Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a

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 ...

and an island with a population of 13,643 in

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

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 the largest and most populated island of the

West Frisian Islands The West Frisian Islands (; fry, Waadeilannen) are a chain of islands in the North Sea off the Dutch coast, along the edge of the Wadden Sea. They continue further east as the German East Frisian Islands and are part of the Frisian Islands. Fr ...

in the

Wadden Sea The Wadden Sea ( nl, Waddenzee ; german: Wattenmeer; nds, Wattensee or ; da, Vadehavet; fy, Waadsee, longname=yes; frr, di Heef) is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern conti ...

. The island is situated north of

Den Helder Den Helder () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula. It is home to the country's main naval base. From here the Royal TESO fe ...

, northeast of

Noorderhaaks Noorderhaaks (), also called ''Razende Bol'' (''Raging sandbank'' in Dutch; in modern Dutch ''Bol'' means sphere, but in this context the old Dutch meaning of sandbank is meant), is an uninhabited Netherlands, Dutch islandZandplaat De Razende Bol ...

, and southwest of

Vlieland Vlieland (; fry, Flylân) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and island in the northern Netherlands. The municipality of Vlieland is the second most sparsely populated municipality in the Netherlands, after Schiermonnikoog. V ...

Name

The name ''Texel'' is Frisian, but because of historical sound-changes in Dutch, where all -x- sounds have been replaced with -s- sounds (compare for instance English ''fox'', Frisian ''fokse'', German ''Fuchs'' with Dutch ''vos''), the name is typically pronounced ''Tessel'' in Dutch.

History

The

All Saints' Flood (1170) The All Saints' Flood of 1170 (Allerheiligenvloed) was a catastrophic flood in the Netherlands that took place in 1170. Large parts of the Northern Netherlands, and Holland territories were overflowed. The flooding North Sea created the islands of ...

created the islands of Texel and

Wieringen Wieringen () is part of the municipality of Hollands Kroon, established in 2012 in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. It is a former municipality in this province, with its name appearing in records of the late 9th and early 10th ...

from

. In the 13th century

Ada, Countess of Holland Ada ( – 1234/37) was Countess of Holland between 1203 and 1207, ruling jointly with her husband, Louis II of Loon. She was deposed and exiled by her paternal uncle, William I.Marion van Bussel,Ada van Hollandin Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Ne ...

was held prisoner on Texel by her uncle,

William I, Count of Holland William I (c. 1167 – 4 February 1222) was count of Holland from 1203 to 1222. He was the younger son of Floris III and Ada of Huntingdon. Early life William was born in The Hague, but raised in Scotland. He participated in the Third Crusa ...

. Texel received

city rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

in 1415. The first Dutch expedition to the Northwest Passage departed from the island on the 5th of June, 1594. Texel was involved in the

Battle of Scheveningen The Battle of Scheveningen (also known as the Battle of Ter Heijde) was the final naval battle of the First Anglo-Dutch War. It took place on 31 July 1653 (10 August on the Gregorian calendar), between the fleets of the Commonwealth of England ...

(1653) during the

First Anglo-Dutch War The First Anglo-Dutch War, or simply the First Dutch War, ( nl, Eerste Engelse (zee-)oorlog, "First English (Sea) War"; 1652–1654) was a conflict fought entirely at sea between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the Dutch Republic, ...

and the

Battle of Texel The naval Battle of Texel or Battle of Kijkduin took place off the southern coast of island of Texel on 21 August 1673 (11 August Old Style, O.S.) between the Dutch Republic, Dutch and the combined Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Fra ...

(1673) during the

Third Anglo-Dutch War The Third Anglo-Dutch War ( nl, Derde Engels-Nederlandse Oorlog), 27 March 1672 to 19 February 1674, was a naval conflict between the Dutch Republic and England, in alliance with France. It is considered a subsidiary of the wider 1672 to 1678 ...

. During the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, Texel was used as a haven port by

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...

after the

Battle of Flamborough Head The Battle of Flamborough Head was a naval battle that took place on 23 September 1779 in the North Sea off the coast of Yorkshire between a combined Franco-American squadron, led by Continental Navy officer John Paul Jones, and two British e ...

off the Yorkshire coast in September 1779. In that action, Jones defeated and captured the British ship , which he sailed to Texel for desperately needed repairs. This event further complicated Anglo-Dutch relations. In 1797, Texel was involved in the

Battle of Camperdown The Battle of Camperdown (known in Dutch as the ''Zeeslag bij Kamperduin'') was a major naval action fought on 11 October 1797, between the British North Sea Fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan and a Batavian Navy (Dutch) fleet under Vice-Admiral ...

during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...

. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in 1914, the

Battle off Texel The Battle off Texel, also known as the Action off Texel or the Action of 17 October 1914, was a naval battle off the coast of the Dutch island of Texel during the First World War. A British squadron, comprising one light cruiser and four destr ...

took place off the coast of Texel. On the night of 31 August 1940, the sea to the northwest of Texel was the scene of the sinking of two British destroyers and the severe damage of a third by German mines in what is known as the

Texel Disaster The Texel Disaster took place off the Dutch coast on the night of 31 August 1940 and involved the sinking of two Royal Navy destroyers, and damage to a third and a light cruiser. The disaster was caused by a destroyer flotilla running into an unmar ...

