HELIGOLAND, hen-go-land, or HEL GOLAND, hel'go-lant (Dan. aholy landp), a small island fortress and popular sea-bathing resort in the North Sea, belonging to Germany, situated about 40 miles northwest of the mouth of the Elbe. It is about a mile long and one third of a mile broad, and has an area of about one-quarter of a square mile. It consists of two parts, the Oberland, a flat-topped rock 206 feet high, which since the island was ac quired by Germany has been made into a great fortress, from which visitors are excluded. The Unterland is a small stretch of shore at its foot. There are two ports, one on the north and one on the south side, and most of the houses stand on the Oberland. The Unterland gives partial shelter to the shipping. Steam boats ply between the island and Hamburg. The principal buildings are the church, light house and a royal Prussian biological station for the study of the fauna and flora of the North Sea. The bathing facilities, which attract so many visitors, are found in a dune or sand bank separated from the main island by a chan nel about a mile wide. This Sandy Island, as it
is called, is slowly being reduced in size by the inroads of the sea. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in fishing, and speak a Friesian dia lect. The island has cable communication with Cuxhaven and Wilhelmshaven. Christianity was first preached here by Saint Willibrod in the 7th century. Taken from the Danes in 1807, it was ceded to Great Britain in 1814, but was transferred to Germany in 1890. The island was formerly much larger than now, but has been cut awayby the attack of the waves. (See SHORE LINE). The Bight of Heligoland was the scene of a naval engagement between German and British ships on 28 Aug. 1914, which ended in a British victory. The island held a prominent place in German naval strat egy. See WAR, EUROPEAN.