Aagtekerke () is a village in the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

province of

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 ...

. It is a part of the municipality of

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 ...

, and lies about northwest of

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

History

The village was first mentioned in 1327 as "in atrio Sanctae Agathae", and means church dedicated to

Agatha of Sicily Agatha of Sicily () is a Christian saint. Her feast is on 5 February. Agatha was born in Catania, part of the Roman Province of Sicily, and was martyred . She is one of several virgin martyrs who are commemorated by name in the Canon of the ...

. The St Agatha Church in

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 ...

was disassembled around 1320 and moved to the Aagtekerke. Aagetekerke is a circular village around the church. The Dutch Reformed church the successor of the medieval church. The tower was built in the 15th century, and the nave received its current shape in 1625. At the end of the 13th century, a Cistercian nunnery was established in Aagtekerke. It was destroyed somewhere between 1572 and 1574 during the Dutch Revolt. Aagtekerke was home to 380 people in 1840. Until 1 July 1966, Aagtekerke was a separate municipality. On that date, it was merged into the municipality of Mariekerke. Aagtekerke is a conservative

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

village, located in the Dutch

Bible Belt The Bible Belt is a region of the Southern United States in which socially conservative Protestant Christianity plays a strong role in society and politics, and church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's a ...

. In the 2010 municipal elections, 62 percent of the local population voted for the Reformed Political Party (SGP). The three Christian parties in the elections (the Reformed Political Party, the

ChristianUnion The Christian Union ( nl, ChristenUnie, CU) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. The CU is a centrist party, maintaining more progressive stances on economic, immigration and environmental issues while holding more social ...

and the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolution ...

) gained a combined total of almost 70 percent of the votes.

Gallery

File:Aflat.jpg, Houses on the village square File:Aagtekerke.jpg, Aagtekerkse mill

References

{{Authority control Former municipalities of Zeeland Populated places in Zeeland Veere