The Frisian People

Gateway to Friesland

Some famous Frisians

Friesland has produced some internationally famous persons in the past. To name but a few:

• Peter Stuyvesant (1592-1672). Born in Scherpenzeel in West-Stellingwerf, Friesland, studied there at the former University of Franeker and became governor of Curaēao in 1643 and director-general of New Holland (which was renamed New York) in 1647. He drove the Swedes out of the Delaware river region in 1655. He had to surrender to the British in 1664. He died in New York.
  
• Mata Hari, (Malaysian for 'Eye of the Day', 1876-1917). Born in Leeuwarden as Margaretha G. Zelle, she became famous as a dance-hostess in Paris during World-War I. She had relationships with German high-ranked officers, which caused her to be executed on grounds of espionage. A film which starred Sylvia Kristel was made on her life.
  
• Abe Lenstra, born and raised in Friesland, was a famous soccer-player in the fifty's, who would rather stay in Friesland than make 'big bucks' in Italy.
  
• Willem Barentsz (1550-1597), sailor and cartographer was born on the island of Terschelling. He made his kling to fame during his wintering on the isle of Nova Zembla in the northern Arctic. The surrounding sea was named after him.
  
• Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis (1846-1919), born in Amsterdam, he became a preacher in Harlingen in 1870. He was the leader of a socialist union. He was the first socialist senator, for the electoral district of Schoterland, in The Netherlands. Became an anarchist, which led in 1897 to the end of a political partnership with
  
• Pieter Jelles Troelstra (1860-1930), socialist politician, barrister and poet.
  
• Maurits Cornelis Escher, lived at Leeuwarden early this century, a famous painter.
  
• Grutte Pier was a Frisian pirate, together with his cousin Lange Wierd. He especially focussed on ships from the county of Holland. He fought against Charles V for a free Friesland. The story goes, that to determine whether someone was a real Frisian or not, he came up with this rhyme, which had to be recited:
  

  Būter, brea en griene tsiis,
  Wa't dat net sizze kin
  is gjin oprjochte Fries.
  

  From his speech, you could determine whether someone was an 'oprjochte Fries' or not.

• René Descartes ("Cogito ergo sum", I think, therefore I am), French philosopher and mathematician, lived between 1628 and 1649 in various places in The Netherlands, among which were Leeuwarden and Franeker in Friesland. He studied in Friesland at the, no longer existing, University of Franeker.
  

More recent heroes, that are nationally or internationally well-known are:

• Rutger Hauer, the actor (starred in movies such as The Osterman Weekend, Blade Runner (featuring Harrison Ford), The Hitcher and Eureka (featuring Gene Hackman, Mickey Rourke a.o.). Born at Breukelen but lived here many years.
  
• Jan Akkerman, once chosen (by Melody Maker, UK) to be the world's best guitar player (he played with the group Focus, whose major hit singles include 'Hocus Pocus' and 'Sylvia'). Born at Amsterdam but also lived here many years.
  
• Jopie Huisman, a famous Frisian painter.
  
• world champions ice-skating like Hilbert van der Duim, Rintje Ritsma, Ids Postma , Falko Zandstra, Atje Keulen Deelstra Tonny de Jong, Annamarie Thomas.(Olympische spelen!!).
  
• world champions draught (also known as checkers), Harm Wiersma and Jannes van der Wal, also originated from Friesland.
  

• Willem Duisenberg , from Heerenveen is the president of the European Bank.
• Cor Boonstra original from Leeuwarden is the president of Philips. Philips is a well known worldwide companie, and the inventor of the audio cassette and audio CD`s.

And last but not least we 'produced' some beautifull women like Annemarie Goddard-Lampe (miss Playboy 1994) Famke Janssen , James Bond-girl! (at least she must have Frisian ancestors, her unique name means 'little girl' in Frisian)

Did we forget a VIP? Please mail us!

Famke Janssen	Rintje Ritsma	Abe Lenstra	Jan Akkerman
Rutger Hauer	Mata Hari	Tonny de Jong	A.  Thomas

Global background

Activities
The Frisians have a rich history in building ships, not only in the past, but also in the present.
We (re)build luxury multi-million-dollar ships for e.g. Donald Trump, several emirs, sheiks and kings.
Besides that, we have the most productive females on earth: the Frisian cows.
Most likely that you have seen them once or twice; they are black and white, and are now to be seen on every (green) corner of the world. They are the ones that make our Frisian dairy products famous throughout the world.
The Frisians are great dike-builders. The best known example might well be the so-called Afsluitdijk, spanning approximately 30 kilometers, as far as we know the longest dike in the world, with seas on both sides (Northsea and Yssel lake, formerly known as the Zuider Zee).
The dike was completed in 1932, and has become a touristic attraction.
One of our most famous buildings is ice stadium Thialf in Heerenveen, the first indoor 400 meter skating track in the world.

Language
We wrote recently: The Frisians were once a nation, inhabiting a great part of The Netherlands, Northern-Germany and Denmark. This is the reason that besides speaking Dutch, we have our own official language, 'Fries' or 'Frisian'.
But about the term once a nation Pieter van der Meulen (Canada) send us a mail and said:

You wrote the Frisians were once a nation. I beg to point out that we are still a nation. We have all of the attributes of nationhood: language, culture, and a sense of ourselves as a people even beyond the borders of the Netherlands (Oost Friesland and Noord Friesland). What we no longer have is a political entity called a country. However, political divisions should not be confused with nationhood. The people, their common identity and sense of self are what makes a nation. Indeed, despite the fact that I have lived for 45 years in Canada, I still feel that I belong to the Frisian Nation.

Pieter van der Meulen

We couldn't have said it better...

So, in Friesland many people speak dutch and Frisian, and even in Russia and Japan you can study Fries at the Universities. A lot of people, however, also speak English, German and French, so it won't be too hard to be understood!

Local Traditions
Friesland has a lot of local traditions and sports, some of which have grown into international allure.
One of them is ice-skating, for instance the 'Elfstedentocht' (Eleven-city tour). This event is only organised when all lakes and canals are frozen. The length of the track is approximately 200 kilometer. The last time the Eleven-city tour was held, it was broadcasted by Satellite Television. More than 200 million people were watching this marathon-event worldwide, so maybe you have seen it!
In the summertime we organise sailing races with old-fashioned sailing boats on the lakes. This event is called 'skūtsjesilen' and is also a great touristic attraction. Old times live again when this happens. Even from Japan, television-crews come to Friesland to record this event! Other specific traditions are 'keatsen' (a kind of tennis without a racket), 'fierljeppen' (jumping over a canal, using a long pole), 'beltsjeriden' (old-fashioned sleigh-riding on ice), and 'wadlopen' (walking across the Waddensea to one of our islands).