Friesland

:This article is about the province Friesland in the Netherlands.

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:For information on the region extending from the Netherlands to Denmark, see Frisia.

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:For the district of Friesland in the German state of Lower Saxony, see Friesland (district).

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:Westfriesland is part of North Holland and not of the province of Friesland.

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:The island of Vlieland is also part of the province of Friesland.

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:For the mythical island, please see Frisland

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Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands. Its name in the Frisian language is Frysl?n, which is also its official name since 1997, and is therefore also used in official Dutch language publications. Friesland has 643,000 inhabitants (2005) and its capital is Leeuwarden (Ljouwert), with 91,000 inhabitants, in the centre of the province.

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Friesland distinguishes itself from the other eleven Dutch provinces through having its own language, which is also spoken in a minor part of the province of Groningen, to the east. Closely related languages, East Frisian and North Frisian, are spoken in the Saterland and in North Friesland areas in Germany.

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Friesland is mainly an agricultural province. The famous black and white Friesian cattle and the well known black Friesian horse originated here.

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Tourism, mainly on the lakes in the south west of the province, and on the islands in the Wadden Sea in the north, is an important source of income, too.

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The province is also famous for its speed skaters, and also for the Elfstedentocht (Eleven cities tour), a 253 kilometres ice skating tour.

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Another interesting feature are the many windmills. There are 195 windmills in the province of Friesland, from a total of about 1200 in the entire country.

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Frisians (or Frieslanders) are also famed for being tall of stature. Dante Alighieri refers to Frieslanders in The Inferno (Canto XXXI of The Divine Comedy) in describing the massive size of the giant Nimrod;

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:"quite in vain three Frieslanders might boast of having reached his hair".

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Also, in response to the preceding quote, Robert Hollander noted in the commentary section that;

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:"Frieslanders reputed to be among the tallest of men."

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ref:

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- Alighieri, Dante, The Inferno. Translated by Robert & Jean Hollander, 2000. ISBN 0-385-49697-4

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- Hollander, Robert, notes to The Inferno, 2000. ISBN 0-385-49697-4

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Friesland (district): Friesland is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the southeast and clockwise) the districts of Wesermarsch, Ammerland, Leer and Wittmund, and by the North Sea. The city of Wilhelmshaven is enclosed by, but not part of the district....

Westfriesland: Westfriesland is a region in the northern part of The Netherlands, in the province Noord-Holland. The region lies between the rivers Fli and Ij. In the area lays also a area called West-Friesland, which is a region based on the Westfriese Omring, a dyke system that lay in Westfriesian province Westf...

Netherlands: The Netherlands (Dutch: Nederland; IPA pronunciation: /"ne:d?rlant/) is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands that is formed by the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.(Dutch: Koninkrijk der Nederlanden). The Netherlands is a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional m...