The Netherlands a partially manmade country.
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| Holland in the early 19th century |
A great part of The Netherlands lies below the sea level. To protect the land from inundation by seawater, the low lands are surrounded by dikes. The building of dikes is a very old practice. Pieces of reclaimed land surrounded by dikes are called
polders. Creating a polder is called
inpolderen. Vast areas were reclaimed from the sea during the 16th, 17th, and 18th century. In the early 19th century the map of Holland shows an inner sea,
De Zuiderzee, see map.
The Zuiderzee had an open connection with the North Sea and was therefore a tidal water.
The Zuiderzee had a long coastline made up of very old dikes. The area was not well protected against storms and floods.
Reinforcing all the dikes along the Zuiderzee was considered but rejected because of the enormous investment and work it required.
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| Afsluitdijk |
Dr. Lely, the minister of Waterstaat, found a solution, relatively simple and cheap: one dike, closing the connection between the North Sea and the Zuiderzee. The name of this dike is the
Afsluitdijk. It was built between 1927 and 1932. The last gap was closed on the 28th of May 1932. The Zuiderzee changed into a tideless fresh water lake called the IJsselmeer, the water level of which could be controlled. The
Afsluitdijk is 32 km long.
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| Noordoostpolder |
The men of the Ministry of Waterstaat then turned their eyes on the IJsselmeer and the plan was to make it completely dry, not at once but in stages. The first stage was the
inpoldering of the
Noordoostpolder, situated in the north-east section of the IJsselmeer.
Inpoldering began in 1936 and was completed in 1942. That was during WWII. Further
inpoldering was suspended and only taken up in 1955. The rebuilding of Holland after the destruction of the war was priority number one,
inpoldering could wait.
In 1955 the inpoldering of the
Flevopolder started and was completed in 1968. The
Flevopolder is completely surrounded by water and is in fact an island, the largest manmade island in the world.
Flevoland, a new, manmade province.
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| Province of Flevoland |
On January the 1st, 1986 the Flevopolder and the Noordoostpolder were formed into to the 12th province of The Netherlands with its own arms and flag. This new province was an addition of 10% to the landmass of The Netherlands. Since then some towns were built, Lelystad is the capital of the province. Almere, Zeewolde, Dronten are towns built in the Flevopolder. Emmeloord in the Noordoostpolder was built before 1986.
Lelystad was the first, originally a group of houses for the dike workers, then built according to modern city planning principles. Its architectural beauty is a matter of opinion, some like it, others hate it.
Almere is designed as a dormitory suburb of Amsterdam. Gradually it is developing its own character.
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| Arms of Flevoland |
Flevoland is designed a a large agricultural area. Farms are still dominantly visible but the landscape is slowly changing into a multipurpose area for light industry, recreational use and a nature reserve.
The original plans for inpoldering of the entire IJsselmeer were abandoned, due to resistance by environmental pressure groups.
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| The flag of Flevoland |
There are plans to create a great island in the North Sea, not far from the coast. It could house a satellite of Schiphol Airport and industries we don't want on the mainland.
The expected rise of the sea level will no doubt prompt the Ministry of Waterstaat to design plans on an ever grander scale.
But there is no reason for the United Kingdom to fear that Holland would gobble up the entire North Sea and so robbing the UK of its island status.
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