Schagen has been mentioned in various texts from around 975. One of them was a population count that found that 43 people were living there. Schagen was also mentioned in documents as Scagha from around 989. At this time Schagen was a center of artificial dwelling hills. Perhaps the name refers to Scagha to its location above land water: it could mean "elevated point". Some time later, there is a coastline near Schagen. When the sea retreated again at the end of the 13th century the places in the region grew. The land around Schagen was especially fertile, so it grew and remained the main town in the area.