Düne

Düne

Picture of Düne taken from airplane, in the background the island Heligoland
Düne in the North Sea
Düne
Geography
Location German Bight
Coordinates 54°11′5″N 7°54′44″E / 54.18472°N 7.91222°E / 54.18472; 7.91222Coordinates: 54°11′5″N 7°54′44″E / 54.18472°N 7.91222°E / 54.18472; 7.91222
Archipelago Heligoland
Area 0.7 km2 (0.27 sq mi)
Country
State Schleswig-Holstein
District Pinneberg district
Municipality Heligoland
Demographics
Population unpopulated
Additional information
Official website helgoland.de

Düne (Danish: Dynen, North Frisian: de Halem) is one of two islands in the German North Sea Coast Area that belong to the Archipelago of Heligoland, the other being Heligoland proper.

Geography

The small island Düne is part of the German State Schleswig-Holstein. Situated 1 mile to the east of the main island Heligoland, Düne is part of the natural landscape Helgoländer Felssockel [Heligoland rock core]. The island measures 0.78 mile in length and 0.53 mile in width.

History

Until the 17th century, Düne was connected to Heligoland. On New Year's Eve 1721 a big storm surge separated the dunes from Heligoland. Therefore the island that arose was called Düne (English: Dune). In 1935 the size of the island was 10 hectares (25 acres). In 1940 the Nazi government increased the size of the island to 40 hectares (99 acres). This increase was for military use. An airfield was built that is still used today. The Heligoland Airport has two runways, of which the longest is 500 meters (0.31 mile). The actual artificial island is still 40 hectares.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, June 04, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.