Flevoland (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈfleːvoːlɑnt] ⓘ) is the twelfth and newest province of the Netherlands, established in 1986, when the southern and eastern Flevopolders, together with the Noordoostpolder, were merged into one provincial entity.

Flevoland is bordered in the extreme north by Friesland, in the northeast by Overijssel, and in the northwest by the lakes Markermeer and IJsselmeer.

Flevoland was named after Lacus Flevo, a name recorded in Roman sources for a large inland lake at the southern end of the later-formed Zuiderzee;[7] it was mentioned by the Roman geographer Pomponius Mela in his De Chorographia in 44 AD.

Due to the slowly rising sea level, a number of lakes gradually developed in the Zuiderzee region, which eventually became contiguous.

Pomponius wrote about this: "The northern branch of the Rhine extends to Lake Flevo, which encloses an island of the same name and then flows to the sea like a normal river."

The Zuiderzee was later divided into IJsselmeer (mere at the end of the river IJssel) and Markermeer, planned to be mostly drained to make the Markerwaard.

Other more conventional settlements already existed by then; Dronten, the major local town, was founded in 1962, followed by two smaller satellite villages, Swifterbant and Biddinghuizen, in 1963.

Because of the hydrological union of the two Flevolands, it simply joins the other three in maintaining the water level of both polders.

Almere was to be divided into three major settlements initially; the first, Almere-Haven (1976) situated along the coast of the Gooimeer (one of the peripheral lakes), the second and largest was to fulfill the role of city centre as Almere-Stad (1980), and the third was Almere-Buiten (1984) to the northwest towards Lelystad.

In 2003, the municipality made a new Structuurplan which started development of three new settlements: Overgooi in the southeast, Almere-Hout in the east, and Almere-Poort in the West.

Spontaneous settlement of interesting flora and fauna turned the area into a nature park, of such importance that the new railway line was diverted.

Since 2023, the King's Commissioner of Flevoland is Arjen Gerritsen [nl],[11] who is a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).

The gross domestic product (GDP) of the province was €14 billion in 2018, accounting for 1.8% of the Netherlands' economic output.

Amongst the cities with direct train connections to Flevoland are Amsterdam, Utrecht, The Hague, Zwolle, Groningen, Leeuwarden and Schiphol Airport.