De Westereen ( fry, De Westerein or ''De Westereen''), nl, Zwaagwesteinde) is a village in the

Dantumadiel Dantumadiel () is a municipality in the province of Friesland in the Netherlands. Dantumadiel is a rural municipality characterized by economic activity and agriculture. History The first time Dantumadiel is mentioned was in a document from 12 ...

municipality of

Friesland Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It had a population of around 5,000 in 2017.

History

De Westereen lays on the edge of the clay ridge of

Kollum Kollum ( Low Saxon: ''Kölm'') is a village in Noardeast-Fryslân municipality in the province Friesland, the Netherlands. It had a population of around 5529 in January 2017. There is a restored windmill, ''Tochmaland'' in the village. History Th ...

Kollumerzwaag Kollumersweach (Low Saxon: ''Kölmerswoag'') is a village in Noardeast-Fryslân in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. It had a population of around 2,992 in January 2017. Before 2019, the village was part of the Kollumerland en Nieuwkruisl ...

. The place name refers to the fact it lays on the western end of it, on the edge of lower-lying peat area. In 1503 the place was mentioned as ''Westereynde'', in 1511 as ''Op eijnd, Swaga west eijnd'', in 1573 as ''Westen Eijnde'', in 1718 as ''Swaagwesterend'' and in 1786 as ''Zwaag-Westeinde''. Zwaag refers to the land where cattle were kept, the pasture. In the 18th century the village grew on the northern side on the peatland, which was cultivated at that time. Most dwellings of this extension were heather and turf huts. The number of the huts grew quickly beyond the number of the already existing small forest farms the on Foarstrjitte that where there when they started the cultivation of the peatland. In the 20th century all of the huts were replaced with stone houses, most of them pretty small. The last turf hut, in Dutch called spitketen was torn down in 1939. The village was well into the 20th century also well known for its

peddler A peddler, in British English pedlar, also known as a chapman, packman, cheapjack, hawker, higler, huckster, (coster)monger, colporteur or solicitor, is a door-to-door and/or travelling vendor of goods. In England, the term was mostly used fo ...

s, traveling vendors that went from door to door all over the north of the Netherlands. It was the peddler place of Friesland. Up until 1 January 2009, the official name for the village was ''Zwaagwesteinde''. In 2008 the municipality Dantumadiel decided that it was going the replace all the official Dutch names within the municipality with the West Frisian names. For Zwaagwesteinde it was decided the follow the name in the local form of the

West Frisian language West Frisian, or simply Frisian ( fy, link=no, Frysk or ; nl, Fries , also ), is a West Germanic language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland () in the north of the Netherlands, mostly by those of Frisian ancestry. It is the most wid ...

, De Westereen. The West Frisian language adopted the local name as the preferred name. In West Frisian the preferred spelling was until then ''De Westerein'', which was on the town sign together with the Dutch name Zwaagwesteinde before the change.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Friesland Dantumadiel