Westergoa was one of the seven sealands and one of the three that now lie within the borders of today's Dutch province of Friesland. Later it was one of the three goaen of Frisia. In the Middle Ages Westergoa most probably formed the political centre of the Frisian realm.
On the eastern side Westergoa was bordered by the Middelsee, on the other side Eastergoa. On the south side it bordered with what originally was Bornegoa which was in the line with Terhernster Lake to the south of the coast, the eastern perimeter was with Doedingwerstal. All other borders were coastlines.
Around 1200, Westergoa was divided into parts within the Westergoa area Franeker, Wildinge and Wymbrits, called the Fiefdielen (Five parts). Franeker and Wildinge have probably been the original Westergo. Wymbrits was added when begin 12th century when Sudergoa was no more.
Around 1500 Het Bildt, was added to Westergoa but by the establishment of Sânwâlden, Gaasterland, Doniawerstal and Lemsterland these parts in the south of Westergoa were lost. Also eight cities grew exceptionally in the Westergoa area; Harlingen and Franeker in the Fiefdielen part, Bolsward at the eastern side of Wildinge, now Wûnseradiel and at the southern point Workum and Hindeloopen. The rest of Wymbrits fell into three cities and six parts. Stavoren, Sneek and IJlst had become autonomous cities but six Frisian slots formed the grietenijen of Wymbritseradeel and Hemelumer Oldeferd (and Noardwâlde).
The nine 'grietenijen' of Westergo | |
---|---|
1 | Menaldumadeel |
2 | Franekeradeel |
3 | Barradeel |
4 | Baarderadeel |
5 | Hinnaarderadeel |
6 | Wûnseradeel |
7 | Wymbritseradeel |
8 | Himmelumer Aldefurd |
9 | Het Bildt |
Eight Cities: | |
---|---|
Ha | Harlingen |
F | Franeker |
B | Bolsward |
Sn | Sneek |
Dr | IJlst |
W | Workum |
Hy | Hindeloopen |
St | Stavoren |
het Bildt is a former municipality in the province of Friesland in the northern Netherlands; its capital was Sint Annaparochie. On 1 January 2018 it merged with the municipalities of Franekeradeel, Menameradiel and parts of Littenseradiel to form the new municipality Waadhoeke.
West Friesland is a contemporary region in the Northwest of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland.
The Frisian Islands, also known as the Wadden Islands or the Wadden Sea Islands, form an archipelago at the eastern edge of the North Sea in northwestern Europe, stretching from the northwest of the Netherlands through Germany to the west of Denmark. The islands shield the mudflat region of the Wadden Sea from the North Sea.
West Frisian, or simply Frisian, is a West Germanic language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands, mostly by those of Frisian ancestry. It is the most widely spoken of the Frisian languages.
The County of Holland was a state of the Holy Roman Empire from its inception until 1433. From 1433 onward it was part of the Burgundian Netherlands, from 1482 part of the Habsburg Netherlands and from 1581 onward the leading province of the Dutch Republic until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. The territory of the County of Holland corresponds roughly with the current provinces of North Holland and South Holland in the Netherlands.
Franeker is one of the eleven historical cities of Friesland and capital of the municipality of Waadhoeke. It is located north of the Van Harinxmakanaal and about 20 km west of Leeuwarden. As of 2023, it had 13,015 inhabitants. World Heritage Site the Eise Eisinga Planetarium, established in 1781, is located in the city.
The Dutch are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common ancestry and culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Aruba, Suriname, Guyana, Curaçao, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and the United States. The Low Countries were situated around the border of France and the Holy Roman Empire, forming a part of their respective peripheries and the various territories of which they consisted had become virtually autonomous by the 13th century. Under the Habsburgs, the Netherlands were organised into a single administrative unit, and in the 16th and 17th centuries the Northern Netherlands gained independence from Spain as the Dutch Republic. The high degree of urbanisation characteristic of Dutch society was attained at a relatively early date. During the Republic the first series of large-scale Dutch migrations outside of Europe took place.
Frisian handball is a traditional Frisian sport, related to American handball and fives, that is most commonly practiced by people from the northern Dutch province of Friesland (Fryslân). It is believed to be one of the oldest ballgames and was an unofficial demonstration sport at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. The scoring is similar to tennis. The first team scoring six games wins the match.
The Friso-Hollandic Wars, also called Frisian-Hollandic Wars, were a series of short medieval wars consisting of the attempts made by the counts of Holland to conquer the free Frisian territories, which lay to the north and east of their domain. These wars were waged off and on from 1256 to 1297, 1324 to 1348, 1396 to 1411, and from 1421 to 1422, although it could be argued that a state of war continued to exist between the County of Holland and the Frisian territories till well after the year 1500.
The Middelzee, also called Bordine, was the estuary mouth of the River Boorne now in the Dutch province of Friesland. It ran from as far south as Sneek northward to the Wadden Sea and marked the border between main Frisian regions of Westergoa (Westergo) and Eastergoa (Oostergo). Other historical names for the Middelzee include Bordaa, Borndiep, Boerdiep, and Bordena. The names like Bordine, mean "border".
Eastergoa was one of the seven areas and one of the three Gaue within what is today the province of Friesland in the Netherlands.
The Frisian flag is the official flag of the Dutch province of Friesland. The flag was officially adopted by the provincial executive of Friesland on 9 July 1957.
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Jutland is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It stretches from the Grenen spit in the north to the confluence of the Elbe and the Sude in the southeast. The historic southern border river of Jutland as a cultural-geographical region, which historically also included Southern Schleswig, is the Eider. The peninsula, on the other hand, also comprises areas south of the Eider: Holstein, the former duchy of Lauenburg, and most of Hamburg and Lübeck.
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The Lordship of Frisia or Lordship of Friesland was a feudal dominion in the Netherlands. It was formed in 1498 by King Maximilian I and reformed in 1524 when Emperor Charles V conquered Frisia.
The Vistulan dialect was a dialect of Low Prussian, which belongs to Low German. The dialect was spoken in West Prussia around Zarnowitzer See, Danzig and Graudenz. It had a border to Mundart der Weichselwerder. It is related to Nehrungisch.
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