Urk is a municipality and a town in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands.
Current town and former island of Urk
Aerial photograph of the former island Urk, before its integration in the Noordoostpolder, 1920–1940. Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie.
Aerial photograph of the former island Urk, 1920–1940. Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie.
The quay of Urk
Flevoland is the twelfth and newest province of the Netherlands, established in 1986, when the southern and eastern Flevopolders, together with the Noordoostpolder, were merged into one provincial entity. It is in the centre of the country in the former Zuiderzee, which was turned into the freshwater IJsselmeer by the closure of the Afsluitdijk in 1932. Almost all of the land belonging to Flevoland was reclaimed in the 1950s and 1960s while splitting the Markermeer and Bordering lakes from the IJsselmeer. As to dry land, it is the smallest province of the Netherlands at 1,410 km2 (540 sq mi), but not gross land as that includes much of the waters of the fresh water lakes (meres) mentioned.
Northeastern Flevoland: Noordoostpolder
Eastern and Southern Flevoland: Flevopolder
Arjen Gerritsen, the King's Commissioner of Flevoland
Almere Centrum railway station