Friesland
This article is about Friesland province in the Netherlands. For other uses, see Friesland (disambiguation). |
Map of the Netherlands, with red dots marking the capitals of the provinces and black dots marking other notable cities |
Friesland is a province in the north of the
Netherlands and part of the bigger region known as
Frisia. Its name in the
Frisian language is
Fryslân, which has also been its official name since 1997, and is therefore also used in official
Dutch language publications. Friesland has 643,000 inhabitants (2005) and its
capital is
Leeuwarden (
Ljouwert), with 91,000 inhabitants, in the centre of the province.
Friesland distinguishes itself from the other eleven Dutch provinces through having its own language, which is also spoken in a minor part of the province of
Groningen, to the east. Closely related languages,
East Frisian (
"Seeltersk", which is different from "
East Frisian (Ostfriesisch)", a collection of
Low German dialects of
East Frisia) and
North Frisian, are spoken in the
Saterland and in
North Friesland areas in
Germany, respectively.
The
English language is also closely related to
Frisian. There is a saying about it: "As milk is to cheese, are English and Frise."
Another version of this saying reads (in
Frisian): "Bûter, brea, en griene tsiis; wa't dat net sizze kin, is gjin oprjochte Fries", which in English reads: "Butter, bread and green cheese, whoever can't say that is no real Frise". The saying plays on the sound differences between the
Dutch and Frisian words for "butter, bread and green cheese", which in Frisian are pronounced almost identically to their English counterparts (showing the original closeness between the two languages), while in Dutch ("Boter, brood en groene kaas"), these words sound quite different.
Friesland is mainly an agricultural province. The famous black and white
Friesian cattle and the well known black
Friesian horse originated here.
Tourism, mainly on the
lakes in the south west of the province, and on the
islands in the
Wadden Sea in the north, is an important source of income, too.
The province is also famous for its
speed skaters, and also for the
Elfstedentocht (Eleven cities tour), a 200
kilometres
ice skating tour.
Another interesting feature are the many
windmills. There are 195 windmills in the province of Friesland, from a total of about 1200 in the entire country.
Friesland was the first to acknowledge the independence of America's
Thirteen Colonies from the
United Kingdom.
*
Leeuwarden (
Ljouwert)
*
Sneek (
Snits)
*
IJlst (
Drylts)
*
Sloten (
Sleat)
*
Stavoren (
Starum)
*
Hindeloopen (
Hylpen)
*
Workum (
Warkum)
*
Bolsward (
Boalsert)
*
Harlingen (
Harns)
*
Franeker (
Frjentsjer)
*
Dokkum (
Dokkum)
*
Heerenveen (
It Hearrenfean)
*
Drachten (mun.
Smallingerland)
*
Achtkarspelen*
Ameland*
Boarnsterhim*
Bolsward*
Dantumadeel*
Dongeradeel*
Ferwerderadiel*
Franekeradeel*
Gaasterlân-Sleat*
Harlingen*
Heerenveen*
Het Bildt*
Kollumerland c.a.*
Leeuwarden*
Leeuwarderadeel*
Lemsterland*
Littenseradiel*
Menaldumadeel*
Nijefurd*
Ooststellingwerf*
Opsterland*
Schiermonnikoog*
Skarsterlân*
Smallingerland*
Sneek*
Terschelling*
Tytsjerksteradiel*
Vlieland*
Weststellingwerf*
Wûnseradiel*
Wymbritseradiel*
De âlde Friezen (Friesland's anthem)
*
Frisia*
Frisian Islands*
Frisians*
Frisian language*
Frise*
Website of the province*
Frisian Film Archive*
Ancient History of Friesland*
province map showing subdivision in municipalities, link for each municipality to basic data page*Bus maps:
**
Frieslandnds-nl:Frieslaand
