Zeeland

Zeeland is a province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands (hence its name 'Sealand' or (old) Zealand) and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. Its population is about 380,000 and its area is about 2930 km², of which almost 1140 km² is water. Large parts of Zeeland are below sealevel. The last great flooding of the area was in 1953. Tourism is an important economic activity. Its sunny beaches make it a popular holiday destination in the summer. Most tourists are Germans. In some areas, the population quadruples in the summer.

From north to south it consists of

• Schouwen-Duiveland
• Tholen
• Noord-Beveland
• Walcheren, Zuid-Beveland
• Zeeuws-Vlaanderen

A list of the municipalities, with links to maps:

• Borsele
• Goes [1]
• Hulst
• Kapelle [1]
• Middelburg [1]
• Noord-Beveland [1]
• Reimerswaal [1]
• Schouwen-Duiveland [1]
• Sluis
• Terneuzen
• Tholen
• Veere [1]
• Flushing (Vlissingen) [1]

See also:

• Delta Works
• Grevelingen
• Oosterschelde, Neeltje-Jans
• Westerschelde.

There is one passenger railway, line 12, here with municipalities and official station abbreviations: Vlissingen (vs, vss) - Middelburg (mdb, arn) - Goes (gs) - Kapelle (bzl) - Reimerswaal (krg, kbd, rb) - connecting to Bergen op Zoom (bgn) (Noord-Brabant).

Bus connections (of Connexxion, except # 395) include:

• bus 133: Vlissingen - Middelburg - Vrouwenpolder - Oosterscheldedam - Renesse - Zierikzee - Grevelingendam - connecting to Oude-Tonge, Rotterdam-Zuidplein
• Interliner Express bus 395: Zierikzee - (Grevelingendam) - connecting to Rotterdam-Zuidplein
• bus 104: Renesse - Brouwersdam - connecting to Ouddorp - Spijkenisse
• bus 20 and 50: see Westerschelde.

---

The country of New Zealand was originally named Nieuw-Zeeland after this province by the Dutch. The country is at least one order of magnitude larger than the province and has about 10 times the population. The name "New Zealand" is only one letter away from the literal translation to English: New Sealand. The Z was possibly retained to partially preserve the Dutch pronouncation.

Note. Not to be confused with Zealand, Denmark.

External links

(note the years, there have been changes as of January 2003!)

• Province government
• Map, also showing municipalities: http://www.zeeland.nl/getfile.php?/zeeland/kaarten/gemeenten/zeeland2003.pdf (2003) (pdf, 570 KB)
• Basic information: http://www.sdu.nl/staatscourant/scdata/prov/zeeland.htm (2002)
• province map showing subdivision in municipalities, link for each municipality to basic data page (2002)
• Geography of Zeeland

Provinces of the Netherlands
Drenthe | Flevoland | Friesland | Gelderland | Groningen | Limburg | North Brabant | North Holland | Overijssel | South Holland | Utrecht | Zeeland