Eckernförde Bay (; ) is a

firth Firth is a word in the English and Scots languages used to denote various coastal waters in the United Kingdom, predominantly within Scotland. In the Northern Isles, it more often refers to a smaller inlet. It is linguistically cognate to Scan ...

and a branch of the

Bay of Kiel The Bay of Kiel or Kiel Bay (, ; ) is a bay in the southwestern Baltic Sea, off the shores of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany and the islands of Denmark. It is connected with the Bay of Mecklenburg in the east, the Little Belt in the northwest, ...

between the

Danish Wahld The Danish Wahld (, ) is a peninsula in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is located between Eckernförde Bay in the north and Kiel Fjord in the south. The '' Amt'' of " Dänischer Wohld" in the district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde is named after ...

peninsula in the south and the

Schwansen Schwansen ( or ''Svansø'', meaning "swan island/peninsula") is a peninsula in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, protruding into the Baltic Sea. It is located between Eckernförde Bay to the south and the Schlei inlet to the north. The Danish dia ...

peninsula in the north in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

off the lands of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

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 ...

. The bay extends around deep into the land and is wide at its entrance where ''Booknis-Eck'' (municipality of ''Waabs'') and ''Danish-Nienhof'' (municipality of ''Schwedeneck'') mark the endpoints. The bay is up to deep. The border to the

Kiel Fjord Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Bay of Ki ...

lies at the Bülk Lighthouse. The once forested

peninsula between Kiel Fjord and Eckernförde Bay constituted the borderland between the

Saxons The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

and the

Danes Danes (, ), or Danish people, are an ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. History Early history Denmark ...

until the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. At the inner end of the bay lies the town of

Eckernförde Eckernförde (; , sometimes also ; , sometimes also ) is a city located in the of Rendsburg-Eckernförde, Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany. Situated on the coast of the Baltic Sea, approximately 30 km north-west of Kiel, it has a populat ...

Geography

The bay formed during the last Ice Age between 120,000 and 10,000 years ago from a glacier. According to some geologists, the

depth contour A bathymetric chart is a type of isarithmic map that depicts the submerged bathymetry and physiographic features of ocean and sea bottoms. Their primary purpose is to provide detailed depth contours of ocean topography as well as provide the size ...

of the Eckernförde Bay had already formed before the Ice Age and contributed to the fact that the ''Eckernförde glacier'' was divided into two parts, the northern ''Windebyer-Noor'' and the southern ''Wittensee-Goossee''. The original post-glacial end of Eckernförde Bay, today's ''Windebyer Noor'', is now separated from the Baltic Sea by a headland on which the town of Eckernförde was built. In 1929 man-made embankments further separated the ''Noor''. There are plans to establish a canal between the Bay and the ''Windebyer Noor''. The shores of the bay are shaped by the tides and the surf as during high winds from the northeast and southwest, heavy sea might build up. When the water level is higher than usual, sand and gravel is being eroded from the cliff coast. In some places, the coastline recedes every year. As a result, the hills of the

Terminal moraine A terminal moraine, also called an end moraine, is a type of moraine that forms at the terminal (edge) of a glacier, marking its maximum advance. At this point, debris that has accumulated by plucking and abrasion, has been pushed by the front e ...

s, that had formed during the last Ice Age in the southeast are hollowed out and a high and long cliff has formed in front of Altenhof. The steadily eroded material is partly deposited further west and has separated the ''Goossee'' from the Eckernförde Bay. Several sand banks run parallel to the beach. The banks are mainly forested with deciduous trees.

History

As Danish tribes had settled in Schwansen since around 700 CE. and German settlers had arrived at Danish Wahld around 1260, the Eckernförde Bay became the linguistic border between

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" ...

in the south and Danish in the north. The divide is still noticeable in the Danish-Nordic

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...

s in Schwansen, where German as

Lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

was subsequently used. However, Danish also remained in widespread use in Schwansen until the 19th century. Both Schwansen and the Danish Wahld retained their feudal character until the Early Modern Period. During the

Battle of Eckernförde The Battle of Eckernförde was a Danish naval assault on Schleswig. The Danes were defeated and two of their ships were lost with the surviving crew being detained.Carsen Jensen: ''Vi, de druknede'' (oversatt av Mie Hidle), Forlaget Press, (20 ...

in 1849, the Danish

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...

''Christian VIII'' and the Danish

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

''Gefion'' were shot at by beach batteries from Schleswig-Holstein troops. ''Christian VIII'' eventually exploded and the crewv of the frigate surrendered and the ship was taken over by the Schleswig-Holstein army. A few years later, the

1872 Baltic Sea flood The 1872 Baltic Sea flood (), often referred to as a storm flood, ravaged the Baltic Sea coast from Denmark to Pomerania, also affecting Sweden, during the night between 12 and 13 November 1872 and was, until then, the worst storm surge in the Ba ...

caused severe damage to the coastal towns of Eckernförde Bay. The town of Eckernförde in particular suffered the most.

Economy, infrastructure and transport

The Eckernförde Bay is a popular holiday destination. The seaside resort Eckernförde registers around 135,000 overnight stays a year. There are eleven campsites scattered around the bay. The waters of the bay are also the starting point for the ancient ''Aalregatta'' during the

Kiel Week The Kiel Week () or Kiel Regatta is an annual sailing event in Kiel, the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is considered to be one of the largest sailing events globally, and also the largest summer festivals in Northern Europe, ...

. The

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

operates several bases and facilities at Eckernförde Bay, such as the ''WTD 71'', an institute for Marine technology and research, a restricted military area, that is off limit for civilians. Since the 15th century a road on the beach wall (near the modern ''Bundesstrasse 76'') existed between ''Goossee'' and Eckernförde Bay, which was later converted into a dam. The dam was badly damaged in the 1872 flood of the Baltic Sea, as the road built in the 17th century was no longer functional. The road was rebuilt and the dam was raised. The modern road was built in 1965. The

Kiel–Flensburg railway The Kiel–Flensburg railway is a single-track railway in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The railway connects the city of Kiel on the Baltic Sea with Eckernförde and Flensburg. Travel time over the railway is around 75 minutes with a maximum speed ...

(built by the ''Kiel-Eckernförde-Flensburger Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft - KEFE'') runs parallel to the road that is operated by the ''Schleswig-Holstein Regional Railway''. Numerous bicycle paths, such as the ''Baltic Sea Cycle Route'' criss-cross the Eckernförde Bay area. The ''Baltic Sea Cycle Route'' traverses around the Baltic Sea as part of the European

EuroVelo EuroVelo is a network of 17 long-distance cycling routes criss-crossing Europe, with 2 more in early construction across various stages of completion. When completed, the EuroVelo network's total length will be almost . more than were in place. ...

network. The region is thus connected with Kiel, Lübeck and

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

References

External links

Map
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eckernforde Bay Bays of Schleswig-Holstein Förden of Germany Bays of the Baltic Sea