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37-509: The Zuiderzee or Zuider Zee ( Dutch: [ˌzœydərˈzeː] ; old spelling Zuyderzee or Zuyder Zee ), historically called Lake Almere and Lake Flevo , was a shallow bay of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands . It extended about 100 km (60 miles) inland and at most 50 km (30 miles) wide, with an overall depth of about 4 to 5 metres (13–16 feet) and

74-545: A bight . There are various ways in which bays can form. The largest bays have developed through plate tectonics . As the super-continent Pangaea broke up along curved and indented fault lines, the continents moved apart and left large bays; these include the Gulf of Guinea , the Gulf of Mexico , and the Bay of Bengal , which is the world's largest bay. Bays also form through coastal erosion by rivers and glaciers . A bay formed by

111-523: A distributary of the Vlie . During the early Middle Ages this began to change as rising sea levels and storms started to eat away at the coastal areas which consisted mainly of peatlands. In this period the inlet was referred to as the Almere , indicating it was still more of a lake, but the mouth and size of the inlet were much widened in the 12th century and especially after a disastrous flood in 1282 broke through

148-496: A broad, flat fronting terrace". Bays were significant in the history of human settlement because they provided easy access to marine resources like fisheries . Later they were important in the development of sea trade as the safe anchorage they provide encouraged their selection as ports . The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea defines a bay as a well-marked indentation in

185-617: A coastline of about 300 km (200 miles). It covered 5,000 km (1,900 sq mi). Its name is Dutch for "southern sea", indicating that the name originates in Friesland , to the north of the Zuiderzee (cf. North Sea). In the 20th century the majority of the Zuiderzee was closed off from the North Sea by the construction of the Afsluitdijk , leaving the mouth of the inlet to become part of

222-485: A glacier is a fjord . Rias are created by rivers and are characterised by more gradual slopes. Deposits of softer rocks erode more rapidly, forming bays, while harder rocks erode less quickly, leaving headlands . Texel Texel ( Dutch pronunciation: [ˈtɛsəl] ; Texels dialect: Tessel ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland , Netherlands . It

259-506: A point by 1667 that the damming of the Zuiderzee was proposed, although a feasible method did not appear until the 20th century. The Netherlands was part of the First French Empire between 1810 and 1813. A département was formed in 1811 and named as Zuyderzée after the Zuiderzee, whose territory roughly corresponded to the present provinces of North Holland and Utrecht . In 1928, the 6-meter and 8-meter sailing events for

296-408: A third of Texel is a protected nature reserve. A wetland called Utopia has been designed for birds to nest in. Texel has an oceanic climate ( Köppen Cfb ) that is heavily influenced by its offshore position. The annual average high oscillation is between 5 °C (41 °F) and 21 °C (70 °F). While winters are similar to mainland areas, summers remain cooler. The relative proximity to

333-721: A town in Overijssel , and later also towns in Holland such as Amsterdam, Hoorn , and Enkhuizen . These towns traded at first with ports on the Baltic Sea , in England, and in the Hanseatic League , but later also with the rest of the world when the Netherlands established its colonial empire . When that lucrative trade diminished, most of the towns fell back on fishing and some industry until

370-497: Is 162.00 square kilometres. The highest point of the island is the dune "Bertusnol" (also "Nol van Bertus"), which is situated in the Dunes of Texel National Park , at 19.6 m. The dune landscape on Texel is an important habitat for wildlife. Notable areas include De Slufter , where the tide comes in and meets the dunes, forming a marshy environment rich in both fauna and flora. In winter, birds of prey and geese take up residence. About

407-413: Is an arm of Hudson Bay in northeastern Canada . Some large bays, such as the Bay of Bengal and Hudson Bay, have varied marine geology . The land surrounding a bay often reduces the strength of winds and blocks waves . Bays may have as wide a variety of shoreline characteristics as other shorelines. In some cases, bays have beaches , which "are usually characterized by a steep upper foreshore with

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444-414: Is situated north of the city of Den Helder , northeast of the uninhabited island of Noorderhaaks , which is part of the municipality, and southwest of the island of Vlieland . The island of Texel was originally made up of two islands, Texel proper to the south and Eierland to the northeast, which were connected by shoals . In the early seventeenth century, the islands were connected by a dyke to keep

481-586: Is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea . The island is situated north of Den Helder , northeast of Noorderhaaks , and southwest of Vlieland . The name Texel is Frisian , but because of historical sound-changes in Dutch , where all -x- sounds have been replaced with -s- sounds (compare for instance English fox , Frisian fokse , German Fuchs with Dutch vos ),

