North Frisian Islands

The North Frisian Islands are a group of islands in the Wadden Sea, a part of the North Sea, off the western coast of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The German islands are in the traditional region of North Frisia and are part of the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park and the Kreis (district) of Nordfriesland. Occasionally Heligoland is also included in this group.Sometimes the North Frisian Islands include also the Danish Wadden Sea Islands on the western coast of Jutland, Denmark. Those belong to Tønder municipality and Esbjerg municipality, and are not home to the ethnic group of Frisians.HistoryAfter the Frisian and Danish colonisation of the islands in the 8th century, the Frisian-populated hundreds (between Eiderstedt and Sylt) became the Uthlande. The North Frisians in the Uthlande were ruled directly by the Danish king and were known as Königsfriesen or "King's Frisians". Only later did the Uthlande transfer to the Duchy of Schleswig, with the exception of small Danish royal enclaves. Part of Rømø was also ruled by the Schleswig duke. After the German-Danish wars, the islands from Nordstrand to Rømø became Prussian in 1866. After the referendum in 1920, the current border between the islands of Sylt and Rømø was fixed.