Oldambt (region)
The Oldambt is a stretch of land in the Dutch province of Groningen . It lies between the outer Ommelanden , Westerwolde and the Rheiderland . Today it is made up of three areas, the Klei-Oldambt , the Wold-Oldambt and the Dutch part of the Rheiderland, which is called and written there Reiderland . The Oldambt includes today's municipality Oldambt . Originally the southern part of Menterwolde and parts of the municipalities of Veendam and Pekela also belonged to the Oldambt, but today these are more part of the Groningen fen colonies .
history
The historic Oldambt (still without the rheiderland areas) belonged to the Ommelanden in the east-lauwerschen Friesland . The "old office" was initially only on the lower reaches of the Ems , but southern moor areas were opened up through settlement. The Oldambt came under Franconian rule early on and was already divided into the Wold-Oldambt (South Oldamt) and the Klei-Oldambt (North Oldambt). It later became the fourth member of the Ommelander Union of Groningen . The main town at that time was Midwolda, the church there was used for council meetings.
On May 23, 1568 there was a battle between the Spaniards and Dutch freedom fighters in Oldambt near Heiligerlee monastery as part of the Eighty Years' War . The Dutch were able to decide for themselves, but Count Adolf von Nassau fell (see Battle of Heiligerlee ).
In the 19th century, a large gap developed between rich and poor. This has meant that the Reiderland in particular has remained a stronghold of the Dutch communists to this day.
language
Vernacular in Oldambt is usually the Groninger Platt ( Gronings ), a Lower Saxon dialect ( Nedersaksisch ) with influences of the Frisian languages belonging to the East Frisian language , which is also the East Frisian Low German is the case. It is said that Oldambt is the area in Groningen where most Nedersaks is still spoken. However, the school language is Dutch .
Infrastructure
The Oldambt is well served by motorway and rail routes on both sides of the German-Dutch border . Particular attention is currently paid to the De Blauwestad project , a major construction project on an artificial body of water.
literature
- Wiebe Jannes Formsma, Riektje Annie Luitjens-Dijkveld Stol, Adolf Pathuis: De Ommelander borgen en steenhuizen . Van Gorcum, Assen 1973, ISBN 90-232-1047-6 .
- Frank Westerman : De graanrepubliek . Atlas, Amsterdam / Antwerp 1999, expanded 2009. [German edition: Das Getreideparadies. Ch. Links, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86153-550-8 .]