View source for Saeftinghe

{{short description|Lost town in Zeeland, Netherlands}}
{{Designation list
| designation1 = Ramsar
| designation1_offname = Westerschelde & Saeftinghe
| designation1_date = 9 April 1995
| designation1_number = 748<ref>{{Cite web|title=Westerschelde & Saeftinghe|website=[[Ramsar Convention|Ramsar]] Sites Information Service|url=https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/748|accessdate=25 April 2018}}</ref>}}
[[File:Saeftingen.jpg|thumb|Saeftinge satellite picture]]
[[File:Emmadorp - Verdronken Land van Saeftinghe 2.jpg|thumb|View on {{Interlanguage link multi|Emmadorp|nl}}]]
[[File:Bezoekerscentrum Verdronken Land van Saeftinghe.JPG|thumb|Visitor center Drowned Land of Saeftinghe]]

'''Saeftinghe''' or '''Saaftinge''' was a town in the southwest [[Netherlands]], located in eastern [[Zeelandic Flanders]], near [[Nieuw-Namen]]. It existed until 1584. It is now a swamp known as the {{ill|Drowned Land of Saeftinghe|nl|Verdronken Land van Saeftinghe}} ({{langx|nl|Verdronken Land van Saeftinghe}}) and an official nature reserve area. The land is a crosspoint where the river [[Scheldt]] meets the salty waters of the [[North Sea]] in the [[estuary]] [[Western Scheldt]]. It is a treacherous place where the tides easily consume large stretches of land in a matter of seconds and must not be explored without an experienced guide.

==History==
Saeftinghe was drained in the 13th century under the management of the [[Ter Doest Abbey|abbey of Ter Doest]]. [[Willem van Saeftinghe]] was one of the best known occupants of the abbey and gave his name to the stretch of land claimed from the sea. Up to 1570, the land was very fertile [[polder]]. Agriculture, peat burning and trade turned Saeftinghe into one of the most prosperous places in the region. There were several additional settlements nearby: Namen, Sint-Laureins, Stampaert, Weele (Sint-Marie), Sint-Laureijns and Casuwele.

The settlements were mostly small villages with just a few houses and huts, but there was also [[Saeftinghe Castle]], built in 1279. Today all is buried beneath several layers of clay and sand due to several floods over the years. Large bricks were found at several places inland. Those bricks were probably remainders of the abbey used by the villagers to build their houses when the abbey was destroyed due to several floods. Today some of those bricks can be seen in the nearby Visitors Center.

Most of the land around the town was lost in the [[All Saints' Flood (1570)|All Saint's flood]] of 1570 (the ''Allerheiligenvloed''). Four years later the drowned land reached into what is now [[Belgium]]. Only Saeftinghe and some surrounding land managed to remain dry.

In 1584, during the [[Eighty Years' War]], Dutch soldiers found themselves forced to destroy the last intact dike and Saeftinghe sank into the waters of the [[Scheldt]]. Attempts to reclaim the area were made throughout history; the most serious project taking place in 1907, but even then only the [[Hertogin Hedwigepolder]] was conquered from the sea. Nowadays a hamlet is located within the reclaimed portions of land, called {{ill|Emmadorp|nl}}.
Saaftinge itself has never been retrieved.
In 1970, all of the area was incorporated into the municipality of [[Hulst]], when {{ill|Graauw en Langendam|nl}} and [[Clinge]] ceased to exist.

Within the historical municipal limits, Saaftinge today has a population of 55. The flag consists of a blue lion rampant on a white field. The lion originates from the personal shield of Willem van Saeftinghe.<ref>A.M. Schouten, "Historische Gemeenten van Nederland en hun Vlaggen", 2012.</ref>

==The legend==
{{main|Saeftinghe legend}}
A legend of Saeftinghe attributes the [[All Saints' Flood (1570)|All Saint's flood]] to capturing a mermaid and not setting her free. This caused the region to be cursed by the merman, and led to the flood that destroyed the towns of Sint-Laureins, Namen and Casuwele, killing all inhabitants. The legend holds that a tower bell calls for help from the sunken town. Another Saeftinghe legend holds the belief that visitors of the area and inhabitants of the nearby village of Emmadorp sometimes see 'ghosts' in the fog. According to the legend the ghosts are the spirits of the inhabitants of the three towns killed in the flood.

==Visitor centre==
A visitor centre opened in Emmadorp in 1997, from where excursions to the nature reserve depart. From 1997 to 2007, an average of around 12,000 visitors per year went on excursions.

==See also==
{{Portal|Wetlands}}
*[[Lost city]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikivoyage|Saeftinghe}}
{{commons category|Hulst}}
*{{Official website|http://saeftinghe.eu/en/}} {{in lang|en}}

{{coord|51|21|13|N|4|9|54|E|type:waterbody_region:NL_source:nlwiki|display=title}}
{{Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta}}

[[Category:Destroyed populated places]]
[[Category:Underwater ruins]]
[[Category:Swamps of Europe]]
[[Category:1584 disestablishments]]
[[Category:Former populated places in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Wetlands of the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Landforms of Zeeland]]
[[Category:History of Zeeland]]
[[Category:Zeelandic Flanders]]
[[Category:Hulst]]
[[Category:Ramsar sites in the Netherlands]]