Zeeuws-Vlaanderen
—  Regio  —
Flag
Country	Netherlands
Province	Zeeland
Municipality	Sluis Terneuzen Hulst
Area
- Land	733.19 km2 (283.1 sq mi)
- Water	142.61 km2 (55.1 sq mi)
Population (1-7-2007)	107.618
Transport
Major roads	N58, N60, N61, N62 (Westerscheldetunnel)

Zeelandic Flanders (Dutch: Zeeuws-Vlaanderen) is the southernmost region of the province of Zeeland in south-western Netherlands. It lies south of the Western Scheldt that separates the region from the remainder of Zeeland to the north. Zeelandic Flanders is bordered to the south by Belgium.

[edit] Geography

Satellite image of the Scheldt delta
Zeelandic Flanders is marked number 9 on the image on the south shore of the Western Scheldt (b), originally a distributary of the river Scheldt (a).

Zeelandic Flanders is the north-western part of the large historical region of Flanders which today lies mostly in Belgium. It shares a land border with the Belgian provinces of East and West Flanders. It is a latitudinally oriented strip of land along the Western Scheldt, a North Sea estuary, and has no land access with the rest of the Netherlands. The area of Zeelandic Netherlands is 876 km² (338 sq mi) of which 733 km² (283 sq mi) is land and 143 km² (55 sq mi) is water.

The region is bordered by the Zwin nature reserve in the West and the Drowned Land of Saeftinghe in the East.

Sluis

Terneuzen

Hulst

Since 2003, Zeelandic Flanders consists of only three municipalities: Sluis in the west, Terneuzen in the middle and Hulst in the east.

[edit] Transport

Zeelandic Flanders is connected to Flushing on Walcheren to the north of the Western Scheldt by the Western Scheldt Tunnel and the ferry it replaced which is now^[update] for pedestrians and cyclists. A ferry that formerly ran from Perkpolder to Kruiningen in South Beveland was discontinued upon opening of the tunnel.

The Ghent-Terneuzen Canal passes through Zeelandic Flanders.

[edit] History

Official Flag of Zeelandic Flanders

Except for some formerly insular areas, the region now called Zeelandic Flanders was not part of the historical County of Zeeland, but a part of the County of Flanders initially ruled by the House of Habsburg. The region was front line in the Eighty Years' War and was conquered by the Dutch Republic near the end of the war. As such, it was the only part of Flanders, which took part in the insurgency, to become part of the new republic.

Zeelandic Flanders was subsequently ruled directly by the Dutch States-General (parliament) as one of the Generality Lands and called Flanders of the States (Staats-Vlaanderen). After occupation by the French in 1795, the area accrued to the département of Escaut. With the formation of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, the present province Zeeland was formed and Zeelandic Flanders remained a part of it even after the 1830 Belgian Revolution that separated the remainder of Dutch Flanders from the Netherlands.

[edit] Population

As of 2005^[update], the population of Zeelandic Flanders was 107,853 with 147 inhabitants per square kilometer (380.7/sq mi).

[edit] Language

The native dialect of the western part of the region is Zeelandic Flemish, a variety of West Flemish. In the central regions, the Land-van-Axels and Land-van-Cadzands dialects of Zeelandic, itself a transition between West Flemish and Hollandic, are spoken. In the eastern part, East Flemish with some Brabantian influence is spoken.

[edit] See also

• Flanders
• Zeeland
• Western Scheldt

Coordinates: 51°20′N 3°49′E / 51.333°N 3.817°E / 51.333; 3.817