History of Ameland: from free lordship to island of whaling commanders and lifesavers

Ambla: the island in the Wadden Sea

Geologically Ameland is a young island, formed on a sandy beach ridge with dunes on the North Sea side and salt marshes facing the mudflats.

The first mention: in the early 9th century the island is mentioned in a donation to the abbey of Fulda, as Insula que dicitur Ambla, the island called Ambla.
A watery name: the name Ambla is related to old words for water and a natural watercourse.
First inhabitants: the island was inhabited at least from the year 850, and small settlements grew up on the higher sandy ground behind the dunes.
An invented monastery: according to later writings the Cammingha family founded the Foswerd monastery near Ballum in 866, but the story mainly served to support their claims to the island.
Storm flood (1287): in 1287 Ameland was hit by the St Lucia's flood, which radically changed the whole Wadden area.

The free lordship of the Cammingha family

Thanks to its remote location, Ameland went its own way for centuries as a free lordship that belonged neither to Friesland nor to Holland.

Lord of Ameland: from 1424 Ritske Jelmera Cammingha acted as the islanders' representative; he proclaimed himself lord of Ameland and made an agreement with the count of Holland in 1429.
The castle in Ballum: around 1425 the Camminghaslot was built in Ballum; it was rebuilt in 1604 and sold for demolition in 1828, and at the church of Ballum the family vault with a keystone from 1552 to 1556 survives.
Strict laws: the islanders enjoyed little real freedom; cat owners, for example, had to cut off their pets' ears so they could not crawl into rabbit burrows.
Neutral in wartime: Ameland stayed neutral in both the Eighty Years' War and the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652 to 1654).
The bell tower of Nes (1664): lord and lady Watse Frans van Cammingha and Rixt van Donia had the bell tower of Nes built in 1664; it was raised in 1732 to be more visible to shipping.
To the House of Orange (1704): after the Ameland Cammingha line died out, the island passed in 1704 via Henriëtte Amalia of Anhalt-Dessau to the House of Orange-Nassau; the Nassaukooi, a duck decoy near Buren, dates from that time.

Whaling and commanders

In the 17th and 18th centuries many islanders found a new source of income in whaling off Spitsbergen and Greenland.

Commanders: many whaling captains, the so-called commandeurs, came from Ameland, and their stately commanders' houses can still be seen in Nes and Hollum.
A dangerous living: whales were harpooned from small rowing boats, and by no means everyone returned from such a voyage.
Hidde Dirks Kat: in 1777 the ship of Hollum commander Hidde Dirks Kat (1747 to 1824) was crushed by ice off Greenland; after a gruelling trek across the ice, he and part of his crew survived the winter with the help of the Inuit.
A famous diary: Kat recorded his experiences in a diary published in 1818, which speaks highly of the Inuit who saved them; a statue of him stands on Ameland.
A commander's house: at the Sorgdrager cultural history museum in Hollum, housed in an 18th-century commander's house, you can see how a whaler used to live.

The French period and a Frisian municipality

At the end of the 18th century Ameland's special independence came to an end.

End of the lordship (1795): in 1795 the seigneurial rights were abolished and Friesland took over the administration, although it met with much resistance from the islanders.
Part of Friesland (1801): in 1801 Ameland officially became part of the Batavian Republic, under the department of Friesland.
A Frisian grietenij: after 1815 Ameland became a grietenij, the Frisian forerunner of the municipality, in the province of Friesland.
Free Lord of Ameland: the kings and queens of the Netherlands still bear the title Free Lord of Ameland to this day.

Lighthouse, lifesavers and shipwrecks

The sandbanks around Ameland were notorious, and the islanders have a long tradition of rescuing and warning ships.

