Urk

Urk
Municipality
Current town and former island of Urk
Flag Coat of arms
Location in Flevoland
Coordinates: 52°40′N 5°36′E / 52.667°N 5.600°E / 52.667; 5.600Coordinates: 52°40′N 5°36′E / 52.667°N 5.600°E / 52.667; 5.600
Country	Netherlands
Province	Flevoland
Government
• Body	Municipal council
• Mayor	Pieter van Maaren (CDA)
Area
• Total	109.91 km2 (42.44 sq mi)
• Land	11.53 km2 (4.45 sq mi)
• Water	98.38 km2 (37.98 sq mi)
Elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Population (May 2014)
• Total	19,567
• Density	1,697/km2 (4,400/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Urker
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postcode	8320–8324
Area code	0527
Website	www.urk.nl

Urk (Dutch pronunciation: [ɵrk]) is a municipality and a town in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands.

Urk is first mentioned in historical records dating to the 10th century, when it was still an island in the Almere, a lake that would become part of the Zuiderzee in the 13th century after a series of incursions by the North Sea. In 1939, a dike from the mainland to Urk ended the town's island status, just as the Afsluitdijk project was changing the salt water Zuiderzee surrounding Urk to the less saline IJsselmeer. Later in the 20th century, seabed areas surrounding Urk were reclaimed from the sea and became the Noordoostpolder.

The mainstay of the town's economy has always been fishing, and the products of the sea coming in through Urk's harbour continue to be exported widely, although today Urk's fishing boats must travel greater distances to gather them than was required in most historical periods. Religious life has also traditionally been very important to Urk's inhabitants, with active, conservative congregations of the Dutch Reformed denominations playing key roles in the life of the community.

Around the IJsselmeer is an arc of boulder clay high areas of land, which formed during the Ice Age glaciations of the epoch: Texel, Wieringen, Urk, de Voorst, and Gaasterland. To south of that arc, as a result of meltwater, a lake formed, which became known as Almere. North of the boulder clay highland of Urk, the Vecht river flowed into the Almere, while the river IJssel with tributaries flowed into the south of Urk. As the climate became warmer during the Middle Ages, the sea level rose; and since the Ice Age ended the Netherlands and around have been slowly steadily sinking because of forebulge effect. During the 13th century (and especially after a large storm in 1282) the Zuiderzee formed, and the water round Urk suddenly became tidal sea. Because there was no sea defence, in the course of time large pieces of the island were eroded away. The southwest side of Urk, which rose perpendicularly out of the sea, was called het Hoge Klif ("the High Cliff"). Around 1700 the municipality of Amsterdam gave sea defences to Urk.