LL-L "History" 2007.12.02 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L  -  02 December 2007 - Volume 04
Song Contest: lowlands-l.net/contest/ (- 31 Dec. 2007)
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
 Subject: History

Folks,

Karl-Heinz wrote under "Language varieties":

http://www.flaeming-flandern.com/

I found this page about a week ago or so and now you're talking about it.
Funny, isn't it?

Unfortunately, there's barely any online information about this for people
that don't read German or Dutch. So let me summarize it:

"The Fläming" is a region within today's German states of Brandenburg and
Saxony-Anhalt (which used to be east of the Iron Curtain). In the 12th
century -- a time of great floods and hardship on the North Sea coast --
under the motto *Naer Oostland willen wy ryden* ("To the Eastern Land we
shall ride"), large numbers of Flemings, Zeelanders and Brabantians migrated
to that region to get a new start in the then mostly non-Christian
Slavonic-speaking east that was up for grabs as far as Germanic-speaking
Christianized Europe was concerned. The colonists found suitable land near
the Elbe banks and began building farms, villages and towns, in many cases
naming them after those they had left behind (though many of these came to
be Germanized later).

The area had been conquered by Albrecht the Bear, Margrave of Brandenburg,
and he and his right hand, Bishop Wiechmann, were hard pressed to find
"suitable" settlers, since parts of the region were swampy and others were
arid. They sent recruiters to the far west where even harder-pressed folks
thought that some land was better than no land and were well-known experts
in handling difficult soil. The "Go east, young man!" campaign culminated in
eastward treks of colonists and armed guards. (Sound familiar to Americans,
doesn't it?)

These days, the area is of great historical interest because of these and
other events as well as prehistoric topographic phenomena. Tourism seems to
be increasing. The website Karl-Heinz mentioned is that of an organization
that celebrates the Netherlandic heritage of the region, something that
under the old East German rule may have been difficult.

Again, those migrating "Flemings" of old prove to be a key ingredient of the
glue that holds together our Lowlands.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
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