. It is considered "right-wing" because of its rejection of social equality and government programs to achieve it, its opposition to social integration, and...

/Anti-Islam/Fortuynism
|align="left" |Geert Wilders

Geert Wilders

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy

The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party located in the Netherlands. The VVD supports private enterprise in the Netherlands and is often perceived as an economic liberal party in contrast to the social-liberal Democrats 66 alongside which it sits in...

(Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie, VVD)
|align=left|Conservative liberalism

Conservative liberalism

Conservative liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal values and policies with conservative stances, or, more simply, representing the right-wing of the liberal movement....

/Liberalism

Liberalism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

|align=left|Mark Rutte

Mark Rutte

Mark Rutte is a Dutch politician who has been Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 14 October 2010, as well as Minister of General Affairs in the Rutte cabinet...

Socialist Party (Netherlands)

(Socialistische Partij, SP)
|align=left|Socialism

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

|align="left" |Emile Roemer

Emile Roemer

Emile Gerardus Maria Roemer is a Dutch politician of the Socialist Party . He has been a Member of the House of Representatives since 30 November 2006. On 5 March 2010 he was elected the new Party leader of the Socialist Party following the resignation of Agnes Kant...

Labour Party (Netherlands)

(Partij van de Arbeid, PvdA)
|align=left|Social Democracy

Social democracy

Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...

|align=left|Wouter Bos

Wouter Bos

Wouter Jacob Bos is a Dutch management consultant and former politician of the Labour Party . He was Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister in the Cabinet Balkenende IV from February 22, 2007 till February 23, 2010...

Democrats 66

(Democraten 66, D66)
|align=left|Social liberalism

Social liberalism

Social liberalism is the belief that liberalism should include social justice. It differs from classical liberalism in that it believes the legitimate role of the state includes addressing economic and social issues such as unemployment, health care, and education while simultaneously expanding...

, Radicalism

Radicalism (historical)

The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...

, Progressivism

Progressivism

Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...

|align="left" |Alexander Pechtold

Alexander Pechtold

Alexander Pechtold is a Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 party. He has been a member of the House of Representatives since 30 November 2006 as well as Parliamentary group leader since 23 November 2006...

GreenLeft

GreenLeft is a green political party operating in the Netherlands.GreenLeft was formed on 1 March 1989 as a merger of four left-wing political parties: the Communist Party of the Netherlands, Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party of Radicals and the Evangelical People's Party...

(GroenLinks, GL)
|align=left|Green Politics

Green politics

Green politics is a political ideology that aims for the creation of an ecologically sustainable society rooted in environmentalism, social liberalism, and grassroots democracy...

|align="left" |Femke Halsema

Femke Halsema

is a former Dutch politician. She was a member of the House of Representatives from 1998 till 2011. She was also the leader of the GreenLeft parliamentary party in the House of Representatives from 2002 till 2010.-Pre-political career:...

Party for the Animals

The Party for the Animals is a political party in the Netherlands.Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare, though it claims not to be a single-issue party...

(Partij voor de Dieren, PvdD)
|align=left|Animal rights

Animal rights

Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...

/Animal welfare

Animal welfare

Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...

|align="left" |Marianne Thieme

Marianne Thieme

Marianne Louise Thieme is a Dutch politician of the Party for the Animals . She has been Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives since November 23, 2006 and an MP since November 30, 2006....

|align="right" |8
|align="right" |0.1%
|align="right" |-0.0%
|- align=right
|bgcolor="darkgray"|
|align=left|Other
|align="left" |–
|align="left" |–
|align="right" |61
|align="right" |0.7%
|align="right" |+0.5%
|-
|align=left colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total
|width="30" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|
|width="30" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|
|width="75" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|9314
|width="30" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|–
|width="30" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|–
|-
|align=left colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Turnout
|width="30" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|
|width="30" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|
|width="75" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|9314
|width="30" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|79.9%
|width="30" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|-8.7%
|-
|align="left" colspan=7|Source:
|}

Dialect

One of the oldest and most distinctive dialect

Dialect

The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...

s of Dutch is the language which is spoken in Urk. Nearly everybody in this village speaks this dialect and uses it in daily life. The dialect deviates considerably from contemporary standard Dutch, and has preserved many old characteristics which disappeared in standard Dutch a long time ago. The Urkish dialect also includes elements that are older than standard Dutch

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...

and were never a part of the standard language. For example, the old word for "father" in the Urkish dialect is taote. The dialect developed this way because until WWII

World War II

, Urk was an island and could only be reached by boat. Radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

was unknown, and the poor population didn't have much money for newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

s and book

Book

A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...

s. Until the modern era, primary education for the children typically lasted only two years; afterwards, children had to help maintain the family and formal schooling ended.

Recent linguistic classifications have assigned the Urk dialect to the "Urkers dialect family", of which it is the only member.

The Urkish dialect has more vowel sounds than standard Dutch, and each vowel has short and long forms, potentially with different meanings. The pronunciation of vowels deviates from standard Dutch and is closer to English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

.

