Yerseke 5.21

Yerseke is a village situated on the southern shore of the Oosterschelde estuary in the Dutch province of Zeeland. A separate municipality until 1970, it today forms part of the municipality of Reimerswaal. As of 2010 Yerseke had a recorded population of 6.695 inhabitants divided over 2.680 households.The fishing village is well known for its aquaculture. Tourists visit the oyster pits, harbors and museum of the town and fishing industry, as well as the annual celebration of the mussel harvest in August. The village furthermore plays host to the Dutch Institute for Ecology .HistoryThe site of Yerseke may have been inhabited for more than a millennium, and possibly since before the early Middle Ages. Skeletal remains found in 1923 during an archaeological dig were dated to the Carolingian period (7th to 9th centuries).However, the first historical mention of Yerseke most likely dates to a deed, or charter, issued on January 24, 966 AD under the name of ‘Gersika’ by the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I (the Great). The area was originally property of abbeys in Flanders. The town was founded on an elevated ridge as the area (like many settlements of that era) as dikes were only built in the 13th century by monks. The earliest inhabitants practiced sheep husbandry and later extracted peat from surrounding moors when dikes were constructed.