Urk (; ; ) is a municipality and a town in the Flevoland province in the center-north of the Netherlands with a population of 22,173 as of 2025. It is surrounded by the Noordoostpolder on land and is on the coast of the IJsselmeer. Urk was formerly an island in the Almere, an inland sea that would become part of the Zuiderzee in the 13th century after a series of incursions by the North Sea. The building of a dike from Lemmer in 1939 ended Urk's status as an island and connected it to the Dutch mainland.

The mainstay of the town's formal economy has always been fishing, with Urk having the largest fishing fleet in the Netherlands. The products of the sea coming in through Urk harbor 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. Urk's inhabitants are socially tight-knitted and maintain their own unique dialect of Netherlands. Religious life has 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.

Urk ceased to be an island in October 1939 as part of the Zuiderzee Works (just as the Afsluitdijk project was changing the salt water Zuiderzee surrounding Urk to the less saline IJsselmeer), and Urk's town expanded into the reclaimed land of the polder. Many Urkers who previously left the town because of overcrowding before the polder reclamation was completed were able to return to Urk. Later, seabed areas surrounding Urk were reclaimed from the sea to become the Noordoostpolder. In 1950, Urk's jurisdiction moved away from North Holland to become part of the province of Overijssel.

Demographics

Year 2018

  • Birth Rate: 20.3 per 1000
  • Death Rate: 3.24 per 1000
  • NGR: +1.90% per year

The birth rate of the municipality of Urk is the highest in the Netherlands as of 2016 (and highest in previous years). But like many other places in the Netherlands this number declined to 18.7% (down from 30.8% in 1988). In 1988 only Zeewolde had a slightly higher birth rate at 31.3%, but the birth rate Urk remained the second highest. The total fertility rate declined to 2.6 (down from 3.9 in 1988).

In 2021, 44 per cent of Urk's population was under the age of 25. This made Urk the demographically youngest municipality of the Netherlands. Number two in the country was Staphorst, another Calvinist community nearby.

Politics

Local

270px|thumb|Dutch topographic map of the municipality of Urk, June 2015

The municipal council currently (2022) contains five political parties:

  • SGP: 6 seats
  • Christian Union: 3 seats
  • CDA: 3 seats
  • Hart voor Urk: 3 seats
  • Gemeentebelangen: 2 seats
  • PVV: 1 seat
  • Krachtig Urk: 1 seat

Gemeentebelangen, Hart voor Urk and Krachtig Urk are local parties. Hart voor Urk was founded by former SGP councillor Jan Koffeman with largely identical party policies to SGP's.

A majority coalition of ChristenUnie, SGP and Hart voor Urk are currently in power. The town council is led by (non-elected) mayor Cees van den Bos.

None of these parties can be described as either left-wing (socialist) or liberal. National parties, such as the VVD (conservative/liberal), D66 (liberal), GroenLinks (green party) and PvdA (labour), are not represented in Urk's town council and support for these parties in national and regional elections remains minimal. However, due to slowly growing support for the VVD, an Urk affiliate of the conservative/liberal party was founded in early 2011 and entered the 2014 local elections. However, the VVD only drew 2.7% of the vote, insufficient for a seat.

National

Urk is one of the most politically conservative areas in the Netherlands. As part of the so-called Dutch "Bible belt", a vast majority of election votes go to the three Christian parties in the Netherlands, SGP, ChristenUnie and CDA. Urk is also known for its high turnout at each election, which is usually considerably higher than the national average (although general turnout percentages have dropped approx. 10% since 2002).

Voting patterns used to be relatively stable, with approximately 85-90% of the votes spread out evenly over SGP, ChristenUnie and CDA (each between 25-35%). CDA in Urk usually got more votes in national elections than in local elections, while ChristenUnie's support is sometimes twice locally compared to what it receives from Urk voters in national elections (this is sometimes attributed to the apparent left-wing leanings of the ChristenUnie nationally, while ChristenUnie in Urk tends to be more conservative). SGP's support locally is not much different from its support in national elections. In the last elections, the support for CDA and CU dwindled. The short-lived christian democratic party New Social Contract won 6% in 2023.

However, in recent years a few changes in voting patterns occurred, such as a growing support for national protest parties such as the LPF or Geert Wilders' PVV Freedom Party. Also, voting patterns these days tend to show bigger swings, as shown in 2010's and 2012's national elections in which CDA lost 11% and 13% respectively, and in 2011's regional elections, in which ChristenUnie lost 18%. In 2012, orthodox-Christian SGP even registered an absolute majority with 51.2% of the vote. (In the European Elections of 2014, the combined ChristenUnie/SGP list even registered 78% of the vote).

