The Noordoostpolder is a polder, municipality and region in the
Dutch province of Flevoland. The municipality has 47,618 inhabitants
(1 August 2020, source: CBS) on a land area of 460.05 km², making
it one of the largest municipalities in the Netherlands in terms of
land area. With a water surface (mainly IJsselmeer ) of 135.36 km²,
the total area comes to 595.41 km². The largest town in the
municipality is Emmeloord, where the town hall is located.
The polder that was dried up in 1942 largely belongs to the
municipality of the same name in the province of Flevoland ( see map
on the left ). The former island of Urk (including an adjoining part
of the polder acquired later) is not part of the Noordoostpolder
municipality, but is an independent municipality. A small part of
the polder has also been added to the Frisian Lemmer (municipality
of De Friese Meren ) for the construction of the residential area
Lemstervaart.
VVV tourist information office Noordoostpolder,
De Deel 25 (inside the tower), ☏ +31 527-612000. The tourist
information office has a good range of services and can also assist
in finding a place to stay. There's a large number of maps, routes,
information leaflets and souvenirs for sale.
The adoption of the Zuiderzee Act in 1918 led to the construction and
reclamation of the Zuiderzee/IJsselmeer polders, the "Lely Plan". To
gain experience with reclamation and cultivating soils with a high salt
content, the Proefpolder Andijk was first constructed. The experience
gained in this pilot polder has accelerated the development of the
Wieringermeer. Because the Wieringermeer was constructed in the
Zuiderzee before the Afsluitdijk was closed, the Noordoostpolder was,
strictly speaking, the first IJsselmeer polder. Initially, the intention
was to build the Markerwaard first, but due to the poor economic
conditions of the thirties, after initially discussing the dismantling
of further polders, it was decided to go to the other side of the
IJsselmeer. It would probably be easier to find aspiring farmers there.
After all, the area behind was much larger. Moreover, the
Noordoostelijke Polder, which was still a dossier name at the time, was
much smaller and therefore cheaper to construct.
Preparatory work
was started on 2 February 1936, and in 1937 the construction of a total
of 31.5 kilometers of dike was put out to tender. On October 3, 1939,
the dike between Lemmer and Urk was closed. From then on Urk was no
longer an island. On December 13, 1940, the dike on the south side of
the polder near Schokkerhaven was closed, the total length of the dike
was now 54 km. On January 13, 1941, dry milling could begin when the
pumping station at Lemmer came into use. Initially, one pumping station
was ready to grind. The other two pumping stations became available
after that, there are three main pumping stations: Buma, Smeenge and
Vissering. The polder officially fell dry on September 9, 1942. Now
Schokland was no longer an island, it was now in the middle of the
polder. Because the seabed on the Overijssel side rose sharply, the
first crop (rye) could be harvested there as early as 1941. During the
occupation period (1940-1945), work on the development continued as
usual, since the acquisition of additional agricultural land (with food
yields) was also an important goal for the occupiers.
The brand
new polder quickly became a refuge for people in hiding, because the
workers were exempt from the Arbeitseinsatz. At the time, the
abbreviation NOP (for the Noordoostpolder) was said to also stand for
"Dutch Underdivers Paradise". In total, approximately twenty thousand
people were said to have gone into hiding during these war years. In
November 1944, about 1,800 pioneers and people in hiding were rounded up
during a major raid and taken to Meppel via Vollenhove. The then
landdrost Smeding managed to recover about half of it, in order to
thresh the grain harvest. To this day, at least two roads can still be
found in the polder that remind us of the people in hiding: the Onder
Duikersweg and the Onder Duikerspad, in Espel/Creil.
The
allotment plan was adopted in 1939, three star-shaped main canals, aimed
at Urk, Lemmer and the Voorst, were planned straight through the polder
(Urkervaart, Lemstervaart and Zwolse Vaart). There were also the axes
Lemmer - Ramspol and from Urk to Vollenhove and Blokzijl. The main town
of Emmeloord would arise at the intersection of canals. Initially there
were also five villages planned, later this became ten.
The
construction of farms was already started in the Second World War,
initially the same types as in the Wieringermeer. These are mainly
located on the east side of the polder, usually at the beginning of a
road. Because they were used to cultivate the polder, these farms are
called Cultuurboerderijen. After World War II, bricks and masons were in
short supply; it was then that prefab concrete elements were used for
the first time. Land issuance began in 1947. The new farmers were
rigorously selected. They mainly came from Friesland, North Holland, and
Zeeland (including from Walcheren, which was flooded by the Allies in
October 1944). After the flood of 1953, many farmers from
Schouwen-Duiveland, Tholen and Zuid-Beveland came over.
The
layout of the polder was based on one central place (Emmeloord) and
star-shaped connecting roads to ten smaller villages. This form of
arrangement is partly based on the central place theory of the German
economist and geographer Christaller who described it in 1933. The
design of the Noordoostpolder was still based on cores within cycling
distance, but the emergence of first the moped and later the car made
this planning obsolete during implementation. In Eastern Flevoland,
which had fallen dry in 1957, a division on a larger scale (cores at car
distance) could therefore be assumed, as a result of which a number of
planned villages were scrapped.
Nowadays the (motorway) A6
between Lelystad and Joure and the (motorway) N50 between Emmeloord and
Kampen are the main connecting roads.
