The Hoekse Waard (; pre-1947 spelling: Hoeksche Waard) is an

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

between the Oude Maas, Dordtsche Kil,

Hollands Diep The Hollands Diep ( pre-1947 spelling: Hollandsch Diep) is a river in the Netherlands, and an estuary of the Rhine and Meuse rivers. Through the Scheldt-Rhine Canal it connects to the Scheldt river and Antwerp. The Bergse Maas river and the N ...

Haringvliet The Haringvliet is a large inlet of the North Sea, in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. It is an important estuary of the Rhine-Meuse delta. Near Numansdorp, the Hollands Diep splits into the Haringvliet and the Volkerak est ...

and Spui

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

South Holland South Holland ( ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.8 million as of January 2023 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely populated areas. ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. The island, part of the namesake municipality of Hoeksche Waard, is a mostly

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

region, south of the outskirts of

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. The Hoeksche Waard consists of reclaimed land (

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrology, hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as levee, dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclamation, Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a ...

s): after the Saint Elisabeth flood of 1421 most of the area was flooded. The land has been reclaimed gradually in the following centuries.

Former municipalities

The Hoeksche Waard formerly consisted of the following

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

until these were merged on 1 January 2019: *

Binnenmaas Binnenmaas () was a municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality had a population of in , and covers an area of of which is water. It is named after the lake of the same name. The municipality was ...

(villages Blaaksedijk, Heinenoord, Goidschalxoord, Maasdam, Mijnsheerenland, Puttershoek, Westmaas and

's-Gravendeel s-Gravendeel () is a village and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. 's-Gravendeel is on the eastern side of Hoeksche Waard Island on the river Dordtsche Kil. It is connected to Dordrecht by means o ...

) * Cromstrijen (villages Klaaswaal and Numansdorp) * Korendijk (villages Goudswaard, Nieuw-Beijerland, Piershil and Zuid-Beijerland, and the island of Tiengemeten) * Oud-Beijerland *

Strijen Strijen () is a town and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality, covering an area of of which is water, is located on the Hoeksche Waard island along the Hollands Diep estuary. On 1 Janu ...

(villages Cillaarshoek, Mookhoek, Strijen and Strijensas)

Surrounding waters

The Hoeksche Waard is separated: *from IJsselmonde island on the north by the Oude Maas (tunnel) *from

Voorne-Putten Voorne-Putten () is an island between the North Sea, the Brielse Meer and the rivers Oude Maas, Spui and Haringvliet in the province of South Holland. Voorne-Putten consists of the two former islands Voorne (the larger, western part) and Pu ...

island on the west by the Spui (ferry) *from the island of

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...

on the east by the Dordtsche Kil (tunnel) *from

Goeree-Overflakkee Goeree-Overflakkee () is the southernmost river delta, delta island of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is separated from Voorne-Putten and Hoeksche Waard by the Haringvliet, from the mainland of North ...

island on the southwest by the

(bridge) *from the Province of

North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to ...

on the southeast by the

(bridge)

References

External links

{{Coord, 51.78, 4.35, display=title * Islands of South Holland Islands of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta Regions of South Holland Regions of the Netherlands