. At the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1945, the

Georgian uprising on Texel The Georgian uprising on Texel ( nl, Opstand der Georgiërs) (5 April 1945 – 20 May 1945) was an insurrection by the 882nd Infantry Battalion ''Königin Tamara'' (Queen Tamar or ''Tamara'') of the Georgian Legion of the German Army stationed o ...

took place on the island. Following a German decision to redeploy Georgian soldiers to the mainland, they revolted and killed hundreds of their German comrades while they slept. The uprising lasted from 5 April 1945 until 20 May 1945, two weeks after

V-E Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...

. At that point, Canadian troops arrived and arranged for the two sides to separately leave the island. For that reason, the uprising is often referred to as the final battle of the Second World War in Europe. Hundreds of Georgians who died fighting against the Germans are buried in a special cemetery on Texel commonly known as the "Russian cemetery".

Geography

The municipality is located at north of the mainland of the province of

and west of the mainland of the province of

Friesland Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...

. The island of Texel is situated north of the city of

, northeast of the uninhabited island of

, which is part of the municipality, and southwest of the island of

. The island includes the seven villages: and the small townships of The island of Texel was originally made up of two islands, Texel proper to the south and

Eierland Eierland () is a former island in the Netherlands. It is now the northern part of the island of Texel. The name means "egg land", named for the seagull eggs that were collected on the island and sent to Amsterdam. The island of Eierland was a par ...

to the northeast, which were connected by

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It ...

s. In the early seventeenth century, the islands were connected by a dyke to keep the

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 ...

from ravaging the coastal areas of Texel proper. In the mid-nineteenth century a

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a lake or the seabed # Flood plains s ...

completed the northern half of the island. Today, Texel forms the largest natural barrier between the North Sea and the

. The dune landscape along the western coast of the island is protected as

Dunes of Texel National Park ''Duinen van Texel'' National Park (''duinen'' = dunes) is a national park located on the North Holland island of Texel in the Netherlands. All dune systems on the western side of the island and the large coastal plains on both the northern and ...

Landscape

The island is 23.7 km long and 9.6 km wide, its surface is 169.82 square kilometres. The highest point of the island is not, as one might assume, de Hoge Berg (15 m above sea level), but the dune "Bertusnol" (also "Nol van Bertus"), which is situated in the

, at 19.6 m. The dune landscape on Texel is a unique habitat for wildlife. Notable areas include De Slufter, where the tide comes in and meets the dunes, forming a marshy environment rich in both fauna and flora. Texel is known for its wildlife, particularly in winter, when

birds of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and other smaller birds). In addition to speed and strength, these predators ...

and

geese A goose (plural, : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family (biology), family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera ''Anser (bird), Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (the black geese). Some o ...

take up residence. About one third of Texel is a protected nature reserve. A wetland called Utopia has been designed for birds to nest in.

Gallery

File:Slufter2.jpg, The

File:Texel Landscape.jpg, Texel Landscape File:De Koog - Koogerstrand - View NorthWest.jpg, De Koog - Koogerstrand - View Northwest File:Dunes on Texel.jpg, Dunes on Texel File:Beach_Texel_Netherlands.jpg, Beach on the island of Texel File:Duinen van Texel5.jpg, Duinen van Texel File:Ecomare - De Slufter 2014 (slufter-excursie2014-6495-sw).jpg, Nature and environment excursion in De Slufter File:Nederland - Texel - panoramio.jpg, Texel File:De-Slufter-Texel-2020-Luka-Peternel.jpg, Aerial view of De Slufter File:Texel-Vlieland-2020-Luka-Peternel.jpg, Northern tip of Texel (

in the distance)

Climate

Texel has an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

Cfb) that is heavily influenced by its offshore position. The annual average high oscillation is between and . While winters are similar to mainland areas, summers remain cooler. The relative proximity to the mainland still renders heat bursts to reach Texel with five months having recorded temperatures above . While the island is relatively rainy, the precipitation is generally quite even and moderate throughout most of the year although there is a dry peak in late spring and a rain peak in autumn.

Notable people

Willem Eduard Bok Willem Eduard Bok, also known as W. Eduard Bok (Den Burg, Texel, Netherlands, 28 June 1846 – Johannesburg, Transvaal Colony, 1 November 1904) was a Dutch-born South African Boer politician, civil servant and statesman, who served as first ...

(1846 in Den Burg – 1904), a Dutch-born South African

Boer Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape Colony, Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controll ...

politician, civil servant and statesman *

Rene Daalder Rene Daalder (born René Daalder 3 March 1944 in Texel, North Holland, died December 31, 2019, sometimes credited as Renee Daalder) was a Dutch writer and director. He lived in Los Angeles. Originally a protégé of Russ Meyer, Daalder has worked ...

