Urk

History

The oldest instance of the name "Urk" is a donation certificate of 966 from Holy Roman Emperor Otto I to the Sint Pantaleonsklooster monastery in Cologne. The text reads: cuiisdam insulae medietatem in Almere, que Urch vocatur (Latin: "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) was in the hands of the Van Kuinre family. From 1475 to 1614, the Zoudenbalch family of Utrecht were Lords of Urk and Emmeloord. From 1614 to 1660, Urk and Emmeloord were ruled by the van der Werve from Antwerp. From 1660 to 1792 Urk and Emmeloord belonged to the municipality of Amsterdam, and ruled from 1660 to 1672 by Andries de Graeff. From 1792 to 1950 Urk belonged to the province of North Holland. Urk ceased to be an island in October 1939 as part of the Zuiderzee Works (just as the Afsluitdijk project was changing the salt water Zuiderzee surrounding Urk to the less saline IJsselmeer), and Urk's town expanded into the reclaimed land of the polder. Many Urkers who previously left the town because of overcrowding before the polder reclamation was completed were able to return to Urk. Later, seabed areas surrounding Urk were reclaimed from the sea to become the Noordoostpolder. In 1950, Urk's jurisdiction moved away from North Holland to become part of the province of Overijssel. Since 1986, Urk has belonged to the province of Flevoland. The Noordoostpolder in its early years had an alternative name "Urker Land," from which Urk's newspaper, Het Urkerland, gets its name.

Geography

Towards the north, the IJsselmeer is enclosed by an arc of boulder clay high areas of land which formed during an ice age glaciations of the Pleistocene epoch: Texel, Wieringen, Urk, de Voorst, and Gaasterland. To the south of that arc a lake formed as a result of meltwater, which became known as Almere. North of the boulder clay highland of Urk, the Vecht river flowed into the Almere, while the river IJssel with tributaries flowed into the south of Urk. As the climate became warmer during the Middle Ages, the sea level rose whilst the surrounding areas have been slowly steadily sinking because of forebulge effect since the end of the Ice Age. During the 13th century (and especially after a large storm in 1287) the Zuiderzee formed, and the water round Urk suddenly became a tidal sea. Because there was no sea defense, over time large pieces of the island eroded. The southwest side of Urk, which rose perpendicularly out of the sea, was called het Hoge Klif ("the High Cliff"). Around 1700 the municipality of Amsterdam donated sea defenses to Urk. The town contains the highest point in the province of Flevoland.

Most-observed species

• Great Crested Grebe

  Podiceps cristatus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  8,334
• Bearded Reedling

  Panurus biarmicus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,727
• Gadwall

  Mareca strepera (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,038
• Eurasian Coot

  Fulica atra Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  4,982
• Tufted Duck

  Aythya fuligula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,915
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,616
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  4,576
• Black-headed Gull

  Chroicocephalus ridibundus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  4,287

Most recent

• M 2.9 — 2008-10-11
  19 km WNW of Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands
• M 3.8 — 2006-08-08
  1 km E of Baflo, Netherlands
• M 3 — 2004-06-21
  3 km NE of Dwingeloo, Netherlands
• M 3.1 — 2003-11-10
  2 km NNW of Ulrum, Netherlands
• M 2.9 — 2003-10-24
  2 km SE of Niekerk, Netherlands