Urk
Urk | |
---|---|
Municipality | |
UTC+2 (CEST) | |
Postcode | 8320–8324 |
Area code | 0527 |
Website | www |
Urk (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈʏr(ə)k] ⓘ) is a municipality and a town in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands.
Urk is first mentioned in historical records dating to the 10th century, when it was still an island in the
The mainstay of the town's formal economy has always been fishing, and the products of the sea coming in through Urk harbor continue to be exported widely, although today Urk's fishing boats must travel greater distances to gather them than was required in most historical periods. Religious life has traditionally been very important to Urk's inhabitants, with active, conservative congregations of the Dutch
Geography
Towards the north, the
History
The oldest instance of the name "Urk" is a donation certificate of 966 from
After World War II, Urk ceased to be an island, and Urk's town expanded into the reclaimed land of the polder. Many Urkers who previously left the town because of overcrowding before the polder reclamation was completed were able to return to Urk. From 1950 to 1986 Urk belonged to the province of Overijssel. Since 1986, Urk has belonged to the province of Flevoland.
The Noordoostpolder in its early years had an alternative name "Urker Land," from which Urk's newspaper, Het Urkerland, gets its name.
Economy
The important economic pillar of the village remains fishery. After the IJsselmeer was formed, the Urkers moved their fishing operations to the North Sea. Additionally, Urk is focused on making a connection between the existing economy and new activities such as tourism, social care, maritime industry and services. The local council is keen to particularly promote tourism, retail and fisheries.[1] In the past, many lives were lost in storms on the Zuiderzee and North Sea. There is a memorial to lost fishermen on Urk, popularly known as the Urker vrouw: a statue of a woman looking out to sea, vainly awaiting the return of her husband and sons.
Politics
Local
The municipal council currently (2022) contains five political parties:
- SGP: 6 seats
- Christian Union: 3 seats
- CDA: 3 seats
- Hart voor Urk: 3 seats
- Gemeentebelangen: 2 seats
- PVV: 1 seat
- Krachtig Urk: 1 seat
Gemeentebelangen, Hart voor Urk and Krachtig Urk are local parties. Hart voor Urk was founded by former SGP councillor Jan Koffeman with largely identical party policies to SGP's.
A majority coalition of ChristenUnie, SGP and Hart voor Urk are currently in power. The town council is led by (non-elected) mayor Cees van den Bos.
None of these parties can be described as either left-wing (socialist) or liberal. National parties, such as the
(labour), are not represented in Urk's town council and support for these parties in national and regional elections remains minimal. However, due to slowly growing support for the VVD, an Urk affiliate of the conservative/liberal party was founded in early 2011 and entered the 2014 local elections. However, the VVD only drew 2.7% of the vote, insufficient for a seat.National
Urk is one of the most politically conservative areas in the Netherlands. As part of the so-called Dutch "
Voting patterns used to be relatively stable, with approximately 85-90% of the votes spread out evenly over SGP,
However, in recent years a few changes in voting patterns occurred, such as a growing support for national protest parties such as the LPF or Geert Wilders' PVV Freedom Party. Also, voting patterns these days tend to show bigger swings, as shown in 2010's and 2012's national elections in which CDA lost 11% and 13% respectively, and in 2011's regional elections, in which ChristenUnie lost 18%. In 2012, orthodox-Christian SGP even registered an absolute majority with 51.2% of the vote. (In the European Elections of 2014, the combined ChristenUnie/SGP list even registered 78% of the vote).
Support for established left wing parties, such as the Labour Party or the Socialist Party, remains minimal.
Parties | Political Ideology
|
2017 Votes % | 2021 Vote % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Reformed Political Party (Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij, SGP) |
Conservatism, Reformed Christian | 56.1% | 54.4% | |
Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) |
Right-wing populism/Anti-Islam | 11.0% | 13.8% | |
Forum for Democracy (Forum voor Democratie, FvD) |
Right-wing populism/Anti-Islam | - | 9.0% | |
ChristianUnion (ChristenUnie, CU) |
Social-Christianity /Orthodox Protestantism | 11.6% | 8.1% | |
Christian Democratic Appeal (Christen-Democratisch Appèl, CDA) |
Christian Democracy
|
14.2% | 7.8% | |
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie, VVD) |
Conservative liberalism | 1.8% | 1.7% | |
Democrats 66 (Democraten 66, D66) |
Radicalism, Progressivism
|
0.5% | 0.5% | |
Party for the Animals (Partij voor de Dieren, PvdD) |
Animal rights/Animal welfare | 0.2% | 0.3% | |
Socialist Party (Socialistische Partij, SP) |
Socialism | 0.7% | 0.2% | |
GreenLeft (GroenLinks, GL) |
Green Politics
|
0.2% | 0.2% | |
Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid, PvdA) |
Social Democracy
|
0.2% | 0.2% | |
Other | – | 3.4% | 3.8% | |
Total | 100% | 100% | ||
Turnout | 81.57% | 91.33% |
Dialect
One of the oldest and most distinctive dialects of Dutch is the language spoken in Urk. Nearly everyone in the village speaks this dialect and uses it in daily life. The dialect deviates considerably from contemporary standard Dutch and has preserved many old characteristics that disappeared from standard Dutch a long time ago. The Urkish dialect also includes elements that are older than standard Dutch and were never part of the standard language. For example, the old word for "father" in the Urkish dialect is taote. The dialect developed this way because until World War II, Urk was an island and could be reached only by boat. Radio was unknown, and the poor population did not have much money for newspapers and books. Until the modern era, primary education for the children typically lasted only two years; afterwards children had to help maintain the family, and formal schooling ended.[citation needed]
Linguistic classifications have assigned "the dialect of Urk" or "Urk" into an own dialect group.[7]
The Urkish dialect has more vowel sounds than standard Dutch and each vowel has short and long forms. The pronunciation of vowels deviates from standard Dutch and is closer to English.
