Urk

( Listen? / I ) Urk is a former island and the oldest municipality in the Dutch province of Flevoland (as of 1 January 2013) 19 223 inhabitants. The total area of the municipality is 118 km ² ( 19.64 km ² of land, 98.37 km ² part of the IJsselmeer ). Urk is located on the west side of the Noordoostpolder, on the IJsselmeer. Main sources of income are from time immemorial fishing, especially on the North Sea, and the fish processing industry.

Sights and character

The old fishing village of Urk has a well-preserved, compact center with an old fishing port, a local history museum in the Old Town Hall and many old homes. The strictly religious, Reformed population still holds firmly to different traditions. The costumes are rarely worn more. Popular is the singing: Urk has some well-known men's choirs. Because of their piety many Urker donate a lot of money to charity (including assistance to peoples in Africa). In Urk is per capita spent more for charity than any other place in Western Europe.

Population and dialect

Due to the high religiosity of the population Urk has 3.23 children per woman, the highest fertility rate in the Netherlands. Therefore, the population develops very dynamic and is constantly growing at a rate of 1.53% per year.

In Urk the oldest dialect of the province is spoken: the Urkers. Urkers is a transitional dialect between the West and the Lower Saxony Lower Franconia. Due to the predominantly Lower Saxon language features that are due to the long association of the former island to rule Overijssel, is this still the Lower Saxony dialect, more precisely associated with the dialect of Gelderland Overijssel. Urkers is the only dialect of the province of the Lower Saxony can be assigned.

History

Urk was first documented in 966. At that time it was given to half of the monastery of St. Pantaleon in Cologne. The increasingly threatened by loss of land on the west side of the island belonged to various 1660 members of the Van de Werve family and until 1792 as Ambachtsherrlichkeit the city of Amsterdam, which has invested in, among other dikes and the harbor. Thereafter, the municipality of Urk belonged to the province of North Holland. In 1939, the levee from Lemmer to Urk was completed. 1942 finally the Noordoostpolder was finally drained as part of the Zuiderzee Works, which Urk was part of the mainland. In 1950, the municipality of Urk of North Holland was reclassified in the province of Overijssel. Finally, it was inserted into the newly established on 1 January 1986 the province of Flevoland.

Trivia

1988 Mars crater has been named with a diameter of 2.8 km after the town Urk

Born in Urk

• Albert Cornelis Baantjer, crime writer (1923-2010)