Support for established left wing parties, such as the Labour Party or the Socialist Party, remains minimal.

|-

!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left colspan="2" valign=top|Parties

!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center valign=top|Political Ideology

!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center valign=top| 2017 Votes %

!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right valign=top| 2021 Vote %

!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right valign=top| 2023 Vote %

!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right valign=top| 2025 Vote %

|- align=right

|

|align=left|Reformed Political Party <br> (Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij, SGP)

|align="left"|Conservatism, Reformed Christian

|align="right" |56.1%

|align="right" |54.4%

|align="right" |48.35%

|align="right" |54.21%

|- align=right

|

|align=left|Party for Freedom <br> (Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV)

|align=left|Right-wing populism/Anti-Islam

|align="right" |11.0%

|align="right" |13.8%

|align="right" |25.74%

|align="right" |17.28%

|- align=right

|

|align=left|Forum for Democracy <br> (Forum voor Democratie, FvD)

|align=left|Right-wing populism/Anti-Islam

|align="right" |-

|align="right" |9.0%

|align="right" |3.69%

|align="right" |9.01%

|- align=right

|

|align=left|ChristianUnion <br> (ChristenUnie, CU)

|align=left|Social-Christianity /Orthodox Protestantism

|align="right" |11.6%

|align="right" |8.1%

|align="right" |4.14%

|align="right" |5.27%

|- align=right

|

|align=left|Christian Democratic Appeal <br> (Christen-Democratisch Appèl, CDA)

|align=left|Christian Democracy

|align="right" |14.2%

|align="right" |7.8%

|align="right" |3.71%

|align="right" |6.13%

|- align=right

|

|align=left|People's Party for Freedom and Democracy <br> (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie, VVD)

|align=left|Conservative liberalism

|align="right" |1.8%

|align="right" |1.7%

|align="right" |0.86%

|align="right" |1.19%

|- align=right

|

|align=left|Democrats 66 <br> (Democraten 66, D66)

|align=left|Social liberalism, Radicalism, Progressivism

|align="right" |0.5%

|align="right" |0.5%

|align="right" |0.16%

|align="right" |0.66%

|- align=right

|

|align=left|Party for the Animals <br> (Partij voor de Dieren, PvdD)

|align=left|Animal rights/Animal welfare

|align="right" |0.2%

|align="right" |0.3%

|align="right" |0.08%

|align="right" |0.16%

|- align=right

|

|align=left|Socialist Party <br> (Socialistische Partij, SP)

|align=left|Socialism

|align="right" |0.7%

|align="right" |0.2%

|align="right" |0.27%

|align="right" |0.25%

|- align=right

|

|align=left|GreenLeft <br> (GroenLinks, GL)

|align=left|Green politics

|align="right" |0.2%

|align="right" |0.2%

|align="right" rowspan=2 |0.65%

|align="right" rowspan=2 |0.57%

|- align=right

|

|align=left|Labour Party <br> (Partij van de Arbeid, PvdA)

|align=left|Social Democracy

|align="right" |0.2%

|align="right" |0.2%

|- align=right

|bgcolor="darkgray"|

|align=left|Other

|align="left" |&ndash;

|align="right" |3.4%

|align="right" |3.8%

|align="right" |12.36%

|align="right" |5.27%

|-

|align=left colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Total

|width="100" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|

|width="50" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100%

|width="50" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100%

|width="50" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100%

|width="50" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|100%

|-

|align=left colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|Turnout

|width="100" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|

|width="50" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|81.57%

|width="50" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|91.33%

|width="50" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|

|width="50" align="right" style="background-color:#E9E9E9"|89.5%

|}

Dialect

thumb|Locals in Urk in traditional clothing during Urkerdag festival

One of the oldest and most distinctive dialects of Westphalian is the language spoken in Urk. Nearly everyone in the village speaks this dialect and uses it in daily life. The Urkish dialect also includes elements that are older than standard Dutch and were never part of the standard language. For example, the old word for "father" in the Urkish dialect is . The dialect developed this way because until World War II, Urk was an island and could be reached only by boat. Radio was unknown, and the poor population did not have much money for newspapers and books. Until the modern era, primary education for the children typically lasted only two years; afterwards children had to help maintain the family, and formal schooling ended.

Linguistic classifications have assigned "the dialect of Urk" or "Urk" into an own dialect group. Urk is no longer an island and exposure to standard Dutch through the media is widespread. However, the distinctive Urkish dialect is still alive.

