Fischland (literally "fish land") is an

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

on the southern

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 ...

coast on the

Bay of Mecklenburg The Bay of Mecklenburg ( or ''Mecklenburgische Bucht''; ), also known as the Mecklenburg Bay or Mecklenburg Bight, is a long narrow basin making up the southwestern finger-like arm of the Baltic Sea, between the shores of Germany to the south a ...

in northeastern Germany. It is part of the peninsula of

Fischland-Darß-Zingst Fischland-Darß-Zingst is a long peninsula in the coastal district of Vorpommern-Rügen, in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The three parts of the peninsula, from west to east, are Fischland (part of Mecklenburg), Darß and Zing ...

. Fischland was an island until the 14th century and was bounded by the navigable estuarine branches of the River Recknitz: the Permin in the south and the Loop in the north. In more recent times its southern boundary has usually been considered to be the Recknitz Meadowland (''Recknitzer Stadtwiesen'') and the

Rostock Heath Rostock Heath () is a wood and heathland region northeast of the German city of Rostock. It has a total area of about 6000 hectares and, since 1252, has been owned by the Hanseatic city of Rostock. As a result of its ownership of the Rostoc ...

(''Rostocker Heide''). To the west and east its boundaries are more obvious: on the one side is its active

cliffed coast A cliffed coast, also called an abrasion coast, is a form of coast where the action of marine waves has formed steep cliffs that may or may not be precipitous. It contrasts with a Flat coast, flat or alluvial coast. Formation In coastal ar ...

on the Baltic, and on the other the coastline alongside the

Saaler Bodden The Saaler Bodden forms the southwestern part of the Darss-Zingst Bodden Chain and lies east of the Fischland peninsula about 30 kilometres northeast of Rostock.''Die General Karte No. 1 - Schwerin-Rostock-Rügen'', 1:200,000 scale, Mairs Geograp ...

, only a few centimetres above sea level. Fischland is about 5 km long, between 500 metres and 2 km wide and runs from southwest to northeast. Fischland NVP

The

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

island core, which is subjected to marked changes as a result of water and wind action, consists of glacial sands (''Geschiebesanden'') and

till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

and forms part of a

graded shoreline A graded shoreline is a stage in the cycle of coastal development characterised by a flat and straight coastline. It is formed under the influence of wind and water from the original bays, islands, peninsulas and promontories. Sand and gravel is car ...

. Not until the end of the 14th century were the two existing channels between the Baltic Sea and the lagoon or ''

bodden Bodden are briny bodies of water often forming lagoons, along the southwestern shores of the Baltic Sea, primarily in Germany's state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. These lagoons can be found especially around the island of Rügen, Usedom and ...

'' filled in by the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

in order to make access to the sea more difficult for their rival, Ribnitz. As a result, Fischland and Darß became a peninsula. Today storms carry away an average of half a metre of coast per year from Fischland, depositing it again further north at Darßer Ort. Without major coastal defence measures the narrow isthmus would probably have long since been destroyed. Near the steep coastline of Althagen/ Niehagen lies the eminence of Bakelberg. At 17.9 metres above sea level (NN) it is the highest elevation on Fischland. There is a total of just four settlements on Fischland, which have largely merged with one another today: the

Ahrenshoop Ahrenshoop is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany on the Fischland-Darß-Zingst peninsula of the Baltic Sea. It used to be a small fishing village, but is today known for its tourism and as a holi ...

villages of Althagen and Niehagen as the municipality of Wustrow with the village of Barnstorf. The village of Ahrenshoop, well known as a residence and holiday resort for artists, on West Pomeranian soil is not on Fischland, however, but on the Vordarß. To the north Fischland is bounded by the present-day boundary trail (''Grenzweg'') in the municipality of Ahrenshoop. This used to be the site of the Loop, an inlet that marked the border between

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Wismar and Güstrow. ...

and

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

; until recent times it continued to form the border between the Mecklenburg and Pomeranian State Churches.

Sources

; Maps *Fischland, Darß, Zingst (double map), 1 : 30 000, grünes herz, Ilmenau/Ostseebad Wustrow. ; Guides and picture books * Roland Buchwald: ''Fischland, Darß und Zingst. Landschafts- und Reiseführer für Wanderer, Wassersportler, Rad- und Autofahrer''. grünes herz, Ilmenau/Ostseebad Wustrow. * Frank Thamm: ''Darß, Fischland und Zingst''. Ellert und Richter, Hamburg. * Horst Prignitz, Thomas Grundner: ''Fischland, Darß, Zingst''. Carl Hinstorff, Rostock.

External links

*http://fischland-darss-zingst.de {{Authority control Peninsulas of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Peninsulas of the Baltic Sea Fischland-Darß-Zingst Geography of Mecklenburg