Because living conditions on Urk in historical times were very poor, young girls (typically about age 11 or 12) would frequently leave the island to become domestic servants, mostly in or around Amsterdam. They often served with Jewish families. After a few years, they would return to Urk to form families of their own. As a result of this practice, the Urkish dialect absorbed some loanwords from the Amsterdam dialect and also from Yiddish. For instance, the Yiddish "Shnur" for sister-in-law became the Urkish "Snoar" (identical meaning); the Hebrew "Kallah" ("כלה") for bride became the Urkish "Kalletjen" (girlfriend).

When Napoleon occupied the Netherlands

Netherlands

, many French words were incorporated into both standard Dutch and Urkish. Just as for standard Dutch, French words often changed form when incorporated into Urkish. The Urkish dialect has always been primarily a spoken language, and there are not many old texts written in the dialect. Only in recent years have people begun to write prose and poetry in the Urkish dialect. There are Urkers who have translated Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

books into Urkish, such as the book of Psalms

Psalms

The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...

.

Currently, Urk is no longer an island, and exposure to the standard Dutch

Dutch language

through the media is widespread. However, the distinctive Urkish dialect is still alive.

Ommelebommelestien

A famous Urkish folktale is the story parents tell their children when they want to know where the babies come from. The tale involves a large exposed rock which can be seen in the IJsselmeer about 30 metres from the shore. This stone is known as the "Ommelebommelestien".

Urkers often tell their children that there are two kinds of people-- vreemden (strangers) and Urkers (people from Urk). Strangers are usually born from a cabbage, or a stork brings them to their new parents, but Urkers come from a large stone which lies about 30 meters from the shores of their former island. Nowadays, the stone is usually called "Ommelebommelestien" (Ommel-Bommel Stone), but in former times it was called "Ommelmoerstien": moer means "mother" in the Urkish dialect.

In the tale, a stork

Stork

Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family Ciconiidae. They are the only family in the biological order Ciconiiformes, which was once much larger and held a number of families....

comes all the way from Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

to put babies in the stone. When the baby is about to be born, the baby's father is said to have to go to Schokland

Schokland

Schokland is a former island in the Dutch Zuiderzee. Schokland lost its status as an island when the Noordoostpolder was reclaimed from the sea in 1942...

to pick up the key that gives access to the stone. So when an Urkish man is asked if he has been to Schokland, he is actually being asked if he has children.

In the older days, when both Urk and Schokland were still islands in the Zuiderzee, the father had to take the obstetrician in his boat and row from Urk to Schokland to get the key, and then from Schokland to the Ommelebommelestien to get the baby. Nowadays he would be able to go to Schokland by car, but according to the legend he still has to row. The door to the stone is somewhere below sea level, so it is difficult to find.

Once the door was found, a small price had to be paid for the baby: traditionally one Dutch guilder for a girl

Girl

A girl is any female human from birth through childhood and adolescence to attainment of adulthood. The term may also be used to mean a young woman.-Etymology:...

but two for a boy

Boy

A boy is a young male human , as contrasted to its female counterpart, girl, or an adult male, a man.The term "boy" is primarily used to indicate biological sex distinctions, cultural gender role distinctions or both...

.

The mother was said to be kept in bed with a nail through her right foot. There she would celebrate that she had just become a mother.

Urk and the arts

The prolific Dutch writer Albert Cornelis Baantjer

A. C. Baantjer

Albert Cornelis "Appie" Baantjer , often simply known as Baantjer, was a Dutch novelist of detective fiction and a former police officer....

was born here. Baantjer is mainly known for his large series of detective novels revolving around police inspector De Cock and his side-kick, sergeant Vledder.

The now mostly forgotten writer Jef Last lived on Urk for several years from 1932 onwards. He wrote several articles about Urk for a Dutch Magazine called 'De Groene Amsterdammer'. While living here, he fell in love with a fisherman. This love inspired him to write Zuiderzee. This novel deals with the love between two fishermen living on Urk and was one of the first, if not the first novel in Dutch literature to openly deal with homosexuality.

The Dutch writer, painter and resistance hero Willem Arondeus

Willem Arondeus

Willem Arondeus was a homosexual Dutch artist and author, who joined the anti-Nazi resistance movement during World War II.-Early life:...

spend some time in Urk onward from 1920. While residing on Urk, during 1922, he wrote 'Afzijdige Strofen', a collection of twenty homo-erotic poems which were posthumously published in 2001.

Demographics (2007)

Birth Rate: 22.23 per 1000
Death Rate: 3.24 per 1000
NGR: +1.90% per year. http://statline.cbs.nl/StatWeb/publication/?DM=SLEN&PA=37259ENG&D1=1-2&D2=0,20,24,33,38,154,262,325,818,1143-1146&D3=a&D4=a,!0-39&LA=EN&VW=T

Rail Links

Urk has no railway station but the nearest stations are Kampen

Kampen railway station

Kampen is a terminus railway station located in Kampen, the Netherlands. The station was opened on 10 May 1865 and is located on the Kamperlijntje, which is the Zwolle - Kampen section of the Utrecht–Kampen railway. The train service is operated by Nederlandse Spoorwegen...

and Lelystad

Lelystad Centrum railway station

Lelystad Centrum is the current terminus railway station on the Flevolijn. It is the only station in Lelystad and is in the centre of the town. The station was opened on 28 May 1988 after the extension from Almere Buiten was completed. There are plans to build the station Lelystad Zuid by 2015. The...

External links

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