Friesland Fryslân
—  Province  —
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: De âlde Friezen
Location of Friesland in the Netherlands
Country	Netherlands
Capital	Leeuwarden
Government
• Queen's Commissioner	John Jorritsma
Area
• Land	3,349 km2 (1,293 sq mi)
• Water	2,392 km2 (924 sq mi)
Area rank	3rd
Population (2010)
• Land	646,305
• Rank	8th
• Density	190/km2 (500/sq mi)
• Density rank	11th
ISO 3166 code	NL-FY
Religion (2005)	Protestant 30% Roman Catholic 6% Muslim 2%
Website	www.fryslan.nl

Friesland ( pronunciation (help·info), West Frisian: Fryslân, Dutch: Friesland; Dutch pronunciation: [ˈfris.lɑnt]) is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient, larger region of Frisia.

Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân. Nevertheless, Friesland remains in common usage, being the Dutch (and English) name for the province.

Friesland has 646,000 inhabitants (2010) and its capital is Leeuwarden (West Frisian: Ljouwert), with 91,817 inhabitants, in the centre of the province.

Culture[link]

Fryslân distinguishes itself from the other eleven provinces by having its own language, West Frisian, which is also spoken in a small adjacent part of the province of Groningen, to the east. Closely related languages, East Frisian ("Seeltersk", which is different from "East Frisian (Ostfriesisch)", a collection of Low German dialects of East Frisia) and North Frisian, are spoken in the Saterland and in North Friesland areas in Germany, respectively.

Friesland is mainly an agricultural province. The famous black and white Frisian cattle and the well known black Frisian horse originated here. Tourism is another important source of income, with the principal tourist destinations including the lakes in the southwest of the province, and the islands in the Wadden Sea to the north.

Another interesting feature is the presence of many windmills. There are 195 windmills in the province of Friesland, from a total of about 1200 in the entire country.

Cities[link]

Map of Friesland (2012)

Frisian cattle

Friesian horse

The ancient cities of Friesland are shown below:

Major towns[link]

10 largest towns by population

Source: Fryslân.nl (1 December 2009), mun. and CBS

Municipalities[link]

Demography[link]

The years 1880-1900 show slower population growth. Due to a farm crisis 20,000 Frisians emigrated to the United States.^[3]

Climate[link]

Sports[link]

The Elfstedentocht passes all eleven cities of Fryslân

The province is famous for its speed skaters, with mass participation in cross-country ice skating when weather conditions permit. When winters are cold enough to allow the freshwater canals to freeze hard, the province holds its traditional Elfstedentocht (Eleven cities tour), a 200 kilometer ice skating tour. A traditional sport is Frisian handball. Another Frisian practice is fierljeppen, a sport with some similarities to pole vaulting. A jump consists of an intense sprint to the pole (polsstok), jumping and grabbing it, then climbing to the top while trying to control the pole's forward and lateral movements over a body of water and finishing with a graceful landing on a sand bed opposite to the starting point. Because of all the diverse skills required in fierljeppen, fierljeppers are considered to be very complete athletes with superbly developed strength and coordination. In the warmer months, many Frisians practice wadlopen, the traditional art of wading across designated sections of the Wadden Sea at low tide.

There are currently two top level football clubs playing in Friesland: SC Heerenveen (home stadium Abe Lenstra Stadion) and SC Cambuur from Leeuwarden (home stadium Cambuur Stadion).

Anthropometry[link]

Since the late Middle Ages, Friesland was renowned for the exceptional height of its inhabitants, who were deemed among the tallest groups of Indo-Europeans. Even early Renaissance poet Dante Alighieri refers to the height of Frieslanders in his Divine Comedy when, in the canticle about Hell, he talks about the magnitude of an infernal demon by stating that "not even three tall Frieslanders, were they set one upon the other, would have matched his height".^[5]

See also[link]

Map of the Netherlands, linking to the province articles; red dots mark provincial capitals and black dots other notable cities or towns.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Website of visitFryslân.nl
• Website of the province
• Frisian Film Archive
• Frisian Droughts
• Frisian homeland site
• Fryslân Ferbynt, the international meetingplace
• Bus schedules:
  • Friesland
• The frysian student society based in the city of Groningen.
• Geofrisia.com Ynterfrysk geografysk porteal, Interfrasch geografisch portåål, Interfräisk geografisk Portoal
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Friesland". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

v t e    Provinces of the Netherlands Provinces Drenthe Flevoland Friesland Gelderland Groningen Limburg North Brabant North Holland Overijssel South Holland Utrecht Zeeland Public bodies Bonaire Sint Eustatius Saba

v t e    Municipalities of Friesland (Fryslân) Achtkarspelen Ameland Boarnsterhim Dantumadiel Dongeradeel Ferwerderadiel Franekeradeel Gaasterlân-Sleat Harlingen Heerenveen Het Bildt Kollumerland c.a. Leeuwarden Leeuwarderadeel Lemsterland Littenseradiel Menaldumadeel Ooststellingwerf Opsterland Schiermonnikoog Skarsterlân Smallingerland Súdwest-Fryslân Terschelling Tytsjerksteradiel Vlieland Weststellingwerf See also Netherlands Provinces Municipalities