Marken

Marken
Village
Marken in 2015
Top: location of the municipality of Waterland in North Holland and the Netherlands. Bottom: location of Marken in Waterland.
Coordinates: 52°27′30″N 5°6′24″E / 52.45833°N 5.10667°E / 52.45833; 5.10667Coordinates: 52°27′30″N 5°6′24″E / 52.45833°N 5.10667°E / 52.45833; 5.10667
Country	Netherlands
Province	North Holland
Municipality	Waterland
Area (2012)
• Total	270 ha (670 acres)
• Land	267 ha (660 acres)
• Water	3 ha (7 acres)
Population (2012)
• Total	1,810
• Density	670/km2 (1,700/sq mi)
Postal code	1156
Area code	0299

Marken (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈmɑrkə(n)]; Marken's dialect: Mereke) is a village with a population of 1,810 in the municipality of Waterland in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. Marken forms a peninsula in the Markermeer and was formerly an island in the Zuiderzee. The characteristic wooden houses of Marken are a tourist attraction.

Marken was an island in the Zuiderzee.

For some time during the later 19th and early 20th centuries, Marken and its inhabitants were the focus of considerable attention by folklorists, ethnographers and physical anthropologists, who regarded the small fishing town as a relic of the traditional native culture that was destined to disappear as the modernization of the Netherlands gained pace. Among them was Johann Friedrich Blumenbach who examined a skull from the island of humans which he called Batavus genuinus; and was the Belgian painter Xavier Mellery who stayed in Marken at the request of Charles De Coster. Mellery was asked to perform illustrative work and delivered several intimist works.

The projects of Cornelis Lely was to incorporated the island into the Markerwaard. The dike, built in 1941 in the north, is the first phase of that project which was stopped by the war.

In 1983, the Marker Museum about the history of the island was opened.

Marken was a separate municipality until 1991, when it was merged into Waterland.

Girls in traditional costumes (c. 1900)

...
Wikipedia