North Frisians

North Frisians are the inhabitants of the district of North Friesland Schleswig -Holstein in the broader sense. In a narrower sense, it is those based in North Friesland and on Helgoland ethnic group of the Frisians.

This ethnic group partly used or the different dialects of the North Frisian language, which belongs to the group of ingwäonischen languages. By the Schleswig-Holstein state constitution and by the Friisk Gesäts ( German: Frisian Act ) is particularly protected this language.

North Frisians are considered autochthonous minority in Germany. In Germany it is assumed that about 50,000 members of the Frisian ethnic group in Northern Friesland and on Helgoland, of whom about 10,000 still speak one of the North Frisian dialects. About 1400 pupils in the district of North Friesland and on Helgoland be part of the Frisian.

The Frisians emigrated around the year 800 in the later of the duchy of Schleswig belonging Uthlande. First, they settled only the present islands, in a second wave of immigration in 1100 and the adjacent coastal strip between the rivers Eider and Vidå ( German: Wiedau ) at today's German - Danish border.