Marken

Marken
Village

Marken in 2015

Top: location of the municipality of Waterland in North Holland and the Netherlands. Bottom: location of Marken in Waterland.
Coordinates: 52°27′30″N 5°6′24″E / 52.45833°N 5.10667°E / 52.45833; 5.10667Coordinates: 52°27′30″N 5°6′24″E / 52.45833°N 5.10667°E / 52.45833; 5.10667
Country Netherlands
Province North Holland
Municipality Waterland
Area (2012)[1]
  Total 270 ha (670 acres)
  Land 267 ha (660 acres)
  Water 3 ha (7 acres)
Population (2012)[1]
  Total 1,810
  Density 670/km2 (1,700/sq mi)
Postal code 1156[2]
Area code 0299[3]

Marken (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈmɑrkə(n)]; Marken's dialect: Mereke) is a village with a population of 1,810 in the municipality of Waterland in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. Marken forms a peninsula in the Markermeer and was formerly an island in the Zuiderzee. The characteristic wooden houses of Marken are a tourist attraction.

History

Marken was an island in the Zuiderzee.[4]

For some time during the later 19th and early 20th centuries, Marken and its inhabitants were the focus of considerable attention by folklorists, ethnographers and physical anthropologists, who regarded the small fishing town as a relic of the traditional native culture that was destined to disappear as the modernization of the Netherlands gained pace.[5] Among them was Johann Friedrich Blumenbach who examined a skull from the island of humans which he called Batavus genuinus; and was the Belgian painter Xavier Mellery who stayed in Marken at the request of Charles De Coster. Mellery was asked to perform illustrative work and delivered several intimist works.

The projects of Cornelis Lely was to incorporated the island into the Markerwaard. The dike, built in 1941 in the north, is the first phase of that project which was stopped by the war.

In 1983, the Marker Museum about the history of the island was opened.[6]

Marken was a separate municipality until 1991, when it was merged into Waterland.[7]

Geography

Marken is located at 52°27′30″N 5°6′24″E / 52.45833°N 5.10667°E / 52.45833; 5.10667 in the municipality of Waterland in the east of the province of North Holland in the west of the Netherlands. Marken is a peninsula in the Markermeer, of which is it is the namesake, and is connected to the mainland of North Holland by a causeway.

A panorama of Marken showing the community of Grote Werf with the village of Marken in the background

Demography

In 2012, Marken had a population of 1,810 and a population density of 679/km2 (1,760/sq mi).[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 (Dutch) Kerncijfers wijken en buurten 2009-2012, Statline, Statistics Netherlands, 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  2. (Dutch) Zoekresultaten, Postcode.nl. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  3. (Dutch) Netnummer zoeken, Telefoonboek.nl. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  4. (Dutch) Geschiedenis van Marken, Marker Museum. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  5. H.W. Roodenburg, "Marken als relict: het samengaan van schilderkunst, toerisme, volkskunde en fysische antropologie rond 1900". Volkskundig Bulletin 25.2/3 (1999), 197-214.
  6. (Dutch) Het Marker Museum, Marker Museum. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  7. Ad van der Meer and Onno Boonstra, Repertorium van Nederlandse gemeenten, KNAW, 2006.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marken.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/15/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.