Zeeuws-Vlaanderen
Encyclopedia
Zeelandic Flanders is the southernmost region of the province
Provinces of the Netherlands
A Dutch province represents the administrative layer in between the national government and the local municipalities, having the responsibility for matters of subnational or regional importance. The government of each province consists of three major parts: the Provinciale Staten which is the...

 of Zeeland
Zeeland
Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...

 in south-western Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. It lies south of the Western Scheldt
Western Scheldt
The Western Scheldt in the province Zeeland in the southwestern Netherlands, is the estuary of the Scheldt river. This river once had several estuaries, but the others are disconnected from the Scheldt, leaving the Westerschelde as its only direct way to the sea. It is an important shipping route...

 that separates the region from the remainder of Zeeland to the north. Zeelandic Flanders is bordered to the south by Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

.

Geography

Zeelandic Flanders is the north-eastern part of the large historical region of Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 which today lies mostly in Belgium. It shares a land border with the Belgian provinces
Provinces of Belgium
Belgium is divided into three regions, two of them are subdivided into five provinces each.The division into provinces is fixed by Article 5 of the Belgian Constitution...

 of East
East Flanders
East Flanders is a province of Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders on the Netherlands and in Belgium on the provinces of Antwerp, Flemish Brabant , of Hainaut and of West Flanders...

 and West Flanders. It is a latitudinally oriented strip of land along the Western Scheldt, a North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

 estuary, and has no land access with the rest of the Netherlands. The area of Zeelandic Netherlands is 876 km² (338 sq mi) of which 733 km² (283 sq mi) is land and 143 km² (55 sq mi) is water.

The region is bordered by the Zwin
Zwin
The Zwin is a nature reserve at the North Sea coast, on the Belgian-Dutch border. It consists of the entrace area of a former tidal inlet which during the Middle Ages connected the North Sea with the ports of Sluis and Bruges inland....

 nature reserve in the West and the Drowned Land of Saeftinghe
Saeftinghe
Saeftinghe was a city in eastern Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, Belgium, near Nieuw-Namen that existed until 1584. Nowadays the area is a swamp known as the Verdronken Land van Saeftinghe which is an official nature reserve area. The land is a crosspoint where the river Scheldt meets the salty waters of the...

 in the East.
Since local government boundary reforms in 2003, Zeelandic Flanders has consisted of only three municipalities: Sluis
Sluis
Sluis is the name of both a municipality and a town located in the west of Zeelandic Flanders, in the south-western part of the Netherlands....

 in the west, Terneuzen
Terneuzen
Terneuzen is a city and municipality in the southwestern Netherlands, in the province of Zeeland, in the middle of Zeelandic Flanders. With over 55,000 inhabitants, it is the most populous municipality of Zeeland.-Population centres :...

 in the centre and Hulst
Hulst
Hulst is a municipality and a city in southwestern Netherlands in the east of Zeelandic Flanders.- History :Hulst received city rights in the 12th century....

 in the east.

Transport

Zeelandic Flanders is connected to Flushing
Flushing, Netherlands
Vlissingen is a municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an important harbour for centuries. It was granted city rights in 1315. In the 17th century...

 on Walcheren
Walcheren
thumb|right|250px|Campveer Tower in Veere, built in 1500Walcheren is a former island in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Oosterschelde in the north and the Westerschelde in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus...

 to the north of the Western Scheldt by the Western Scheldt Tunnel
Western Scheldt Tunnel
Western Scheldt Tunnel is a tunnel in The Netherlands on highway N62 under the Western Scheldt estuary between Ellewoutsdijk and Terneuzen. It is the longest tunnel for highway traffic in The Netherlands.-History:...

 and the ferry it replaced which is for pedestrians and cyclists. A ferry that formerly ran from Perkpolder to Kruiningen
Kruiningen
Kruiningen is a village in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is located in the municipality of Reimerswaal, about 5 km south of the village of Yerseke.Kruiningen has a station on the railway line Bergen op Zoom - Vlissingen.-References:...

 in South Beveland was discontinued upon opening of the tunnel.

The Ghent-Terneuzen Canal
Ghent-Terneuzen Canal
The Ghent-Terneuzen Canal , also known as the "Sea Canal" is a canal linking Ghent in Belgium to the port of Terneuzen on the Westerschelde estuary in the Netherlands, thereby providing the former with better access to the sea.-History:The canal was constructed between 1823 and 1827 on the...

 passes through Zeelandic Flanders.

History

Except for some formerly insular areas, the region now called Zeelandic Flanders was not part of the historical County of Zeeland
County of Zeeland
The County of Zeeland was a county of the Holy Roman Empire in what is now the Netherlands. It covered an area in the Scheldt and Meuse delta roughly corresponding to the current Dutch province of Zeeland, though it did not include the region of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen which was part of...