518-414: The North Sea from ravaging the coastal areas of Texel proper. In the mid-nineteenth century a polder completed the northern half of the island. Today, Texel forms the largest natural barrier between the North Sea and the Wadden Sea . The dune landscape along the western coast of the island is protected as Dunes of Texel National Park . The island is 23.7 km long and 9.6 km wide, its surface

555-637: The Vecht , Eem , and Ysel , fed into the lake. The lake itself fed out into the North Sea through the Vlie (Latin Flevus ). It existed in Roman times and the early Middle Ages . From the Indo-European root *plew- "flow", the name was transmitted by the Roman geographer Pomponius Mela in describing this region. In his treatise on geography of 44 AD, Pomponius speaks of a Flevo Lacus . He writes: "The northern branch of

592-570: The Wadden Sea . The salt water inlet changed into a fresh water lake now called the IJsselmeer ( IJssel Lake) after the river that drains into it, and by means of drainage and polders , an area of some 1,500 km (580 sq mi) was reclaimed as land. This land eventually became the province of Flevoland . Part of the IJsselmeer was also divided into the Markermeer . In classical times there

629-501: The 15th century onwards due to improvements in dikes , but when storms pushed North Sea water into the inlet, the Zuiderzee became a volatile cauldron of water, frequently resulting in flooding and the loss of ships. For example, on 18 November 1421, a seawall at the Zuiderzee dike broke, which flooded 72 villages and killed about 10,000 people. This was the Second St. Elizabeth's flood . The process of creating polders had developed to

666-430: The 20th century when tourism became the major source of income. Contained within the Zuiderzee were five small islands, the remains of what were once larger islands, peninsulas connected to the mainland , or in the case of Pampus , an artificial island. These were Wieringen , Urk , Schokland , Pampus and Marken . The inhabitants of these islands also subsisted mainly on fishing and related industries and still do in

703-516: The Amsterdam Summer Olympics were held on the Zuiderzee. The construction between 1927 and 1932 of a 19-mile long dam (the Afsluitdijk ), under plans originating from Cornelius Lely , enclosed the Zuiderzee. The creation of this dam was hastened by the Flood of January 1916 . Plans for closing the Zuiderzee had been made over thirty years earlier but had not yet passed in parliament . With

740-723: The Northeast (Noordoost) Polder, built in 1942; the East (Oostelijk) Flevoland Polder, built in 1957; and the South (Zuidelijk) Flevoland Polder, completed in 1968. A fifth, Markewaard, began construction in 1963, and became partially complete, but was abandoned in the mid-1980s. Collectively, this system of dams, dikes, and polders is called the Zuiderzee Works . Around the Zuiderzee many fishing villages grew up and several developed into walled towns with extensive trade connections, in particular Kampen ,

777-463: The Rhine widens as Lake Flevo, and encloses an island of the same name, and then as a normal river flows to the sea". Other sources rather speak of Flevum , which could be related to today's Vlie (Vliestroom), i.e. the seaway between the Dutch islands of Vlieland and Terschelling. This last name is grammatically more probable for a geographical indication, which is why it is assumed that Pomponius confused

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814-477: The barrier dunes near Texel . The disaster marked the rise of Amsterdam on the southwestern end of the bay, since the seagoing traffic of the Baltic trade could now visit. Lake Almere is mentioned among others in a life of saints written by Anglo-Saxon Bishop Saint Boniface in 753, and a deed of gift from the town of Urk . Its etymology may be eels , in Dutch aal or ael , so: ael mere = "eel lake" Presumably,

851-524: The case of Urk and Wieringen. All of these islands, except for Pampus, are now part of the mainland or connected to it. 52°42′N 05°24′E  /  52.700°N 5.400°E  / 52.700; 5.400 Bay A bay can be the estuary of a river, such as the Chesapeake Bay , an estuary of the Susquehanna River . Bays may also be nested within each other; for example, James Bay

888-408: The coastline, whose penetration is in such proportion to the width of its mouth as to contain land-locked waters and constitute more than a mere curvature of the coast. An indentation, however, shall not be regarded as a bay unless its area is as large as (or larger than) that of the semi-circle whose diameter is a line drawn across the mouth of that indentation — otherwise it would be referred to as

925-538: The completion of the Afsluitdijk in 1932, the Zuiderzee became the IJsselmeer , and the outer portion of the Zuiderzee became the Wadden Sea . Large areas of land, mainly for agricultural use, were subsequently reclaimed from the water through the construction of polders with dams, pumping, and other hydrological technology. Four had been built by the early 1980s. They were the Wieringermeer Polder built in 1930;

