Around 800 AD, the area that was the municipality of Schermer was covered in
peat, and a small river called the Schermer flowed through it. Because of peat-digging and storm floods, this small river had by 1250 developed into an inland lake with an open connection with the
Zuyderzee. In the 17th century private investors started draining the largest part of the lake, leaving the southern part, the Alkmaardermeer, intact. In 1635, of polder was drained, whereupon the land was divided among the shareholders. In 1970, the village of
Zuid- en Noord-Schermer was merged into Schermer. == Population centres ==