(1944–2019), a Dutch writer and director *

Cornelis de Jager Cornelis "Kees" de Jager (; 29 April 1921 – 27 May 2021) was a Dutch astronomer who specialized in predicting solar variation to assess the Sun's impact on future climate. He was the General Secretary of the IAU from 1967 to 1973 and former d ...

(1921 in Den Burg - 2021), a Dutch astronomer who predicts

solar variation The solar cycle, also known as the solar magnetic activity cycle, sunspot cycle, or Schwabe cycle, is a nearly periodic 11-year change in the Sun's activity measured in terms of variations in the number of observed sunspots on the Sun's surfac ...

Imme Dros Imme Dros (born 26 September 1936, Oudeschild, Texel) is a Dutch writer of children's literature. Life Dros grew up on the island of Texel. She studied Dutch in Amsterdam. There she met her husband Harrie Geelen, with whom she had three chil ...

(born 1936 in Oudeschild), a Dutch writer of children's literature *

Hans Kamp Johan Anthony Willem "Hans" Kamp (born 5 September 1940) is a Dutch philosopher and linguist, responsible for introducing discourse representation theory (DRT) in 1981. Kamp was born in Den Burg. He received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from UCLA in 19 ...

(born 1940 in Den Burg), a Dutch philosopher and linguist, introduced

Discourse Representation Theory In formal linguistics, discourse representation theory (DRT) is a framework for exploring meaning under a formal semantics approach. One of the main differences between DRT-style approaches and traditional Montagovian approaches is that DRT inclu ...

Willem Hendrik Keesom Willem Hendrik Keesom () (21 June 1876, Texel – 3 March 1956, Leiden) was a Dutch physicist who, in 1926, invented a method to freeze liquid helium. He also developed the first mathematical description of dipole–dipole interactions in 1 ...

(1876 in Texel – 1956), a Dutch physicist who first froze

liquid helium Liquid helium is a physical state of helium at very low temperatures at standard atmospheric pressures. Liquid helium may show superfluidity. At standard pressure, the chemical element helium exists in a liquid form only at the extremely low temp ...

* Sim Visser (1908 in Eierland – 1983), a Dutch politician *

Henk Zijm Willem Hendrik Maria (Henk) Zijm (born 3 May 1952) is a Dutch mathematician, and Professor Production and Supply Chain Management and Emeritus Rector Magnificus (2005–2008) at the University of Twente. Biography Born in Driehuizen, Texel, Z ...

(born 1952 in Driehuizen), a Dutch mathematician from the

University of Twente The University of Twente (Dutch: ''Universiteit Twente''; , abbr. ) is a public technical university located in Enschede, Netherlands. The university has been placed in the top 170 universities in the world by multiple central ranking tables. ...

Sport

Denise Betsema Denise Betsema (born 23 January 1993) is a Dutch cyclo-cross cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Cyclo-cross team . Career In October 2018 Betsema joined the professional cyclo-cross team . In the season 2018–2019 she won the crosses at Popr ...

(born 1993 in Oudeschild), a cyclo-cross cyclist * Alice Blom (born 1980 in Oudeschild), a volleyball player *

Dorian van Rijsselberghe Dorian van Rijsselberghe (born 24 November 1988, in Den Burg) is a sailor (windsurfer) from the Netherlands. He won his first Dutch title when he was 13. Van Rijsselberghe on the Dutch RS:X won the gold medals at the 2012 Olympics in Weymo ...

(born 1988 in Den Burg), a sailor, gold medallist at the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Economy

The tourism industry forms a substantial part of the economy in Texel. Approximately 70% of activities on Texel are in some way related to tourism. Popular forms of tourism on Texel include cycling, walking, swimming and horse riding. Farming (sheep, potatoes, dairy, tulips, and grain) and fishing (primarily from

Oudeschild Oudeschild is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the island municipality of Texel, and lies about 12 km northeast of Den Helder. Oudeschild is the fishing harbour of the island. It is situated at the Wadden ...

) are traditional. Locally brewed beer is sold under the tradename ''Texels''. Texel Lighthouse

Local government

The municipal council of Texel consists of 15 seats, which are divided as follows (from the most recent election results in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Transport

Transport around the island is typically by bicycle, bus (Texelhopper) or car. Texel has an extensive cycle path network. Transport to Texel is easiest by a very short ferry trip

Royal TESO The Royal TESO N.V. is a private ferry company operating the only public boat service to and from the Dutch Wadden island of Texel. TESO stands for Texels Eigen Stoomboot Onderneming (in English: Texel's Own Steamboat Company). Inhabitants of ...

), from

, or by air via

Texel International Airport Texel International Airport is a small airport located north northeast of Den Burg on the island of Texel in the north of the Netherlands. It has a customs service to handle international flights making it an international airport, though no ...

. The ferry Texelstroom uses 80%

compressed natural gas Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in cy ...

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Islands of North Holland Municipalities of North Holland West Frisian Islands