962-520: The declension of the word giving the name Flevo. In fact the Vlie formed outfall from the lake into the North Sea . In the second half of the twentieth century the Flevopolders and a new province, Flevoland , took the name of the body of water which lay there long ago. Over time these lakes gradually eroded their soft peat shores and spread (a process known as waterwolf ). Some part of this area of water

999-537: The end of the Second World War in 1945, the Georgian uprising on Texel took place on the island. Following a German decision to redeploy Georgian soldiers to the mainland, they revolted and killed hundreds of their German comrades while they slept. The uprising lasted from 5 April 1945 until 20 May 1945, two weeks after V-E Day . At that point, Canadian troops arrived and arranged for the two sides to separately leave

1036-579: The island. For that reason, the uprising is often referred to as the final battle of the Second World War in Europe. Hundreds of Georgians who died fighting against the Germans are buried in a special cemetery on Texel commonly known as the "Russian cemetery". The municipality lies north of the mainland of the province of North Holland and west of the mainland of the province of Friesland . The island of Texel

1073-808: The mainland still renders heat bursts to reach Texel with five months having recorded temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F). While the island is relatively rainy, the precipitation is generally quite even and moderate throughout most of the year although there is a dry peak in late spring and a rain peak in autumn. The tourism industry forms a substantial part of the economy in Texel. Approximately 70% of activities on Texel are in some way related to tourism. Popular forms of tourism on Texel include cycling, walking, swimming and horse riding. Farming (sheep, potatoes, dairy, tulips, and grain) and fishing (primarily from Oudeschild ) are traditional. The municipal council of Texel consists of 15 seats, which are divided as follows (from

1110-487: The name is typically pronounced Tessel in Dutch. The All Saints' Flood (1170) created the islands of Texel and Wieringen from North Holland . In the 13th century Ada, Countess of Holland was held prisoner on Texel by her uncle, William I, Count of Holland . Texel received city rights in 1415. The first Dutch expedition to the Northwest Passage departed from the island on the 5th of June, 1594. Texel

1147-494: The seawalls broke during a storm, killing approximately 50,000 to 80,000 people in the fifth largest flood in recorded history. The flood occurred during a memorable storm in Friesland and Holland , and came from the North Sea, breaking and destroying several dams and dunes and transforming it into a bay which was then called the Zuiderzee, meaning Southern Sea . The name "Zuiderzee" came into general usage around this period. The size of this inland sea remained largely stable from

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1184-534: The water of Lake Almere at that time was fresh water or slightly brackish . The name of the new town of Almere in Flevoland was given in 1984 in memory of this body of water. A number of occurrences during the Middle Ages led to the transformation of the lake to an inland sea that would be called the Zuiderzee, which are: Especially during the 12th century, particularly in 1219 and 1282, high tides and storms eroded

1221-511: The western banks of the Vlie and submerged large areas of land. The land between Stavoren, Texel, and Medemblik was washed away around 1170. The waterway between Stavoren and Enkhuizen, however, did not appear until around 1400. The erosion was stopped to the south and east by the high sandy shores of Gooi , Veluwe , Voorst , and Gasterland in the provinces of Utrecht , Gelderland , Overysel , and Friesland respectively. The even more massive St. Lucia's flood occurred 14 December 1287, when

1258-482: Was already a body of water in this location, called Lake Flevo (Flevo Lacus) by Roman authors. This was the central and largest lake in a region filled with a mixture of lowland and freshwater lakes occupying the area later filled by the Zuiderzee. It was separated from the sea by a belt of marsh and fen ; at the time, the original coastline ran along the line of the Frisian Islands . A number of streams, including

1295-630: Was involved in the Battle of Camperdown during the French Revolutionary Wars . During the First World War in 1914, the Battle off Texel took place off the coast of Texel. On the night of 31 August 1940, the sea to the northwest of Texel was the scene of the sinking of two Royal Navy destroyers and the severe damage of a third by German mines in what is known as the Texel Disaster . At

1332-900: Was involved in the Battle of Scheveningen (1653) during the First Anglo-Dutch War and the Battle of Texel (1673) during the Third Anglo-Dutch War . During the American Revolutionary War , Texel was used as a port by Continental Navy officer John Paul Jones after the battle of Flamborough Head off the Yorkshire coast in September 1779. In the battle, Jones captured the Royal Navy frigate Serapis , which he sailed to Texel for desperately needed repairs. This event further complicated Anglo-Dutch relations. In 1797, Texel

1369-456: Was later called the Vlie ; it probably flowed into the sea through what is now the Vliestroom channel between the islands of Vlieland and Terschelling . During a period of rising sea level between 250 and 600 CE, the connection to the sea and the lake were significantly enlarged. A period of lower sea levels followed. The Marsdiep was once a river ( fluvium Maresdeop ) which may have been

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