This part of Germany stood unique in its isolation for hundreds of years because of its location in the midst of several moors. In the east lies the Ostermoor bordered by the Soeste river. In the north it was the Bar-Feller Tief and various smaller moors bordered by the Leda river; the west had the Westermoor with subsidiaries to the Leda as a border and in the south there were the Marka-Lahe river systems with all the moors around Friesoythe providing protection from the outside world.
An earlier Westphalian population became dominated by Frisians in the 11th and 12th centuries and took on a separate cultural and linguistic identity similar to old East Frisian. This language became known as Seltersk and it is estimated that fewer than 1000 people in the world can still speak this language.
Until modern times there were no roads, only secretive paths which only the locals could traverse without sinking into the quicksand and treacherous moorland. Boats were the normal mode of transportation and early canals helped bring the region into modern times. One of these canals was constructed in 1855, but it had to stay within the boundaries of the Grandduchy of Oldenburg because Prussia did not permit its construction on its territory. It was not until 1921 when, under the leadership of German nation, this project became fully realized as the Hunte-Ems-Kanal which today is simply known as the Küstenkanal. The construction of the north-south Highway 72 and the east-west Route 401 finally made the area accessible to the world by motorized vehicle and ended the uniqueness of the Saterland which had withstood every other invasion attempt made against it.
The three Kirchspiele (parishes) of Ramsloh, Scharrel and Utende-Struecklingen are the historical basis for the settlement of people in the area. Initially these were part of the land of the counts of Tecklenburg under the name Herrschaft Sögel auf dem Hümmling also known as the Comitia Sygeltra. This came to the Fürstbistum Münster in 1400, but just like the East Frisians the people demanded to retain special rights for themselves which had been originally granted to them by Charlemagne. Fierce independence was at the root of this until the 16th century that a "Committee of 12" (Zwölverrat) decided the local laws. This type of "democracy" included the free election of each parish pastor until the 17th century. The Frisian culture acknowledged no other masters except themselves via free election. There were no lordly manors and structured society, only freemen existing on equal footing to one another. The Saterland, via its being a part of the Count-Bishopric of Münster since 1400, became part of the Grafschaft and later Landkreis Cloppenburg.
This did not mean that it also was in the diocese of Münster from a religious or parish subdivision standpoint. The Saterland was part of the archdeaconate of Merzen in the Diocese of Osnabrück until religious overlordship was given to Münster in 1803; the secular part went to the Dukes of Oldenburg.
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This page was last modified on 10/19/99.