Ameland

Ameland (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈaːməlɑnt]; West Frisian: It Amelân) is a municipality and one of the West Frisian Islands off the north coast of the Netherlands. It consists mostly of sand dunes. It is the third major island of the West Frisians. It neighbours islands Terschelling to the West and Schiermonnikoog to the East. This includes the small Engelsmanplaat and Rif islands to the East.

Ameland is, counted from the west, the fourth inhabited Dutch Wadden island and belongs to the Friesland/Fryslan province. The whole island falls under one municipality, which carries the same name. The Wadden islands form the border between the North sea and the Wadden sea which lies on the south side of the island file. The municipality of Ameland had a population of 3,591 in 2014. The inhabitants are called Amelanders.

Places

The island has four villages, and one small part-village.

In former days, there were two other villages: Oerd and Sier, but these were drowned and now lie in the sea. The name of these villages live on in MS Oerd and MS Sier, which are the names of the ferries to the island. From west to east: