Luttelgeest is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

province of

Flevoland Flevoland () is the twelfth and newest province of the Netherlands, established in 1986, when the southern and eastern Flevopolders, together with the Noordoostpolder, were merged into one provincial entity. It is in the centre of the countr ...

. It is a part of the

municipality 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' ...

Noordoostpolder Noordoostpolder (; ) is a polder and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. Formerly, it was also called ''Urk, Urker Land''. Emmeloord is the administrative center, located in the hea ...

, and was created in 1950 as one of ten planned villages around the new city of Emmeloord.

Name

Luttelgeest is named after a no longer existing village with the same name, which used to be near Kuinre,

Overijssel Overijssel (; ; ; ) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the eastern part of the country. The province's name comes from the perspective of the Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht, Episcopal principality of Utrecht ...

. The oldest appearance of the name was in 1379. The meaning of the name translated to English is ''Little Geest'', where '

geest Geest (, , ) is a type of landform, slightly raised above the surrounding countryside, that occurs on the plains of Northern Germany, the Northern Netherlands and Denmark. It is a landscape of sandy and gravelly soils formed as a glacial outw ...

' is a type of landform. The village of

Lutjegast Lutjegast () is a village in the municipality of Westerkwartier (municipality), Westerkwartier in Groningen (province), Groningen, Netherlands. It had a population of around 1,125 in January 2017. History The name ''Lutjegast'' originates from Gr ...

in Groningen has a different variant of the same name.

History

In 1942, Camp Luttelgeest was opened for the workers on the

. In 1949, the plan for the village was approved, and it was founded in 1950. During the construction, the remains of two castles belonging to Kuinre were excavated. The oldest castle was built by

Prince-bishop of Utrecht The Bishopric of Utrecht (; ) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire in the Low Countries, in the present-day Netherlands. From 1024 to 1528, as one of the prince-bishoprics of the Holy Roman Empire, it was ruled by the b ...

in the 12th century, and was destroyed in 1196 by the

Count of Holland The counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century. The Frisian origins While the Frisian kingdom had comprised most of the present day Netherlands, the later province of Friesland ...

. It was rebuilt in 1204 and destroyed in a flood in 1375. In 1378, a castle was built closer to Kuinre, and demolished between 1531 and 1536, because it no longer served a strategic purpose. The village has been laid out on a triangular pattern, and is surrounded by a green circle.

Public transportation

There is no railway station in Luttelgeest, but the nearest stations are in Kampen and

Steenwijk Steenwijk (; or ), datedly known in English as Stenwick, is a city in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Steenwijkerland. It is the largest town of the municipality. Steenwijk received city rights in 1327. I ...

Sports

The basketball team and football club SV Tonego is located in Luttelgeest.

Gallery

File:Voorzijde van boerderij - Luttelgeest - 20409863 - RCE.jpg, Farm in Luttelgeest File:Luttelgeest-Orchideeënhoeve DSCN5780WCm.jpg, Orchids in Luttelgeest File:Kuinre imp 178.JPG, Reconstruction of a gate of the former castle File:Kerk met zadeldak, ronde toren met achtzijdige spits - Luttelgeest - 20410318 - RCE.jpg, Josef Church

References

External links

*
Official site
(in Dutch) {{Authority control Populated places in Flevoland Noordoostpolder 1950 establishments in the Netherlands