Texel

Texel
Municipality and island
North end of the island with the Eierland Lighthouse in 2015
Flag Coat of arms
Location in North Holland
Coordinates: 53°3′N 4°48′E / 53.050°N 4.800°E / 53.050; 4.800Coordinates: 53°3′N 4°48′E / 53.050°N 4.800°E / 53.050; 4.800
Country	Netherlands
Province	North Holland
Government
• Body	Municipal council
• Mayor	Michiel Uitdehaag (D66)
Area
• Total	463.16 km2 (178.83 sq mi)
• Land	161.12 km2 (62.21 sq mi)
• Water	302.04 km2 (116.62 sq mi)
Elevation	2 m (7 ft)
Population (May 2014)
• Total	13,641
• Density	85/km2 (220/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Tesselaar, Texelaar
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postcode	1790–1797
Area code	0222
Website	www.texel.nl

Texel (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈtɛsəl]) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,641 in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of Den Helder, northeast of Noorderhaaks, also known as "Razende Bol" and southwest of Vlieland.

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.

In the early Middle Ages and before, Texel and Wieringen may have been much bigger and met each other as opposite banks of the Marsdiep, which was then a river with banks of permanent land: see here.

In the 13th century Ada, Countess of Holland was held prisoner on Texel by her uncle William.

Texel received city rights in 1415.

Texel was involved in the Battle of Scheveningen (1653) during the First Anglo-Dutch War and the Battle of Texel (1673) during the Third Anglo-Dutch War.

Texel is also famous in military history as the only place where a navy was defeated on horseback. Occupying Holland in January 1795, the French continental army learned that the mighty Dutch navy had been frozen into the ice around Texel, so Commandant Louis Joseph Lahure and 128 men rode up to it and demanded surrender. No shots were fired.