The De Valk disaster (1799): on 10 November 1799 the frigate De Valk sank off Ameland with British soldiers, crew and also women and children on board; according to local sources, 419 people died.
A monument in the dunes: on the Engelsmanduun near Hollum, the De Valk monument commemorates the disaster.
The lighthouse (1881): on the orders of King William III, the cast-iron Bornrif lighthouse was built in 1881, 55.3 metres high with 236 steps to the top.
The dim lamp: after the Second World War a weak emergency light burned in the tower for a while, earning it the nickname schemerlamp (dim lamp).
The horse-drawn lifeboat: in Hollum the lifeboat was pulled into the sea by horses; at the Abraham Fock rescue museum you can learn about this unique tradition, which is still demonstrated today.

Windmills, churches and a failed dam

In the 19th century Ameland gained many of the buildings that make the island so recognisable today.

De Phenix (1880): there had been corn mills in Nes since 1629; the present De Phenix mill was built in 1880 after a fire, and its name refers to the bird that rises from its ashes.
De Verwachting: in Hollum, the rebuilt De Verwachting grain and mustard mill grinds flour and makes Ameland mustard.
A church full of art: the former Reformed church of Nes, dating from 1824, is now the Ameland Cultural Museum, with murals from the 1950s and centuries-old gravestones.
St Clement's Church (1878): the neo-Gothic St Clement's Church in Nes was built in 1878 to a design by Pierre Cuypers, was largely gutted by fire on 5 February 2013 and has since been rebuilt.
The dam to Holwerd (1872): in 1871 and 1872 a dam was built between Ameland and Holwerd to reclaim land; after heavy storms in 1882 repairs were abandoned, but at low tide you can still see its remains on a mudflat hike.

The Second World War

In 1940 the German army occupied Ameland within a few hours, and the island became part of the Atlantic Wall.

Bunkers in the dunes: the Germans built several bunkers, including south-west of Hollum to defend the Borndiep tidal inlet.
Radar station Rita: the radar station codenamed Rita stood near the Engelsmanduun; along the Herderpad you can still see bunker remains.
Freed late: because the island had little strategic value, it was never invaded; the German troops only surrendered on 3 June 1945.
A new pier: during the war the Germans built the pier at Holwerd, from which the ferry to Nes sailed after the war.

Ameland today

After the war tourism became the main source of income, while the villages kept their historic character.

From Zwarte Haan to Holwerd: for centuries boatmen sailed from Zwarte Haan to the Ballumerbocht; the last service ran in 1948, and since then the ferry has sailed from Holwerd to Nes.
The whirlwind (1972): on 11 August 1972 whirlwinds swept over the Duinoord campsite near Nes, killing three people and injuring hundreds.
Ameland's coat of arms: according to folk tradition, the three black bars on the coat of arms represent beams that islanders stole by moonlight on Terschelling, as a well-known local rhyme tells.
Farm life: besides tourism, livestock farming is still important, and at the Swartwoude agriculture and beachcombing museum in Buren you can see what farm life used to be like.

Experience history yourself on Ameland

By bike you can explore the history of all four villages in a day, from the lighthouse near Hollum to the duck decoy near Buren.

Bunker museum: visit the Bunker Museum in the dunes by the lighthouse, housed in a former kitchen bunker.
Lighthouse: climb the Bornrif lighthouse for a wide view over the island and the Wadden Sea.
De Valk monument: walk over the Engelsmanduun to the De Valk monument.
De Verwachting: taste Ameland mustard at the De Verwachting mill in Hollum.
Rescue museum: discover the story of the horse-drawn lifeboat at the Abraham Fock rescue museum.
Sorgdrager museum: step into the commander's house of the Sorgdrager museum.
Ballum: see the church of Ballum with the Cammingha family vault and a pulpit from 1604.
Nes: stroll past the bell tower, the Ameland Cultural Museum and the commanders' houses of Nes.
De Phenix: watch the miller at work on Saturday afternoons in the De Phenix mill.
Nassaukooi: cycle to the Kooiplaats and Nassaukooi near Buren, a duck decoy from the early 18th century.

Cycle route past these places

Combine most of the places above in a single bike ride of around 20 kilometres, from the lighthouse near Hollum via Ballum and Nes to the Nassaukooi near Buren.