ABSTRACT
The concept of nation has traditionally been defined as a collection of people that self-identifies or is identified by others as a group with the same language, culture and/or genetic ancestry. Whilst such a definition is hardly academically sound – the number of borderline cases is simply too large to make the concept of nation plausible in a testable or verifiable way – it is acknowledged that the concept of nation is prominent amongst the general population, especially in Europe. Frisians had been identified as a distinct tribe from Roman times, and relatively little is known about them. A medieval Frisian tribal duchy was conquered by the Franks around ad 800, and afterwards an independent and united Frisian territorial entity was never again established. Ostfriesland (East Frisia) is relatively easily defined in geographical terms, situated in the north-western corner of Germany, bordering the Netherlands to the west with the North Sea to the north.
