Schokland was once an island, but in the Second World War, the Dutch reclaimed the land from the water that surrounded the island, creating the Noordoostpolder (North-east polder), and thus also definitively saved Schokland. Halfway through the nineteenth century the island had had so much to endure by the sea - which took away most of the land of the islet - that the king of the Netherlands ordered its evacuation. Unfortunately its saviour will also mean its end, as the clay under the now former Island is slowly drying out. The island already lies 1.5 meters lower than it lay in the 1950's.
After the creation of the Noordoostpolder, detailed plans were made for the settlements that were to be build on it. Emmeloord, named after a then lost village on Schokland, was designed to be the only major town and the administrative centre of the region. It was finished in 1963. Around it, a number of villages were created, all at easy biking distance from each other. These settlements are Ens, Marknesse and Kraggenburg (all created in 1949), Bant (1951), Creil and Rutten (1953), Espel, Tollebeek and Nagele (1956) and finally Luttelgeest.
VVV tourist information office Noordoostpolder, De Deel 25 (inside the tower), ☎ +31 527-612000. The tourist information office has a good range of services and can also assist in finding a place to stay. There's a large number of maps, routes, information leaflets and souvenirs for sale. �
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Noordoostpolder
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Noordoostpolder - updated May 2024
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Noordoostpolder Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
