The Harlingerland is a strip of land on the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
coast of
East Frisia. While today the whole of the
district of Wittmund is usually described as Harlingerland, historically it specifically refers to the northern part of the present district, which formed the old
Frisian state of this name, in particular, the regions around
Esens and
Wittmund
Wittmund is a town and capital of the district of Wittmund, in Lower Saxony, Germany.
Geography
Wittmund is a town of 21,000 inhabitants located in Germany's historic coastal district of East Frisia, between the towns of Aurich and Jever. The ...
. The region around
Friedeburg
Friedeburg is a municipality in the district of Wittmund, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 14 km southeast of Wittmund, and 20 km west of Wilhelmshaven.
About 4 kilometers east of the main village of Friedeburg, ...
still belonged at that time to the Frisian state of
Östringen
Östringen (South Franconian: ''Öschdringe'') is a town in Northern Karlsruhe district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Östringen is a twin town with Abergavenny
Abergavenny (; cy, Y Fenni , archaically ''Abergafenni'' meaning "mouth of t ...
.
The local dialect for many folk in the Harlingerland is
East Frisian Low Saxon
East Frisian Low German or East Frisian Low Saxon is one of the Northern Low Saxon dialects, a West Low German dialect spoken in the East Frisian peninsula of northwestern Lower Saxony. It is used quite frequently in everyday speech there. Ab ...
(or East Frisian ''platt'') but with a Harlinger variation somewhat different from the rest of East Frisia. The old
Frisian language continued to be spoken in the Harlingerland much longer than in most other East Frisian regions. Wittmund produces the local paper of the Harlingerland, the ''Anzeiger für Harlingerland''.
The Harlingerland is named for the
Harlebucht, or Harle Bay, which has by now been almost completely filled in by farmland, through a series of dike-building projects spanning the last several centuries, commencing in 1545 and extending into the 20th century. The Harlebucht used to extend inland to the east of Werdum, north of Wittmund and Jever. Harlesiel, Harlingersiel, and Neuharlingersiel all take their name from the same source.
External links
Landscape and Cultural Heritage in the Wadden Sea Region (LANCEWAD)
History of East Frisia
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