Ameland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ameland
Location of Ameland
Country Netherlands
Province Friesland
Area (2006)
 - Municipality 268.50 km²  (103.7 sq mi)
 - Land 60.02 km² (23.2 sq mi)
 - Water 208.48 km² (80.5 sq mi)
Population (1 January 2007)
 - Municipality 3,452
 - Density 58/km² (150.2/sq mi)
  Source: CBS, Statline.
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 - Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Satellite image
Satellite image

Ameland (pronunciation (help·info), Frisian: It Amelân) is a municipality and one of the West Frisian Islands off the north coast of the Netherlands. It consists mostly of sand dunes. It can be reached by ferry from the Frisian village Holwerd.

(Frisian names)

(Ameland is not itself the name of a village).

First mentioned as Ambla in the 8th century, it paid tribute to the county of Holland until in 1424 its lord Ritske Jelmera declared it a 'free lordship' (vrijheerschap).

Although Holland, Friesland and the Holy Roman Emperor contested this quasi-independent status, it remained a free lordship until the ruling family, Cammingha, died out in 1708. After that, the Frisian stadtholder Johan Willem Friso of Orange-Nassau became lord of Ameland and after him, his son the stadtholder of all the Netherlands William IV of Orange and his grandson William V of Orange.

Only in the constitution of 1813 was the island finally integrated into the Netherlands (into the province of Friesland). The kings and queens of the Netherlands still maintain the title Vrijheer van Ameland today.

In 1940 the German troops were ferried to the island and within hours Ameland was under the control of the German Army. Because of its limited military value the Allies never invaded Ameland. The German forces on the island did not surrender until June 2, 1945, almost a full month after the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:


 
Friesland (Fryslân) Province

Achtkarspelen | Ameland | Boarnsterhim | Bolsward | Dantumadeel | Dongeradeel | Ferwerderadiel | Franekeradeel | Gaasterlân-Sleat | Harlingen | Heerenveen | Het Bildt | Kollumerland c.a. | Leeuwarden | Leeuwarderadeel | Lemsterland | Littenseradiel | Menaldumadeel | Nijefurd | Ooststellingwerf | Opsterland | Schiermonnikoog | Skarsterlân | Smallingerland | Sneek | Terschelling | Tytsjerksteradiel | Vlieland | Weststellingwerf | Wûnseradiel | Wymbritseradiel

Netherlands | Provinces | Municipalities| map
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.