The Urkish dialect has more vowel sounds than standard Dutch and each vowel has short and long forms. The pronunciation of vowels deviates from standard Dutch and is closer to English.

Because living conditions in Urk in historical times were very poor, young girls (typically about age 11 or 12) would frequently leave the island to become domestic servants, mostly in or around Amsterdam. They often served with Jewish families. After a few years, they would return to Urk to form families of their own. As a result of this practice, the Urkish dialect absorbed some loanwords from the Amsterdam dialect and also from Yiddish. For instance, the Yiddish "shnur" for "sister-in-law" became the Urkish "snoar" (identical meaning); the Hebrew "kallah" () for "bride" became the Urkish "kalletjen", meaning "girlfriend" (literally "little bride").

When Napoleon occupied the Netherlands, many French words were incorporated into both standard Dutch and Urkish. Just as for standard Dutch, French words often changed form when incorporated into Urkish. The Urkish dialect has always been primarily a spoken language, and there are not many old texts written in the dialect. Only in recent years have people begun to write prose and poetry in the Urkish dialect. There are Urkers who have translated Bible books into Urkish, such as the book of Psalms.

Culture

thumb|Queen [[Juliana of the Netherlands on a 1968 visit to Urk]]

Folktales

A famous Urkish folktale is the story parents tell their children when they want to know where babies come from. The tale involves a large exposed rock which can be seen in the IJsselmeer about from the shore. This stone is known as the "Ommelebommelestien". Urkers often tell their children that there are two kinds of people-- vreemden (strangers) and Urkers (people from Urk). Strangers are usually born from a cabbage, or a stork brings them to their new parents, but Urkers come from a large stone which lies about from the shores of their former island. Nowadays, the stone is usually called "Ommelebommelestien" (Ommel-Bommel Stone), but in former times it was called "Ommelmoerstien": moer means "mother's" in the Urkish dialect. In the tale, a stork comes all the way from Egypt to put babies in the stone. When the baby is about to be born, the baby's father is said to have to go to Schokland to pick up the key that gives access to the stone. So when an Urkish man is asked if he has been to Schokland, he is actually being asked if he has children. In the older days, when both Urk and Schokland were still islands in the Zuiderzee, the father had to take the obstetrician in his boat and row from Urk to Schokland to get the key, and then from Schokland to the Ommelebommelestien to get the baby. Nowadays he would be able to go to Schokland by car, but according to the legend he still has to row. The door to the stone is somewhere below sea level, so it is difficult to find. Once the door was found, a small price had to be paid for the baby: traditionally one Dutch guilder for a girl but two for a boy. The mother was said to be kept in bed with a nail through her right foot. There she would celebrate that she had just become a mother.

Arts

The prolific Dutch writer Albert Cornelis Baantjer was born here. Baantjer is mainly known for his large series of detective novels revolving around police inspector De Cock and his side-kick, sergeant Vledder.

Writer Jef Last lived on Urk for several years from 1932 onwards. He wrote several articles about Urk for one of the most progressive Dutch magazines, "De Groene Amsterdammer". While living here, he fell in love with a fisherman, and was inspired to write Zuiderzee. This novel deals with the love between two fishermen living on Urk and was one of the first, if not the first novel in Dutch literature to openly deal with homosexuality.

The Dutch writer, painter and resistance hero Willem Arondeus spent some time on Urk from 1920. While residing on Urk, during 1922, he wrote 'Afzijdige Strofen', a collection of twenty homo-erotic poems which were posthumously published in 2001.

Notable people

<!---♦♦♦ Please keep the list in alphabetical order by LAST NAME ♦♦♦--->

<!---♦♦♦ Only people with an article on Wikipedia ♦♦♦--->

  • Willem Arondeus, (born 1894), a Dutch artist, author and Dutch resistance member, resided in Urk
  • A.C. Baantjer (1923 in Urk – 2010) a Dutch author of detective fiction and police officer
  • Dirk van Duijvenbode, (born 1992), professional darts player, grew up in Urk
  • Geert Nentjes, (born 1998), professional darts player, lives in Urk
  • Jan Ras (born 1999 in Urk) a Dutch footballer who plays for SC Heerenveen
  • Dick Schutte (born 1947 in Wilsum) a former Dutch politician, Mayor of Urk from 1999 to 2005

<!-- * Erwin Straatsma (1935 in Urk – 2007) a Dutch entrepreneur in the tobacco industry -->

  • Adri van Heteren (born 1951) a Dutch Christian minister in Urk

See also

  • Urk Lighthouse
  • Marken
  • Louise Kaiser, Urk language researcher

References

  • Local news site
  • Local lifeboat station