Jordsand
Encyclopedia
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
hallig
Hallig
The Halligen are ten small German islands without protective dikes in the North Frisian Islands on Schleswig-Holstein's Wadden Sea-North Sea coast in the district of Nordfriesland....
located in the Wadden Sea
Wadden Sea
The Wadden Sea is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of Frisian Islands, forming a shallow body of water with tidal flats and wetlands. It is rich in biological diversity...
southeast of the Danish island Rømø
Rømø
Rømø is a Danish island in the Wadden Sea. Rømø is part of Tønder municipality. The island has 650 inhabitants as of 1 January 2011 and covers an area of 129 km². Rømø is a popular tourist spot each year....
and east of the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
island Sylt
Sylt
Sylt is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian Islands and is the largest island in North Frisia...
. The island was first known by the name Hiortsand ('deer island') and was possibly connected to both the mainland and the island of Sylt. The old name refers to the presence of deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
on the island.
Records from 1231 describe the island as having a size equivalent of 20 km². It contained numerous terps
Artificial dwelling hill
An artificial dwelling hill is a mound, created to provide safe ground during high tide and river floods....
. The island was destroyed in a series of storm tide
Storm tide
A storm tide is a tide with a high flood period caused by a storm. Storm tides can be a severe danger to the coast and the people living along the coast. The water level can rise to more than 5 meters above the normal tide....
s. Its size was described in 1807 and 1873 as 40.7 and 18.4 hectares respectively. In 1895, a storm destroyed the last terp and the island was abandoned and became a bird sancturary
Special Protection Area
A Special Protection Area or SPA is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds.Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certain particularly threatened birds.Together with Special...
. Attempts to protect it from the recurring floods were made in the 1970s but with limited success since the island remained unprotected by a dike. The island's size ultimately shrunk to 2.3 hectares and the uninhabited island was finally destroyed in a flood during the winter of 1998/99.
Its name lives on in the name of one of Germany's oldest environmental organizations, Verein Jordsand established in 1907.