Marken (; Marken's dialect: ''Mereke'') is a village in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Waterland Waterland () is a municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland. It is situated north of Amsterdam, on the western shore of the Markermeer. It is well-known for comprising the touristy towns of Broek in Waterland and M ...

in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

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 1,745 as of 2021, and occupies a peninsula in the

Markermeer The Markermeer () is a lake in the central Netherlands in between North Holland, Flevoland, and its smaller and larger neighbors, the IJmeer and IJsselmeer. A shallow lake at 3 to 5 m in depth, matching the reclaimed land to its west, ...

. It was, until 1957, an island in the former

Zuiderzee The Zuiderzee or Zuider Zee (; old spelling ''Zuyderzee'' or ''Zuyder Zee'') was a shallow bay of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands, extending about 100 km (60 miles) inland and at most 50 km (30 miles) wide, with an o ...

. The characteristic wooden houses of Marken are a tourist attraction.

History

Early years

Marken was an island in the

. For some time during the later 19th and early 20th centuries, Marken and its inhabitants were the focus of considerable attention by

folklorists Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

ethnographers Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

and

physical anthropologists Biological anthropology, also known as physical anthropology, is a scientific discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings, their extinct hominin ancestors, and related non-human primates, particularly from an e ...

, who regarded the small fishing town as a relic of the traditional native culture that was destined to disappear as modernization of the Netherlands gained pace. Among them were

Johann Friedrich Blumenbach Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (11 May 1752 – 22 January 1840) was a German physician, naturalist, physiologist, and anthropologist. He is considered to be a main founder of zoology and anthropology as comparative, scientific disciplines. He wa ...

who examined a human skull from the island which he called

Batavus genuinus {{Short description, Taxonomic name given to human skull found in Netherlands Batavus genuinus (Latin for "native" or "authentic Batavian") was the name given in 1828 by the Göttinger professor Johann Friedrich Blumenbach to a human skull from the ...

; and was the Belgian painter Xavier Mellery who stayed in Marken at the request of

Charles De Coster Charles-Theodore-Henri De Coster (20 August 1827 – 7 May 1879) was a Belgian novelist whose efforts laid the basis for a native Belgian literature. Early life and education He was born in Munich; his father, Augustin De Coster, was a nati ...

. Mellery was asked to create illustrative work and delivered several intimist works.

Cornelis Lely Cornelis Lely (; 23 September 1854 – 22 January 1929) was a Dutch politician of the Liberal Union (LU) and civil engineer. He oversaw the passage of an act of parliament authorising construction of the Zuiderzee Works, a huge project – desi ...

's designs incorporated the island into a proposed

Markerwaard 200px, The Markerwaard would be on what is now the Markermeer The Markerwaard is the name of a proposed, but never built, polder adjoining the IJsselmeer in the central Netherlands. Its construction would have resulted in the near-total reclamat ...

. A partial dike, built in 1941 in the north, is the first phase of that project which was stopped by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. File:Marken Island2.jpg, Girls in traditional costumes (circa 1900) File:Eiland Marken - Visser 1900.jpg, Fisherman in traditional costume (circa 1900)

Recent times

The island appeared as a location in the 1970 film

Puppet on a Chain ''Puppet on a Chain'' is a novel by Scottish author Alistair MacLean. Originally published in 1969 with a cover by Norman Weaver, it is set in the late 1960s narcotics underworld of Amsterdam and other locations in the Netherlands. Plot intro ...

. In 1983, the

Marker Museum Marker Museum (; English: Marken's Museum) is a local museum in the village of Marken in the Netherlands. The museum focuses on the history of Marken, including its fishing heritage. The museum comprises six smokehouses that were used for smoking ...

about the history of the island was opened. Marken was a separate municipality until 1991, when it was merged into

Geography

Marken is in the municipality of

in the east of the province of

in the west of the

. Marken is a

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

in the

, of which is it is the namesake, and is connected to the mainland of North Holland by a

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tra ...

. File:Marken NASA.jpg, Satellite image File:Calle principal Marken.JPG, Street in 2009 File:Grotewerf 21 28154.jpg, Wooden house File:Paard van Marken.JPG,

Paard van Marken The Paard van Marken ( en, Horse of Marken) is a lighthouse on the Dutch peninsula Marken, on the IJsselmeer. It was built in 1839 by J. Valk. A primitive lighthouse had been on the location since the early 18th century; the current lighthouse ha ...

, the lighthouse File:Kerkbuurt 44 Museum 28224.jpg,

File:Marken Hafen um 1970 (Sp).jpg, Havenbuurt about 1970

References

External links

*
Marken
at the website of the municipality of

*
Tourist Information about Marken
{{Authority control Former islands of the Netherlands Former municipalities of North Holland Islands of North Holland Populated places in North Holland Waterland