History of Texel: from Ice Age hill to the largest Wadden Island

The first inhabitants on the Hoge Berg

The hard core of Texel is the Hoge Berg between Den Burg and Oudeschild, a low hill of boulder clay pushed up during the penultimate Ice Age.

Stone Age hunters: the oldest traces of people are flint tools from around 5000 BC, probably left by hunters who stayed here temporarily.
Burial mounds and urns: Bronze Age burial mounds (around 1000 BC) were found in Den Burg, and near the village there is also an urn field from the early Middle Ages.
Driven out by the sea: around AD 250 the early settlement ended because of a rise in sea level, and only in the sixth century were the higher parts inhabited again.
An old name: as early as the eighth century the area is mentioned as pagus Thesla or Texla, a district of old Frisia.
Turf walls and sheep barns: on the Hoge Berg the fields still lie between tuunwallen, walls of stacked turf, and all over the island you will see the typical sheep barns with their flat side to the wind.

An island is born

Texel only became an island through the All Saints' Flood of 1170, a catastrophic flood that radically changed the landscape of North Holland.

Count and town rights: in the 13th century Count Floris V subjugated West Friesland including Texel, and in 1415 Texel received town rights with its own sheriff, aldermen, courts and markets.
Dikes and cooghen: around 1300 dams were built between the higher parts, as well as dikes that created polders called cooghen, a name that lives on in De Koog.
Oldest church: the St Martin's Church in Oosterend dates from the Middle Ages and is the oldest church on Texel; for centuries its tower served as a landmark for ships.
The white church of Den Hoorn: the church of Den Hoorn replaced a wooden chapel from 1409 in 1425 and is still a landmark for shipping.
The lost village of De Westen: the fishing village of De Westen had an open connection to the North Sea, but when it silted up in the 14th century the inhabitants left; only the Torenhuis on the Westerweg still recalls the village.

The Texel Roads and the VOC

Between 1500 and 1800 the Texel Roads, the anchorage on the east side of the island, was one of the busiest and most important places in Dutch shipping.

Waiting for the wind: merchant ships, whalers, warships and above all VOC ships sometimes lay here by the hundreds, waiting for a favourable wind.
Water from the wells: the ships took on water from the Texel wezenputten; it was rich in iron and therefore kept well on long sea voyages.
Pilots and lighters: Texel pilots guided ships past the sandbanks, and cargo was transferred to smaller vessels because the large merchant ships drew too much water for the Zuiderzee; the Pilotage museum tells their story.
A church for sailors: the white Seamen's Church of Oudeschild was built between 1648 and 1650, was popular with waiting sailors and also welcomed admirals such as Michiel de Ruyter and Cornelis Tromp.
Oudeschild harbour: Oudeschild only got a harbour in 1780; until then everything took place on the open water of the Wadden Sea.
Treasures from the deep: at the Kaap Skil museum you can see an 18-metre model of the roads in 1660 and finds from the Palmwood wreck, including a famous 17th-century dress.

Forts and sea battles

Because of the roads and the Marsdiep, Texel was of great military importance for centuries, and you can still see this in the landscape.

Fort De Schans (1574): Fort De Schans near Oudeschild was built in 1574 on the orders of William of Orange to protect the roads, and later the VOC ships; its star shape is still clearly visible.
Battle of Texel (1673): on 21 August 1673 Michiel de Ruyter defeated an Anglo-French fleet off the coast of Texel and Den Helder, one of his best-known victories.
Napoleon on Texel (1811): fearing an English invasion, Emperor Napoleon had the defences strengthened in 1811 with, among others, Fort Redoute and Fort De Lunette, and on 16 October 1811 he inspected them in person.
End of the roads: in the 19th century ships stopped anchoring off Texel as they switched to other routes and ports.

Eierland and the new polders

Northern Eierland was a separate island for a long time and gradually joined Texel over a few centuries.

