North Frisians (german: Nordfriesen; da, Nordfrisere; frr, Nuurdfresen) are the inhabitants of the district of

Nordfriesland Nordfriesland (; da, Nordfrisland; frr, Nordfraschlönj ), also known as North Frisia, is the northernmost district of Germany, part of the state of Schleswig-Holstein. It includes almost all of traditional North Frisia (with the exception o ...

in the north German state of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

. Used in a narrower sense, the term also refers to an ethnic sub-group of the

Frisians The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal regions of the Netherlands and northwestern Germany. They inhabit an area known as Frisia and are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, ...

from the region of

North Frisia North Frisia (; ; ) is the northernmost portion of Frisia, located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany between the rivers Eider and Wiedau. It also includes the North Frisian Islands and Heligoland. The region is traditionally inhabited by the North ...

, which lies primarily on the German

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

coast, and on the island of

Heligoland Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possessions ...

. The North Frisians live on the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein – from the German-Danish border region in the north to the more southern town of Bredstedt in the district of North Friesland. The

North Frisian language North Frisian (''nordfriisk'') is a minority language of Germany, spoken by about 10,000 people in North Frisia. The language is part of the larger group of the West Germanic Frisian languages. The language comprises 10 dialects which are thems ...

area also includes the offshore islands of Sylt, Föhr, Amrum and Heligoland (in the district of Pinneberg) and a number of smaller islands, the

Halligen The ''Halligen'' (German, singular ''Hallig'', ) or the ''halliger'' (Danish, singular ''hallig'') are small islands without protective dikes. They are variously pluralized in English as the Halligen, Halligs, Hallig islands, or Halligen islands. ...

. The North Frisians still to some extent use the different dialects of the

, which forms part of the group of

Anglo-Frisian languages The Anglo-Frisian languages are the Anglic (English, Scots, and Yola) and Frisian varieties of the West Germanic languages. The Anglo-Frisian languages are distinct from other West Germanic languages due to several sound changes: besides th ...

. This language is specially protected by the Schleswig-Holstein state

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

and by the '' Friisk Gesäts'' (German: ''Friesisch-Gesetz'') or "Frisian Law". Around 800 AD, the Frisians migrated into what later became

Uthlande Uthlande, Utlande ( Low German or Old Danish: ''The outer lands'', in Danish also: ''Friselagen'') is a term for the islands, halligen and marshes off the mainland of North Frisia in the Southwest Jutland, modern Nordfriesland district, Germany ...

in the

Duchy of Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ( ...

. Initially they only settled the offshore islands but, in a second wave of immigration around 1100, also populated the adjacent coastal strip between the rivers

Eider Eiders () are large seaducks in the genus ''Somateria''. The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The down feathers of eider ducks, and some other ducks and geese, are used to fill pillows and quilt ...

and

Vidå The Vidå (german: Wiedau, North Frisian ''Widuu'') is a creek in The Jutland region of, Denmark. The creek starts east of Tønder and flows to the west, ending in the North Sea. In places the Vidå marks the border between Denmark and Germany (' ...

(German: ''Wiedau'') on the Germano-Danish border. The colours gold, red and blue, like the coat of arms of North Frisia (which are not the same as those of the district of Nordfriesland), have been accorded official status by the ''Friisk Gesäts''.§ 5 Friesisch
online
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References

External links

Information about the Frisian people
(Parliament of Schleswig-Holstein)
Friisk Foriining

The North Frisian Society

Nordfriisk Instituut
{{in lang, de German Frisians Danish Frisian people

See also

References

External links