Urk

[Urk] is a municipality and a town in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands.

Urk is first mentioned in the 10th century, when it was still an island in the Zuider Zee. In 1939, a dike from the mainland to Urk ended the town's island status. Later in the 20th century, surrounding areas were reclaimed from the sea and became the Noordoostpolder.

Still a fisherman's town, Urk's inhabitants are known as being very religious (Reformed).

The former island of Urk

Contents

1 Geography
2 History
3 Economy
4 Politics
5 Dialect
6 Folktales
7 Born on Urk
8 Urk based companies
9 External links

Geography

Around the IJsselmeer is an arc of boulder clay high areas of land, which were made in the Pleistocene: Texel, Wieringen, Urk, de Voorst, Gaasterland. To south of that arc, as a result of meltwater, a lake formed, the later Almere. North of the boulder clay highland of Urk the Vecht river flowed into the Almere. South of Urk the river IJssel with tributaries flowed in. As the climate became warmer, the sea level rose. Around 1200 the Zuiderzee formed, and the water round Urk became tidal sea. Because there was no sea defence, in the course of time large pieces of the island were eroded away. The southwest side, which rose perpendicularly out of the sea, was called het Hoge Klif = "the High Cliff". Around 1700 the municipality of Amsterdam gave sea defences to Urk.

History

The oldest well-known indication of the name "Urk" is the donation certificate of 966 of Holy Roman Emperor Otto I to the Sint Pantaleonsklooster monastery in Cologne. The text reads: "cuiisdam insulae medietatem in Almere, que Urch vocatur" (Latin: "a certain island in the middle of Almere, which is called Urch").
From 1660 to 1792 Urk and Emmeloord (the most northern village of Schokland) belonged to the municipality of Amsterdam.
From then to 1950 Urk belonged to the province of Noordholland.
From then to 1986 Urk belonged to the province of Overijssel.
From then to nowadays Urk belongs to the province of Flevoland.

After WWII, Urk town has spread into the polder, and many Urkers who had to leave because of overcrowding, have returned to Urk.
The Noordoostpolder in its early years had an alternative name "Urker Land".

Economy

The important economic pillar of the village is the fishery. After the IJsselmeer was formed, the Urkers fished on the North Sea. At present Urk is a very prosperous village.

Politics

The municipality council in 2006 had 17 seats: Christian Union and CDA formed a coalition.

SGP: 5 seats
Christian Union: 6 seats
CDA: 4 seats
Union municipality interests: 2 seats

Urk has two aldermen. One from the Christian Union and one from CDA.

Dialect

The most remarkable and also oldest dialect of Dutch is the language which is spoken in Urk. Nearly everybody in this village speaks this dialect and uses it in daily life. The dialect deviates rather from standard Dutch and has preserved many old characteristics which disappeared in standard Dutch a long time ago. It has elements that are older than standard Dutch. For example, the old word for "father" in the Urkish dialect is taote. It may relate to a Proto-Indo-European word, as it has cognates in the Balkans. The dialect developed this way because until WWII, Urk was an island and could be only reached by boat. Radio was unknown and the poor population didn't have much money for newspapers and books. Primary education for the children was only for two years; afterwards they had to help to maintain the family.

The Urkish dialect has more vowels than standard Dutch. And each vowel has short and long forms with different meanings. Also the pronunciation of vowels deviates from standard Dutch and agrees much more with English.

Because the living conditions were very poor, formerly girls aged 11 or 12 already had to become domestic servants, mostly in or around Amsterdam. They served there as help in the household, frequently with Jewish families. As a result the dialect has many loanwords from the Amsterdam dialect and from Yiddish.

When Napoleon occupied the Netherlands, many French words were incorporated not only in standard Dutch but in Urkish as well. Just like in standard Dutch, it often changed form in Urkish. The Urkish dialect has always been a spoken language, and therefore there are not many old texts written in the dialect. Just in the last years people start to write also prose and poetry in the Urkish dialect. There are Urkers who have translated Bible books into Urkish, such as the book of Psalms.

In spite of that, Urk is no longer an island and everyone by means of the media is always faced with Dutch and English, but the own dialect is still alive. It is still used by almost everyone on this former island. And the interest of the population for its own dialect is growing.

Folktales

The most famous Urkish folktale must be the tale parents tell their children when they want to know where the little babies come from. The tale involves a big stone which is about 30 metres from the shore of this former island. This stone is known as the Ommelebommelestien.

The legend
On this earth there are two kinds of people, strangers and Urkers (people from Urk). Strangers are usually born from a cabbage or a stork brings them to their new parents; however Urkers come from this big stone which lies about 30 meters from the shores of their former island.

Nowadays the stone is usually called 'Ommelebommelestien' (Ommel Bommel Stone), but in older days people used to call this stone the Ommelmoerstien: moer means "mother" in the Urkish dialect.

Father stork comes all the way from Egypt to put babies in this stone. When the baby is about to be born the baby's father has to go to Schokland to pick up the key that gives access to the stone. So when you ask a Urkish man if he have been to Schokland, you actually ask if he has children.

In the older days when both Urk and Schokland were still islands in the Zuiderzee, the father had to take the obstetrician in his boat and row from Urk to Schokland to get the key, and from Schokland to the Ommelebommelestien to get the baby. Nowadays he can probably just go to Schokland by car, but has to row to the stone anyway. The door to the stone is somewhere below sealevel, so pretty hard to find.

Once the door is found a small price had to be paid for the baby, one Dutch gulden for a girl but two for a boy. That was in the old days; nowadays the same amount ahs to be paid in euros, and because Dutch law does not allow sex discrimination, the price for both a girl and a boy is the same: 2 euros.

Mother is kept in bed with a nail through her right foot. She must celebrate that she has just become a mom.

Monument
When you visit Urk be sure to have a look at this wonderful stone. Right in front of it a small statue is erected. It shows the father rowing to the stone and the obstetrician holding the baby.

Born on Urk

Albert Cornelis Baantjer (16 September 1923), writer.

Urk based companies

Marble Marine Electronics

External links

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