Almere (lake)
# Almere (lake)

Lake Almere was an inland lake in the place of today's IJsselmeer in the center of the Netherlands.

## History

The texts of ancient Romans called it Lake Flevo. Lake Almere is mentioned among others in a life of saints written by Anglo-Saxon Bishop Saint Boniface in 753, and a deed of gift from the town of Urk.

Its etymology may be eels, in Dutch aal or ael, so: ael mere = "eel lake"

Presumably, the water of Lake Almere at that time was fresh water or slightly brackish.

A number of occurrences during the Middle Ages led to the transformation of the lake to an inland sea that would be called the Zuiderzee, which are:

* rising sea levels due to global warming known as the Medieval Warm Period.
* excavation of peat by the Frisians in West Friesland near the Vlie, a river that connected lake Almere to the North Sea.
* floods such as the All Saints' Flood (1170) and St. Lucia's flood 1287.

## The name

The name of the new town of Almere in Flevoland was given in 1984 in memory of this body of water.

