The Island of Borkum
Venue fo the 4th General Assembly of the UEM
The North Sea island Borkum is situated 55 kilometres from the East Frisian mainland. It is the westernmost and the largest of the seven East-Frisian islands in the southern North Sea. Due to its location, Borkum combines the climate of the high seas with temperate maritime climate conditions, a fact which makes it an attractive holiday location for not only Germans and Dutch people, but also for visitors from all over Europe. On the island, there is particularly little pollen and a high iodine content. Such is the climate, that even racing horses are sent here for reconvalescent treatment!
Since 1986, Borkum has been part of the National Park »Wattenmeer«, the so called wadden sea, which is the home to an impressive and unique biodiversity in Germany. You may learn more about the Wattenmeer in the exposure groups on climate on Wednesday, 18th June.
Borkum was known even in Greek and Roman times. The island was first mentioned by Plinius the Elder and by Strabon as »Burchana fabaria«, which means Bean Island. Centuries later, the island saw the arrival and departure of crusaders as well as pirates.
Centuries of vast storm tides continuously changed the face of the island and eventually caused Borkum to break up. Remains of the broken parts situated in the south-east of Borkum finally disappeared in 1781.
In the 17th century, whale hunting – sadly enough – became an important source of income of the people on Borkum. The long bones of the whales’ jaws were used as fence posts on the island. Only a few dozen are left today, morose and unique artefacts of the island’s history, deteriorating quickly under the tourists’ fascinated touches. Whale hunting declined as a result of the Anglo-Dutch Wars at the end of the 18th century and Borkum was stricken with abject poverty. Hence, the population decreased form 852 in 1776 to 406 in 1811. From 1810 until 1813, Borkum was under Napoleonic power.
In 1834, the first tourists came to Borkum. Ten years later, a tourist association was founded and bathing institutions were established through the efforts a certain Dr Ripkin, a physician who had settled on the island. 1850 saw the first sweep of officially registered bathing guests and the business has been thriving ever since.
In 2004, 280,000 tourists visited Borkum. Most of them come during summer, while some hundreds prefer to come and stay in February such as the »carnival refugees« from North-Rhine-Westphalia who wish to escape from the crowds of the carnival festivities in Cologne. Some visitors have been faithful to the island for the past 50 years. As many as 30,000 tourists may be accommodated in Borkum at a time. In comparison to the local population of 5,500 people, that is quite a lot. The majority of the Borkum population work in tourism during the summer season.
Borkum is an excellent example of how tourism and environment protection may exquisitely go together. The local government of Borkum co-operates with several organisations endeavouring to protect the environment and natural resources such as the Dutch »Wadden Union«, the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), and the German Society for Nature Conservation (NABU).
In a series of trials, the island government succeeded in making sure that only such companies may settle down at the estuary of the River Ems whose sewage output does not pose any danger to the sea.
Disposing of mineral oil and dumping waste from ships has been prohibited since Borkum was declared a special environmental zone. Furthermore, the Borkum authorities and a number of firms and institutions on the island have agreed to observe a clearly defined protocol aiming at the reduction of waste. Tourists are also requested to separate their garbage so that it may be recycled.
(Source: Borkum.de – the official website of Borkum)