The Zanddijk (1630): reed screens and marram grass encouraged dune formation, and in 1630 the Zanddijk was completed, linking Texel and Eierland.
De Cock and De Cocksdorp: in 1835 Nicolas Joseph De Cock from Antwerp and others set up a company to reclaim the salt marsh between the two islands; the new village was first called Nieuwdorp and later De Cocksdorp.
More polders: in 1846, 1847 and 1876 the polders De Eendracht, the Prins Hendrikpolder and Het Noorden were diked, and the Het Noorden windmill was built to keep the last one dry.
The lighthouse (1864): after years of pressure from notary Johannes Ludovicus Kikkert, because dozens of ships were wrecked every year, the Eierland lighthouse was built on the northern tip and first shone in 1864.
Farm life: farming, sheep and cheese shaped life on Texel for centuries; at the Cultural Historical Museum of Texel in De Waal you can see how islanders lived and worked 100 years ago.

The Georgian uprising: Europe's last battle

At the end of the Second World War, Texel became the scene of a bloody uprising that continued after the German surrender.

Atlantic Wall: the Germans fortified the coast with bunkers and batteries such as Batterij Den Hoorn, built by the Dutch in 1938.
The Georgian battalion: in February 1945 a battalion of about 800 Georgians, mostly former Soviet prisoners of war, and 400 Germans was stationed on Texel.
The uprising (April 1945): on the night of 5 to 6 April 1945 the Georgians turned on their German officers, after which a German counterattack followed that lasted beyond the surrender of 5 May.
Liberated on 20 May: Canadian soldiers only arrived on Texel on 20 May 1945; by then at least 1,000 Georgians, Germans and islanders had died, and the lighthouse had been badly damaged.
Georgian cemetery: almost 500 Georgians lie in the Loladse Georgian cemetery on the Hoge Berg, with their commander Shalva Loladze at the front.
Fallen airmen: the Lancaster monument near Oosterend marks where a British bomber crashed on 15 February 1944 and honours all Allied airmen who died on or near Texel.
War museum: at the Aviation & War Museum Texel you can see aircraft wrecks and an exhibition about the Georgian uprising.

From farmland to holiday island

From the early 20th century, tourism increasingly replaced farming and fishing as the main source of income on Texel.

First seaside hotel (1907): De Koog became the island's main seaside resort, and the first hotel for bathers opened there in 1907.
Their own ferry: in 1907 islanders also founded their own shipping company, TESO, which still runs the ferry to Texel.
Safe behind the dike: the dikes were raised to Delta height, as recalled by the 1981 monument De Schicht.
Protecting nature: dunes, woods and salt marshes are now largely protected as Dunes of Texel National Park.
Busy but never full: hundreds of thousands of visitors come to Texel every year, the most visited Wadden Island, but thanks to a limited number of beds it never feels overcrowded.

Experience history yourself on Texel

Cycling is the best way to discover Texel's history, from the churches in the old villages to the forts on the Wadden Sea.

Local history museum: step inside the Oudheidkamer in Den Burg, a 17th-century house full of traditional costumes and objects from old Texel.
Den Burg church tower: climb the church tower of Den Burg on Mondays or Wednesdays in July and August for a view over the whole island.
Georgian cemetery: pause at the graves in the Georgian cemetery on the Hoge Berg.
Fort De Schans: walk along the ramparts of Fort De Schans and look out over the Wadden Sea where the roads once lay.
Kaap Skil and the Seamen's Church: in Oudeschild, visit the Kaap Skil museum and the Seamen's Church.
Cultural Historical Museum: discover old farm carts, carriages and sleighs at the Cultural Historical Museum of Texel in De Waal.
Oosterend: see the St Martin's Church in the old village of Oosterend and learn all about Texel's pilots at the Pilotage museum.
Het Noorden windmill: cycle past the Het Noorden windmill, at its most beautiful at sunset.
Eierland lighthouse: climb the 153 steps of the lighthouse and visit the exhibition about its history.
Den Hoorn: photograph the white church of Den Hoorn, one of the best-known sights of Texel.

Cycle route past these places

Combine most of the places above in one longer bike ride of around 35 kilometres, from the church of Den Hoorn via the Hoge Berg and the Wadden coast to the lighthouse on the northern tip.