Because living conditions in Urk in historical times were very poor, young girls (typically about age 11 or 12) would frequently leave the island to become domestic servants, mostly in or around Amsterdam. They often served with
When Napoleon occupied the Netherlands, many French words were incorporated into both standard Dutch and Urkish. Just as for standard Dutch, French words often changed form when incorporated into Urkish. The Urkish dialect has always been primarily a spoken language, and there are not many old texts written in the dialect. Only in recent years have people begun to write prose and poetry in the Urkish dialect. There are Urkers who have translated Bible books into Urkish, such as the book of Psalms.
Urk is no longer an island and exposure to the standard Dutch through the media is widespread. However, the distinctive Urkish dialect is still alive.
Notable people
- A.C. Baantjer (1923 in Urk – 2010) a Dutch author of detective fiction and police officer
- Geert Nentjes, (born 1998), professional darts player, lives in Urk
- Jan Ras (born 1999 in Urk) a Dutch footballer who plays for SC Heerenveen
- Dick Schutte (born 1947 in Wilsum) a former Dutch politician, Mayor of Urk from 1999 to 2005
- Adri van Heteren (born 1951) a Dutch Christian minister in Urk
Folktales
Ommelebommelestien
A famous Urkish folktale is the story parents tell their children when they want to know where the babies come from. The tale involves a large exposed rock which can be seen in the IJsselmeer about 30 metres (98 feet) from the shore. This stone is known as the "Ommelebommelestien". Urkers often tell their children that there are two kinds of people-- vreemden (strangers) and Urkers (people from Urk). Strangers are usually born from a cabbage, or a stork brings them to their new parents, but Urkers come from a large stone which lies about 30 metres (98 feet) from the shores of their former island. Nowadays, the stone is usually called "Ommelebommelestien" (Ommel-Bommel Stone), but in former times it was called "Ommelmoerstien": moer means "mother's" in the Urkish dialect. In the tale, a
Urk and the arts
The prolific Dutch writer Albert Cornelis Baantjer was born here. Baantjer is mainly known for his large series of detective novels revolving around police inspector De Cock and his side-kick, sergeant Vledder.
Writer Jef Last lived on Urk for several years from 1932 onwards. He wrote several articles about Urk for one of the most progressive Dutch magazines, 'De Groene Amsterdammer'. While living here, he fell in love with a fisherman, and was inspired to write Zuiderzee.[8] This novel deals with the love between two fishermen living on Urk and was one of the first, if not the first novel in Dutch literature to openly deal with homosexuality.
The Dutch writer, painter and resistance hero Willem Arondeus spent some time on Urk from 1920. While residing on Urk, during 1922, he wrote 'Afzijdige Strofen', a collection of twenty homo-erotic poems which were posthumously published in 2001.
Demographics
Year 2018:
- Birth Rate: 20.3 per 1000
- Death Rate: 3.24 per 1000
- NGR: +1.90% per year.[10]
The birth rate of the municipality of Urk is the highest in the Netherlands as of 2016 (and highest in previous years). But like many other places in the Netherlands this number declined to 18.7% (down from 30.8% in 1988). In 1988 only Zeewolde had a slightly higher birth rate at 31.3%, but the birth rate Urk remained the second highest. The total fertility rate declined to 2.6 (down from 3.9 in 1988).
Rail Links
Urk has no railway station but the nearest stations are Kampen, Dronten and Lelystad, each approximately 30 kilometres (19 miles) away. This makes Urk one of the most isolated places in the Netherlands as far as railway connections are concerned.
See also
- Urk Lighthouse
- Marken
- Louise Kaiser, Urk language researcher
References
- ^ "Samenstelling college B&W" [Members of the board of mayor and aldermen] (in Dutch). Gemeente Urk. Retrieved 1 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 8321GT". Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland (in Dutch). Het Waterschapshuis. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
- ^ "Bevolkingsontwikkeling; regio per maand" [Population growth; regions per month]. CBS Statline (in Dutch). CBS. 1 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
- ^ "Tweede Kamer, 2021".
- ^ "Tweede Kamer, 2017".
- ^ Heeringa, Wilbert Jan (December 26, 2004). "Measuring Dialect Pronunciation Differences using Levenshtein Distance" – via research.rug.nl.
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(help) - ^ DBNL. "Jef Last, Zuiderzee · dbnl". DBNL (in Dutch). Retrieved 2020-11-24.
- ^ "Kerkelijkheid en kerkbezoek, 2010/2013". Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek. 2 October 2014.
- ^ "CBS Statline". opendata.cbs.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2020-11-24.
External links
- Media related to Urk at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
- Local news site
- Local lifeboat station