Various names were in
circulation for the new polder; for example, in 1944 the name Urkerland
was officially recorded, as were the names of the villages. During the
war, Schokkerwaard, Urkerwaard and Nieuw Schokland were also mentioned
as an alternative name for the polder. In 1948 Noordoostpolder became
the official name. From the establishment of the municipality of
Noordoostpolder in 1962 until the formation of the province of Flevoland
in 1986, the polder belonged to the province of Overijssel. Before that
time, the area fell administratively under the State.
On November
1, 2008, the Noordoostpolder gained a new village, making it the newest
village in the Netherlands: Schokland. The former island thus separated
itself from the centers of Ens and Nagele. A new benchmark in the
history of the former island that almost disappeared into the sea.
Schokland consists of no more than four households, a museum, a
restaurant and the house of the lightkeeper.
On January 1, 2019,
the municipality of Urk was expanded on the north and south side with
parts of the municipality of Noordoostpolder to enable the expansion of
the Urkerbos to the north and the construction of a business park to the
south of the place. Urk now encompasses more territory than just the
original island.[8] Since only a small number of residents were
involved, Noordoostpolder was not involved in the municipal redivision
elections of 2018.
Soon after the drainage of the polder, archaeological remains
were found in many places. Especially from many shipwrecks of ships
that have been wrecked in this area since the 14th century. At least
435 shipwrecks have emerged in Flevoland, 195 of which are in the
Noordoostpolder. The waters where the later polders were built were
used for centuries by heavy shipping traffic. Many wrecks have been
found in the vicinity of Kuinre in particular. Remains of the
Kuinderburcht from the 12th to 16th century were also found near
Kuinre.
But all kinds of materials were also found that were
thought to belong to shiploads. However, more recent research has
shown that many bones, bricks and pottery come from earlier
settlements that have been engulfed by the sea. A 2020 doctoral
research by archaeologist Yftinus van Popta of the University of
Groningen showed that remnants of the former villages of Marcnesse,
Nagele, Fenehuysen I and Fenehuysen II (Veenhuizen) have been found.
Its existence has been suspected for some time, but the exact
locations have now become known. The age probably goes back to the
period between 1000 and 1300.
Bant is named after the village of Bantega, which used to be in
Lemsterland and was swallowed up by the water of the former
Zuiderzee. In Lemsterland, after the Second World War, the name
Bantega was given to a former part of the village of Echten.
Creil is either named after a sandbank in the former Zuiderzee near
Stavoren, or after the Creiler Woud.
Emmeloord takes its name
from the village on the northern tip of the former island of
Schokland in the Zuiderzee. The village used to be called (1478)
Emelwerth. Eem, the first part of Emel-, comes from the Germanic
ami, a general designation for a natural course of water. Werth
means mound. From 1650, however, we see that the name has been
converted to Emeloirt. Oirt (because of the i after the o it is
pronounced as oort) means point, just like in Dinteloord and IJoort
(later IJdoorn). The transition from werth to oort is probably
related to the crumbling of the island of Schokland. As a result,
Emelwerth was less and less a terp (hill in the country) but
increasingly came to lie on the point (oirt) of the island.
Ens
got his name in the same way as Emmeloord. It is named after the
southern part of the island of Schokland. The residential areas of
Middelbuurt and Zuidert together formed Ens, which was evacuated in
1859, along with the entire island of Schokland, when living there
became too dangerous.
Espel was also the name of a village that
once lay north of Urk. This disappeared village also occurs in
history under the names Espelbergh and Espelo.
Kraggenburg
derives its name from the former airport at the mouth of the Zwolse
Diep, which is now known as Oud Kraggenburg. The lightkeeper's
house, the end point of a long levee dam, was not demolished after
the reclamation and is now located in the new land.
Luttelgeest
was named after a town that once lay near Kuinre.
Marknesse is
named after Marcnesse or Marenesse, a village that, according to the
chronicles, was once near Urk and Schokland.
Nagele is a name
that had not yet disappeared when the Noordoostpolder was created.
Old Zuiderzee fishermen did claim that they tore their nets at the
remains of the place Nagele (on old maps appearing under the names
Naghele and Nakala), which once lay between Urk and Schokland.
Superstitious sailors even heard the bells of the sea-destroyed
tower ring during stormy weather.
Rutten is derived from Ruthne,
a village that must have been north of Urk in the 14th century.
Tollebeek refers to an old estate of the Lords of Kuinre; "In the
time 1364 Tollebeke was an estate next to the sijtack of the river
Nagel, which belonged to the Lords of Kuinre…". This is also the
reason that all street names in Tollebeek refer to hunting.
The municipality of Noordoostpolder has twelve places, of which
Emmeloord is by far the largest and Schokland by far the smallest.
Emmeloord has also grown much more strongly than expected according to
the original plans and is now 2.5 times larger than originally planned
(25,000 instead of 10,000 inhabitants). In the 1980s, seven newly
founded villages had not yet reached half of the projected population,
which meant that these centers seemed unlikely to become viable, but in
2017 these too had all grown considerably. This situation will also be
sustainable in 2023.
After Emmeloord and Marknesse, the centers
of Ens, Tollebeek and Luttelgeest have now also passed the original
target standard; Nagele is close to it. Particularly striking was the
growth of Tollebeek, one of the two youngest centers, located between
Urk and Emmeloord. Since then, this strong growth seems to have
virtually come to a standstill. As of January 1, 2020, the village had a
population of 2,460.
The population of the smallest villages
doubled between 1985 and 2017, but they still had fewer than 1,500
inhabitants. With the exception of Kraggenburg, they have all passed
this border since (2023). (Schokland is negligible.)