het Bildt

het Bildt
het Bildt
Municipality
	Church and water tower of Sint Jacobiparochie
	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postcode	9047, 9075–9079
Area code	0518
Website	www.hetbildt.nl

het Bildt (Dutch:

Friesland in the northern Netherlands; its capital was Sint Annaparochie. On 1 January 2018 it merged with the municipalities of Franekeradeel, Menameradiel and parts of Littenseradiel to form the new municipality Waadhoeke

.

Het Bildt has 15.4 km (9.6 mi) of coastline. Its soil is very fertile and agriculture is a major part of its economy; crops grown include onions, potatoes, and a variety of fruits (mainly

Dutch (as spoken in South Holland) with West Frisian

; Bildts is usually classified as a dialect of Dutch. All three languages - Bildts, Dutch, and West Frisian - are spoken in the area. Only in Minnertsga (which did not become a part of the municipality of Het Bildt until 1984) is West Frisian the predominant language. Signage in Het Bildt is generally bilingual, with names given in both Dutch and Bildts.

The name Het Bildt is formed out of the word opbilden which means the silting up of land.

Population centres

Number of inhabitants as of 1 January 2004:

Dutch name	Bildts name	West Frisian name	Population
Sint Annaparochie	Sint-Anne	Sint Anne	3990
Minnertsga	Minnertska	Minnertsgea	1640
Sint Jacobiparochie	Sint-Jabik	Sint Jabik	1370
Oudebildtzijl	Ouwe-Syl	Aldebildtsyl	740
Vrouwenparochie	Froubuurt	Froubuorren	620
Nij Altoenae	Nij Altoenae	Nij Altena	280
Westhoek	De Westhoek	De Westhoek	280

Source: CBS

Topography

Dutch topographic map of the municipality of Het Bildt, June 2015

History

The region now called Het Bildt was formed out of a sea called the

Waddenzee

's tide, has continued to the present.

The new dry land consisted of two regions, called "Het Grote Bildt" and "Het Kleine Bildt", and both came under the ownership of the Saxon duke Albert of Saxony-Meissen. He seriously considered converting the whole region into solid dry land but he was out of funds and died within a few years in 1504. The Saxon control of Friesland was by no means secure and was continually threatened by revolts in that province. Consequently, Albert's successor Heinrich of Saxony, who was of a rather inert disposition, relinquished his claims to the governorship, and in 1505 an agreement was made between Albert's two sons by which Friesland was transferred to Heinrich's brother, George of Saxony, while Heinrich received an annuity and the districts of Freiberg and Wolkenstein.

In June 1505, Duke George of Saxony signed an eleven-year farming-lease-agreement with the noble brothers from

Friesland

. The area was mathematically planned and consists of straight, parallel roads pointing from south to north or east to west.

Along the main road three villages were formed. They are named Wijngaarden, Altoenae, and Kijfhoek, after the villages (

Schieringers and Gelderschen (who formed a pact) and in 1514 he was required to hand over the whole Bildt area to the Count of Holland and Zeeland, with the permission of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor

.

When the "

Friesland. Eventually, it was decided that the area north of the dike would also be diked; this was done in 1600. The new dike was called the "Nieuwe Bildtdijk" and the old 14-kilometer-long dike was called "Oude Bildtdijk". The area in between was called "Nij Bildt" and in 1637 was sold because the Frisian province was short on money. It is claimed that the Frisian farmhouses which can be seen throughout Friesland originated in Het Bildt. The former South Holland province inhabitants brought the design with them and it was later exploited for use all over the Frisian province (though the typical Bildts farmhouses

do vary from Frisian farmhouses). In 1715 another western area was diked, named the "Wester Bildtpollen". On 12 March 1751 the rest of this area was also sold. In 1754 the eastern part, the "Ooster Bildtpollen" was diked.

Today the "Oude Bildtdijk" and the "Nieuwe Bildtdijk" are both covered with roads and houses; the road that runs across the old 14*kilometer long dike is the longest in the Netherlands.

References

^ "Wnd. Burgemeester G. Krol" [Ad interim mayor G. Krol] (in Dutch). Gemeente het Bildt. Archived from the original on 23 December 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
^ "Kerncijfers wijken en buurten 2020" [Key figures for neighbourhoods 2020]. StatLine (in Dutch). CBS. 24 July 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
^ "Postcodetool for 9076BT". Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland (in Dutch). Het Waterschapshuis. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 12 September 2013.

External links

Media related to het Bildt at Wikimedia Commons

Official website

[mayor_now-1] "Wnd. Burgemeester G. Krol" [Ad interim mayor G. Krol] (in Dutch). Gemeente het Bildt. Archived from the original on 23 December 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2013.

[2] "Kerncijfers wijken en buurten 2020" [Key figures for neighbourhoods 2020]. StatLine (in Dutch). CBS. 24 July 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.

[AHN-3] "Postcodetool for 9076BT". Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland (in Dutch). Het Waterschapshuis. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 12 September 2013.