[[File:Fischland Luftbild.jpg|thumb|Narrowest point on Fischland, near Wustrow]]
'''Fischland''' ({{IPA|de|ˈfɪʃlant}}, literally "fish land") is an [[isthmus]] on the southern [[Baltic Sea]] coast on the [[Bay of Mecklenburg]] in northeastern Germany. It is part of the peninsula of [[Fischland-Darß-Zingst]]. Fischland was an island until the 14th century and was bounded by the navigable estuarine branches of the [[River Recknitz]]: the [[Permin]] in the south and the [[Loop (inlet)|Loop]] in the north. In more recent times its southern boundary has usually been considered to be the Recknitz Meadowland (''Recknitzer Stadtwiesen'') and the [[Rostock Heath]] (''Rostocker Heide''). To the west and east its boundaries are more obvious: on the one side is its active [[cliffed coast]] on the Baltic, and on the other the coastline alongside the [[Saaler Bodden]], only a few centimetres above sea level. Fischland is about 5 km long, between 500 metres and 2 km wide and runs from southwest to northeast.
[[File:Fischland NVP.png|thumb|upright=1.3|left|Location of the peninsula of Fischland]] [[File:WustrowLeuchtturm.jpg|thumb|Beacon on Fischland]] [[File:Steilküste.jpg|thumb|Steep coast near Ahrenshoop with a [[sand martin]] colony]]
The [[Pleistocene]] island core, which is subjected to marked changes as a result of water and wind action, consists of glacial sands (''Geschiebesanden'') and [[till]] and forms part of a [[graded shoreline]]. Not until the end of the 14th century were the two existing channels between the Baltic Sea and the lagoon or ''[[bodden]]'' filled in by the [[Hanseatic League]] in order to make access to the sea more difficult for their rival, Ribnitz. As a result, Fischland and Darß became a peninsula.
Today storms carry away an average of half a metre of coast per year from Fischland, depositing it again further north at [[Darßer Ort]]. Without major [[Coastal management|coastal defence]] measures the narrow isthmus would probably have long since been destroyed.
Near the steep coastline of [[Althagen]]/[[Niehagen]] lies the eminence of [[Bakelberg]]. At 17.9 metres above [[Normalnull|sea level (NN)]] it is the highest elevation on Fischland.
There is a total of just four settlements on Fischland, which have largely merged with one another today: the [[Ahrenshoop]] villages of Althagen and Niehagen as the municipality of [[Wustrow (Fischland)|Wustrow]] with the village of Barnstorf. The village of Ahrenshoop, well known as a residence and holiday resort for artists, on West Pomeranian soil is not on Fischland, however, but on the [[Darß|Vordarß]]. To the north Fischland is bounded by the present-day boundary trail (''Grenzweg'') in the municipality of Ahrenshoop. This used to be the site of the [[Loop (inlet)|Loop]], an inlet that marked the border between [[Mecklenburg]] and [[Pomerania]]; until recent times it continued to form the border between the Mecklenburg and Pomeranian State Churches.
== Sources == ; Maps *Fischland, Darß, Zingst (double map), 1 : 30 000, grünes herz, Ilmenau/Ostseebad Wustrow. {{ISBN|978-3-929993-33-2}}
; Guides and picture books * Roland Buchwald: ''Fischland, Darß und Zingst. Landschafts- und Reiseführer für Wanderer, Wassersportler, Rad- und Autofahrer''. grünes herz, Ilmenau/Ostseebad Wustrow. {{ISBN|3-929993-52-X}} * Frank Thamm: ''Darß, Fischland und Zingst''. Ellert und Richter, Hamburg. {{ISBN|3-89234-815-4}} * Horst Prignitz, Thomas Grundner: ''Fischland, Darß, Zingst''. Carl Hinstorff, Rostock. {{ISBN|3-356-01056-5}}
== External links == {{Commons}} *http://fischland-darss-zingst.de
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{{Authority control}} [[Category:Peninsulas of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern]] [[Category:Peninsulas of the Baltic Sea]] [[Category:Fischland-Darß-Zingst]] [[Category:Geography of Mecklenburg]]