Westerkwartier (area)
The Westerkwartier ( Gronings Westerkwartaar ) is a stretch of land in the west of the Dutch province of Groningen . The area adjoins the provinces of Friesland and Drenthe and is bounded within the province of Groningen by the Reitdiep and the city of Groningen .
It owes its name to the fact that it is the westernmost of the three Ommelande . It consists of the historic districts of Vredewold , Langewold , Humsterland and Middag . The Westerkwartier currently covers the area of the municipalities of Leek , Marum , Zuidhorn , Grootegast and part of Winsum . Up until the late Middle Ages, the above-mentioned districts were independent Frisian districts and each a member of the Ommelander Union .
The northern part of the Westerkwartier is one of the oldest cultural landscapes in Western Europe. Around the year 800 it was one of the most densely populated areas in what is now the Netherlands. The former islands of Middag and Humsterland are proposed for UNESCO World Heritage.
The largest towns in the Westerkwartier are Leek , Zuidhorn and Grijpskerk .
language
The Westerkwartier has a typical Lower Saxon dialect with the Westerkwartier within the Groninger Platt , which has been particularly strongly influenced by the opposite side of the Frisian-Groningen border. This dialect can also be found in the neighboring Friesland. In return, the villages of Marum , Opende and De Wilp are the only places in the Netherlands where the West Frisian language is spoken outside the province of Friesland .