oa Ontstaan en vroege ontwikkeling van Kampen

The town Kampen, at the mouth of the river IJssel (The Netherlands), seems to have originated in the 12th century ex nihilo. To explain this enigmatic start, many theories have been proposed. This article attributes its origin to a series of events, that started with the silting up of the Limjefjord after 1120 in the north of Jutland. This fjord was an important connection between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea for the small boats of the Frisian trade. The silting up of the fjord was a direct reason for the creation of the cog, a larger bulk carrier, that could circumnavigate Cape Skagen. Moreover, it could also take a shortcut over high seas to the mouth of the Vlie, and over the Almere to the mouth of the river IJssel. From there, the smaller Frisian ships used to sail over the IJssel to the German Rhine area, which was impossible for the seagoing cog. Therefore, the introduction of the cog prompted the foundation of a port for transshipment in the first half of the 12th century. This means Kampen did already exist as a settlement, when a storm surge in 1170 turned the Almere into the Zuiderzee and the settlement could take advantage of this environmental change.