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Urk
Urrek | |
|---|---|
 Current town and former island of Urk | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
.svg) Location in Flevoland | |
  Urk  Urk | |
| Coordinates: 52°40′N 5°36′E / 52.667°N 5.600°E | |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Province | Flevoland |
| Government | |
| • Body | Municipal council |
| • Mayor | Cees van den Bos (SGP) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 111.86 km2 (43.19 sq mi) |
| • Land | 13.15 km2 (5.08 sq mi) |
| • Water | 98.71 km2 (38.11 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| Population (January 2021)[4] | |
| • Total | 21,227 |
| • Density | 1,614/km2 (4,180/sq mi) |
| Demonym | Urker |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Postcode | 8320–8324 |
| Area code | 0527 |
| Website | www |
Urk (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈʏr(ə)k] ) (Urkers: Urrek, Low Saxon: Ürrek) 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 Almere, an inland sea that would become part of the Zuiderzee in the 13th century after a series of incursions by the North Sea. In 1939, a dike from the mainland to Urk ended the town's island status, just as the Afsluitdijk project was changing the salt water Zuiderzee surrounding Urk to the less saline IJsselmeer. Later in the 20th century, seabed areas surrounding Urk were reclaimed from the sea to become the Noordoostpolder.
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 Reformed denominations playing key roles in the life of the community.
- ^ "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.