Zoutelande (

Zeelandic Zeelandic ( zea, Zeêuws; nl, Zeeuws; vls, Zêeuws) is a group of Friso-Franconian language varieties spoken in the southwestern parts of the Netherlands. It is currently considered a Low Franconian dialect of Dutch, but there have been mov ...

: ''Zóetelande'') is a village in the southwestern

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 is located 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 ...

Veere Veere (; zea, label= Zeelandic, Ter Veere) is a municipality with a population of 22,000 and a town with a population of 1,500 in the southwestern Netherlands, in the region of Walcheren in the province of Zeeland. History The name ''Veere ...

Zeeland , nl, Ik worstel en kom boven("I struggle and emerge") , anthem = "Zeeuws volkslied"("Zeelandic Anthem") , image_map = Zeeland in the Netherlands.svg , map_alt = , m ...

, between Dishoek and Westkapelle on the former island

Walcheren Walcheren () is a region and former island in the Dutch province of Zeeland at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Eastern Scheldt in the north and the Western Scheldt in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus. The two ...

. On 1 January 2005 it had 1,556 inhabitants. Originally, Zoutelande was mainly an agricultural village. The village's character changed slowly into a tourist resort as the demand for

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc sh ...

recreation rose from about the middle of the 19th century. Zoutelande was a separate municipality until 1966, when it became a part of the new municipality Valkenisse. Nowadays,

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...

is Zoutelande's most important source of existence. Zoutelande, together with the beach of Dishoek and Westkapelle, are often called "Zeeland's Rivièra", after the famous south-coast of France. It is one of Zeeland's most-visited coasts, and one of the few places in the Netherlands where the beach faces south. Plenty of rooms, studios, bungalows and apartments are available to thousands of visitors every summer; most of the tourists are of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

origin, although other nationalities are also widely represented. The remaining agriculture in the area benefits of the demand for accommodation in the form of mini-campings. Bicycle-rental, beachfront establishments,

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

s, B&Bs, shops and a

boulevard A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway. Boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former city walls. In American usage, boulevards may ...

are all to be found in and around the village. Like

Domburg Domburg is a seaside resort on the North Sea, on the northwest coast of Walcheren in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is a part of the municipality of Veere, and lies about 11 km northwest of the city of Middelburg, the provincial capital ...

, Zoutelande was a favorite among Dutch

painters Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, like

Ferdinand Hart Nibbrig Ferdinand Hart Nibbrig (5 April 1866 – 12 October 1915) was a Dutch painter and Theosophist. He was one of the first artists who introduced luminism to the Netherlands. Hart was his mother's maiden name. He adopted it in 1884 when all of her ...

Piet Mondriaan Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (), after 1906 known as Piet Mondrian (, also , ; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is known for being o ...

and Jan Toorop who praised its sky. It is said that the reflection of the sun on the water colors the sky more brilliantly and transparently than anywhere else. Zoutelande was the subject of a 2017 song of the same name by Dutch rock band

BLØF BLØF is a Dutch rock band from Vlissingen, Zeeland, founded in 1992 by Peter Slager. Current members are Peter Slager (bass), Paskal Jakobsen (lead vocals and guitar), Bas Kennis (keyboards), and Norman Bonink (drums). Former members are Henk ...

featuring Belgian singer

Geike Arnaert Geike Arnaert (; born 13 September 1979) is a Belgian singer, best known for being the lead vocalist of the band Hooverphonic from 1997 until 2008 and again since 2020. Geike was born in Poperinge and grew up in Westouter, a town that is close to ...

; the song's popularity brought some increased interest in the village.

Monuments

Zoutelande has several

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

s, among them the

Dutch Reformed The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

with a tower in which fragments of late 13th century brick gothic can be found. In about 1500 the church was formed into a

hall church A hall church is a church with a nave and aisles of approximately equal height, often united under a single immense roof. The term was invented in the mid-19th century by Wilhelm Lübke, a pioneering German art historian. In contrast to an archi ...

. In 1573 the church was returned to its original state through war damage during the Eighty Years' War. It is estimated that the tower and church got their present shape in about 1738. In 1950 a restoration took place. The parish of the church is connected through legend with Saint

Willibrord Willibrord (; 658 – 7 November AD 739) was an Anglo-Saxon missionary and saint, known as the "Apostle to the Frisians" in the modern Netherlands. He became the first bishop of Utrecht and died at Echternach, Luxembourg. Early life His fath ...

. Unfortunately an old monument, the Willibrord Well, was lost due to the building of the present sea dyke. The well, created by Willibrord and dating from the sixteenth century, according to the legend contained healing water. Because of the building of a new dyke in the 1960s, slightly further inland than the old row of dunes, part of the town had to be demolished. This is the reason why the church, which originally stood in the center of the village, is now almost at the foot of the dyke. In 1984 a new well was built to remember the legend. Zoutelande also has a

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in some ...

. It is a round, brick-built

corn mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separate ...

that originates from 1722.

References

External links

Zoutelande Tourist Information
{{Authority control Populated places in Zeeland Former municipalities of Zeeland Veere Populated coastal places in the Netherlands