Zoutkamp (; ) 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 municipality

Het Hogeland Het Hogeland is a municipality in the north of the province of Groningen (province), Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. History The municipality of Het Hogeland was established on 1 January 2019 by merging the municipalities of Bedu ...

which is part of the province

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

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 village started as a sconce. During the Dutch Revolt, it was the site of the Battle of Zoutkamp. Later it became a fishing village. The harbour was moved to

Lauwersoog Lauwersoog is a seaside village and harbour in the province of Groningen, located in the northern part of the Netherlands. It is part of the municipality of Het Hogeland. It was established on 23 May 1969. The ferry to Schiermonnikoog departs from ...

in 1969 as a result of the closure of the

Lauwersmeer Lauwersmeer () is a man-made lake in the north of the Netherlands, on the border of the provinces of Groningen and Friesland. The lake was formed on 23 May 1969, when the dike between the bay called Lauwers Sea and the Wadden Sea was closed. It i ...

, and is nowadays used for recreational purposes. The economy of the village mainly depends on fishing.

History

Zoutkamp was first mentioned in documents in 1418 as ''Soltcampum''. Its first inhabitants might have been soldiers. Its name refers to salt and field, which probably means that it was a place for salt production. During the

Dutch Revolt The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Reformation, centralisation, exc ...

, the

city of Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of ...

sided with Spain. Most of the

Ommelanden The ''Ommelanden'' (; ) are the parts of Groningen province that surround Groningen city. Usually mentioned as synonym for the province in the expression ("city and surrounding lands"). The area was Frisian-speaking, but under the influence ...

(country side) and the province of

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 ...

opted for the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

. In 1576, a sconce was built at Zoutkamp by the Spanish. In 1589, the sconce was conquered in the by the Dutch Republic under the command of William Louis of Nassau. On 22 July 1594, after the Siege of Groningen, Groningen was forced to side with Dutch Republic. During the 17th and 18th century, fishers settled in Zoutkamp. By 1756, Zoutkamp consisted of 25 houses. In 1828, a harbour was constructed, and the church was built in 1836. In 1840, the population had increased to 720 people. In 1882, the fortification was demolished and the military function of Zoutkamp ceased. During World War II, between 80 and 100 soldiers of the ''

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...

'' were stationed near Zoutkamp, however the village saw little action.

Lauwersmeer

In the 1950s, there were calls to close the Lauwerszee, the bay near which Zoutkamp was located. As part of the

Zuiderzee Works The Zuiderzee Works () is a system of dams and Levee, dikes, land reclamation and water drainage work, which was the largest hydraulic engineering project undertaken by the Netherlands during the twentieth century. The project involved the dammin ...

, it was decided to build a dike between Friesland and Groningen, and turn the bay into

. In 1969, the dike was completed, and a harbour was constructed at

. The province of Groningen intended to use the harbour for recreational purposes only, because they were constructing the

Eemshaven Eemshaven (; ) is a seaport in the province of Groningen in the north of the Netherlands. In 1968, the Dutch government declared the Ems estuary (Eemsmond) to be an economic key region. One of the key developments for the region was the constr ...

, as a new main harbour. Zoutkamp and the province of

desired a commercial harbour. In January 1970, the conflict was brought to the

States General of the Netherlands The States General of the Netherlands ( ) is the Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate (Netherlands), Senate () and the House of Representatives (Netherlands), House of R ...

. Lauwersoog became a successful fishing harbour, however the fishers of Zoutkamp still use the registration "ZK" instead of "LO" to indicate their place of origin. The harbour of Zoutkamp is nowadays for recreational boats only. The ferry to

Schiermonnikoog Schiermonnikoog (; ) is an island, a municipality and national park in the Northern Netherlands. Schiermonnikoog is one of the West Frisian Islands, and is part of the province of Friesland. It is situated between the islands of Ameland and Rot ...

which used to depart from Zoutkamp and Oostmahorn was moved to Lauwersoog.

Recent history

Until 2008, Zoutkamp was the site of a ground station of the Dutch ''Nationale SIGINT Organisatie'' (National Signals Intelligence Service), which intercepted satellite communications much like the U.S. National Security Agency. The economy of Zoutkamp is still based on fishing and the village is not subject to a move to the city. As a result, it still has a lively centre with much retail. In 2019, it became part of the municipality of

Gallery

File:Zoutkamp - Vissersstraat.jpg, Old fishing houses File:20141011 Reitdiepskade 2 Zoutkamp Gn NL.jpg, Ice cream parlor File:Alde Tsjerke (eardere herfoarme tsjerke), Sâltkamp.jpg, The old church File:20141011 Leugenbank Zoutkamp Gn NL.jpg, The liars' bench. The sign reads "A lie here, a lie there. Don't say anything; it's all true."

References

External links