Saterland

Saterland

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Saterland

Coordinates: 53°2′N 7°43′E / 53.033°N 7.717°E / 53.033; 7.717Coordinates: 53°2′N 7°43′E / 53.033°N 7.717°E / 53.033; 7.717
Country Germany
State Lower Saxony
District Cloppenburg
Government
  Mayor Hubert Frye (CDU)
Area
  Total 123.62 km2 (47.73 sq mi)
Population (2013-12-31)[1]
  Total 13,049
  Density 110/km2 (270/sq mi)
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes 26683
Dialling codes 0 44 92 (Scharrel, Sedelsberg) 0 44 98 (Ramsloh, Strücklingen)
Vehicle registration CLP
Website www.saterland.de

Saterland (Saterland Frisian: Seelterlound) is a municipality in the district of Cloppenburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated between the cities of Leer, Cloppenburg, and Oldenburg. It is home to the ethnic group the Saterland Frisians whose language is still used.

Division of the municipality

The municipality of Saterland was formed in 1974, when the smaller municipalities Strücklingen (Strukelje in Saterland Frisian), Ramsloh (Roomelse), Sedelsberg (Seeidelsbierich) and Scharrel (Schäddel) were merged.

A bilingual German-Saterland Frisian roadsign

History

In medieval times, Saterland was a sandy region occupying an area of about 15 km long by 1–4 km wide surrounded by marshes. It was settled between the 10th and 13th centuries by Frisians from East Frisia. Being relatively isolated, the inhabitants developed their own form of the East Frisian language, Saterland Frisian, which survives to this day. The "Saterfriesen," as the speakers of this language are called in German, are the smallest minority recognized by the federal government.

Notable places

On the area of the municipality of Saterland is the VLF transmitter DHO38, a large VLF transmitter of the German Navy for sending commands to submarines.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saterland.



This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, May 07, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.