Amrum  Amrum ("Öömrang" North Frisian: "Oomram") is one of the North Frisian Islands on the German North Sea coast, south of Sylt and west of Föhr. It is part of the Nordfriesland district in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein and has approximately 2,300 inhabitants. The island is made up of a sandy core of geestland and features an extended beach all along its west coast, facing the open North Sea. The east coast instead borders to mud flats and tidal creeks of the Wadden Sea. Sand dunes are a characteristical part of Amrum's landscape, resulting in a vegetation that is largely made up of heath and shrubs. The island's only forest was planted in 1948. Amrum is a refuge for many species of birds and a number of marine mammals like grey seal or harbour porpoise. Settlements on Amrum have been traced back to the Neolithic when the area was still a part of the mainland of the Jutland peninsula. During the Middle Ages, Frisian settlers arrived at Amrum and engaged in salt making and seafaring. A part of the modern population still speaks Öömrang, a dialect of the North Frisian language, and Frisian traditions are kept alive. With the island hosting many endangered species of plants and animals, its soil being largely unfavourable for agriculture and as a popular seaside resort in general, Amrum's population today almost exclusively lives from the tourism industry. Amrum's area measures 20,4 km2, making it the tenth-largest island of Germany (excluding Usedom which is partly Polish territory). Adding the large Kniepsand beach on the Western shore to the surface area results in a total area of c. 30 km2. Amrum's surface area has however been subject to constant change due to land loss and gain caused by the sea. During the 19th century, a 20th part of the area recorded in the beginning of the century had been lost, but in 1913, a net gain was again recorded at the Kniepsand. Amrum is one of three isles with a geestland core in Nordfriesland. This sandy core is made up of glacial deposites from the Saalian glacial period. To the east, it borders to the Wadden Sea mud flats of the North Sea. The east side is also where the island's ancient hamlets are situated: Norddorf, Nebel, Süddorf and Steenodde.