Testerep (or Ter Streep) once comprised an

island An island or isle is a piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be ...

along the Belgian coast. It existed as early as the 10th century.

Fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 ...

s were scattered about, including

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariake ...

and

Westende Westende is a town in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, and in the Flemish province of West Flanders ) , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of West Flanders.svg , flag_size ...

, with Ostend on the far east (Oost-ende: east-end), Westende on the far west (West-ende: west-end), and Middelkerke (literally "middle-church") the middle of the island. Later, canals and dikes were built and the island became connected to the

West Flanders ) , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of West Flanders.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van West-Vlaanderen.svg , shield_size = , image_map ...

mainland.

References

Former islands Islands of Belgium Landforms of West Flanders Middelkerke Ostend {{WestFlanders-geo-stub