Ammerland is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is bounded by (from the east and clockwise) the city of Oldenburg and the districts of Oldenburg,

Cloppenburg Cloppenburg (; ; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, in north-western Germany, capital of Cloppenburg District and part of Oldenburg Münsterland. It lies 38 km south-south-west of Oldenburg in the Weser-Ems region between Bremen and the Dutch ...

, Leer,

Friesland Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...

and

Wesermarsch Wesermarsch is a ''Districts of Germany, Kreis'' (district) in the northwestern part of Lower Saxony, Germany. Neighboring are (from the east clockwise) the districts of Cuxhaven (district), Cuxhaven and Osterholz, the city of Bremen in the state ...

History

The "Ammerland" was first mentioned in the 10th century. The word is believed to derive from ''Ameri'', which is an old word meaning "swamp". In the time of

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

raids small ring-like castles were built in order to protect the defenceless hamlets. For many years there was little interest in this swampy region. In the 14th century it became part of the

County of Oldenburg The County of Oldenburg () was a county of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1448 Christian I of Denmark (of the House of Oldenburg), Count of Oldenburg became King of Denmark, and later King of Norway and King of Sweden. One of his grandsons, Adolf, ...

. The counts established strongholds in the region, which was the frontier against the lands of the untamable

Frisia Frisia () is a Cross-border region, cross-border Cultural area, cultural region in Northwestern Europe. Stretching along the Wadden Sea, it encompasses the north of the Netherlands and parts of northwestern Germany. Wider definitions of "Frisia" ...

ns. The district was established in 1933 in the rough borders of the historical region.

Geography

Ammerland is characterised by a very flat countryside, many fens and swamps, and many windmills. The latter are a symbol of the district, which calls itself sometimes the "land of windmills". The central point of the district is the Zwischenahner Meer located near the resort town of Bad Zwischenahn, a lake with an area of 5.5 km² (''Meer'' is the German word for "sea", but in the local

Low German Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. "Low" ...

, as in Dutch, it means mere (lake), pond).

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms displays: * top left: the red stripes from the arms of the counts of Oldenburg * top right: the golden cross of the County of Bentinck (1733–1818 in

Varel Varel () is a town in the district of Friesland, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the Jade River and the Jade Bight, approximately south of Wilhelmshaven and north of Oldenburg. With a population of 23,984 (2020) it is the bigg ...

; Wiefelstede was a part of this county) * bottom left: the acorn symbolising the common oaks of the Ammerland * bottom right: the red zigzag lines are an ancient symbol of the Ammerland Its

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

is: "Quarterly Or and Azure, I: two bars Gules; II: a

Greek cross The Christian cross, with or without a figure of Jesus, Christ included, is the main religious symbol of Christianity. A cross with a figure of Christ affixed to it is termed a crucifix and the figure is often referred to as the ''corpus'' (La ...

Or; III: an oak stem with

leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leav ...

and

acorn The acorn is the nut (fruit), nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'', ''Notholithocarpus'' and ''Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains a seedling surrounded by two cotyledons (seedling leaves), en ...

Or; IV: two bars dancetty Gules".

Cities and municipalities

References

External links

*
Parklandschaft Ammerland Tourism website

{{Authority control Districts of Lower Saxony