, but a part of the County of Flanders
County of Flanders
The County of Flanders was one of the territories constituting the Low Countries. The county existed from 862 to 1795. It was one of the original secular fiefs of France and for centuries was one of the most affluent regions in Europe....

 initially ruled by the House of Habsburg. The region was front line in the Eighty Years' War and was conquered by the Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...

 near the end of the war. As such, it was the only part of Flanders, which took part in the insurgency, to become part of the new republic.

Zeelandic Flanders was subsequently ruled directly by the Dutch States-General
States-General of the Netherlands
The States-General of the Netherlands is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets in at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes in which medieval...

 (parliament) as one of the Generality Lands
Generality Lands
The Generality Lands, Lands of the Generality or Common Lands were about one fifth of the territories of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, that were directly governed by the States-General...

 and called Flanders of the States (Staats-Vlaanderen). After occupation by the French
French First Republic
The French First Republic was founded on 22 September 1792, by the newly established National Convention. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First French Empire in 1804 under Napoleon I...

 in 1795, the area accrued to the département of Escaut. Before the formation of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands
United Kingdom of the Netherlands
United Kingdom of the Netherlands is the unofficial name used to refer to Kingdom of the Netherlands during the period after it was first created from part of the First French Empire and before the new kingdom of Belgium split out in 1830...

 in 1815, Zeelandic Flanders was territory of the Dutch province of North Brabant
North Brabant
North Brabant , sometimes called Brabant, is a province of the Netherlands, located in the south of the country, bordered by Belgium in the south, the Meuse River in the north, Limburg in the east and Zeeland in the west.- History :...

 for a few years, but when the present province Zeeland was formed Zeelandic Flanders became a part of it, even after the 1830 Belgian Revolution
Belgian Revolution
The Belgian Revolution was the conflict which led to the secession of the Southern provinces from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and established an independent Kingdom of Belgium....

 that separated the remainder of Dutch Flanders from the Netherlands.

Population

, the population of Zeelandic Flanders was 107,853 with 147 /km2.

Language

The native dialect of the western part of the region is Zeelandic Flemish, a variety of West Flemish
West Flemish
West Flemish , , , Fransch vlaemsch in French Flemish) is a group of dialects or regional language related to Dutch spoken in parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, and France....

. In the central regions, the Land-van-Axels and Land-van-Cadzands dialects of Zeelandic
Zeelandic
Zeelandic is a regional language spoken in the Dutch province of Zeeland and on the South Holland island of Goeree-Overflakkee...

, itself a transition between West Flemish and Hollandic
Hollandic
Hollandic or Hollandish is, together with Brabantian, the most frequently used dialect of the Dutch language. Other important Low Franconian language varieties spoken in the same area are Zeelandic, East Flemish, West Flemish and Limburgish....

, are spoken. In the eastern part, East Flemish
East Flemish
East Flemish is a group of dialects of the Dutch language, which is a Low Franconian language. It is spoken in the province of East Flanders in Belgium, but also spoken in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen in the Netherlands.-Brabantic Expansion:...

 with some Brabantian
Brabantian
Brabantian or Brabantish, also Brabantic , is a dialect group of the Dutch language. It is named after the historical Duchy of Brabant which corresponded mainly to the Dutch province of North Brabant, the Belgian provinces of Antwerp and Flemish Brabant, as well as the institutional Region of...

 influence is spoken. Because some smaller areas were isolated by water, and thus being small islands there are some dialects that differ slightly with the 'normal' dialect. This way, some villages have their own dialect, which people from the provinces above the 'big rivers' (the Waal and the Lek) can't understand. If there is being spoken of the provinces above the big rivers, the provinces of North-Holland, South-Holland, Utrecht
Utrecht
Utrecht is a city in the Netherlands.The name may also refer to:* Utrecht , of which Utrecht is the capital* Utrecht , including the city of Utrecht* Bishopric of Utrecht* Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht...

 and Gelderland
Gelderland
Gelderland is the largest province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country. The capital city is Arnhem. The two other major cities, Nijmegen and Apeldoorn have more inhabitants. Other major regional centers in Gelderland are Ede, Doetinchem, Zutphen, Tiel, Wijchen,...

 are meant.

See also

  • Flanders
    Flanders
    Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

  • Zeeland
    Zeeland
    Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...

  • Western Scheldt
    Western Scheldt
    The Western Scheldt in the province Zeeland in the southwestern Netherlands, is the estuary of the Scheldt river. This river once had several estuaries, but the others are disconnected from the Scheldt, leaving the Westerschelde as its only direct way to the sea. It is an important shipping route...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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