Since , they have been part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein , although they were managed by the United Kingdom as a war prize from to The islands are located in the Heligoland Bight part of the German Bight in the southeastern corner of the North Sea and had a population of 1, at the end of They are the only German islands not in the vicinity of the mainland.
They lie approximately 69 kilometres 43 miles by sea from Cuxhaven at the mouth of the River Elbe. During a visit to the islands, August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben wrote the lyrics to " Deutschlandlied ", which became the national anthem of Germany. In addition to German, the local population, who are ethnic Frisians , speak the Heligolandic dialect of the North Frisian language called Halunder.
The island had no distinct name before the 19th century. It was often referred to by variants of the High German Heiligland 'holy land' and once even as the island of the Holy Virgin Ursula. Theodor Siebs summarized the critical discussion of the name in the 19th century in with the thesis that, based on the Frisian self-designation of the Heligolanders as Halunder , the island name meant 'high land' similar to Hallig.
Heligoland is located 46 kilometres 29 mi off the German coastline and consists of two islands: the populated triangular 1 km 2 0. Heligoland generally refers to the former island.
It is not permanently inhabited, but is today the location of Heligoland's airfield. The Mittelland came into being in as a result of explosions detonated by the British Royal Navy the so-called "Big Bang"; see below. The main island also features small beaches in the north and the south and drops to the sea 50 metres ft high in the north, west and southwest.
