Beemster has 8.550 inhabitants on 7.200 hectares. Administrative center:
Middenbeemster; other villages: Noordbeemster, Westbeemster, Zuidoostbeemster.
This used to be a lake, in olden days named Bamestra, which was made land
in 1612 by Jan Adriaanszoon Leeghwater, who built 41 windmills in order
to empty the lake. The Amsterdam financers had spacious mansions built
and the polder became one of Holland's finest, as reflected in the Coat of Arms
(see <http://www.ngw.nl/b/beemster.htm>) and a few years ago UNESCO
declared the Beemster as World Heritage (something). It is an agricultural
area with a lot of grassland, producing hay, which threatens heating of
hay, for which the municipality employed four "hooistekers" (hay-pickers).
The flag was adopted 20 Dec 1961; the colors are derived from the municipal
Coat of Arms.
Jarig Bakker, 8 July 2001
Shipmate Flagchart :http://www.flagchart.net
![[Beemster Coat of Arms]](../images/n/nl-nh)bs.jpg)
image from the Beemster municipal website.
