“God created the earth but the Dutch made the Netherlands,” so it’s said. Netherlands literally means “lower countries” because of its low elevation, with about 26% falling below sea level.
The Dutch and their ancestors have been reclaiming land from the sea for over 2000 years. Around 400 BCE the Frisians were the first to settle the Netherlands. They built “terpen” (villages), earth mounds upon which they built houses and villages to protect them from flooding. They also began building small dikes. In 1287 the terpen and dikes that held back the North Sea failed and water flooded the country. Known as the St. Lucia’s Flood, this flood killed over fifty thousand people and is considered one of the worst floods in history. The flood created a new bay, called “Zuiderzee” (South Sea). For the next few centuries, the Dutch worked to slowly push back the water of the Zuiderzee. Dikes were built, and canals and pumps kept the land dry. Windmills were used to pump excess water off the fertile soil, and windmills became an icon of the country.
In 1953, a storm over the North Sea and the spring combined to create another devastating flood. Water peaked about dikes upon sleeping towns. A thousand people died and seventy thousand had to be evacuated. This devastation prompted the Dutch to pass the Delta Act in 1958, changing the structure and administration of the dikes in the Netherlands. This new administrative system, in turn, created the project known as the North Sea Protection Works, which included building a dam and barriers across the sea. This vast engineering feat is now considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. The Dutch continue to fight rising sea levels with climate change.
The drawing is an image of the “Oosterscheldekering,” the largest in the Zeeland Delta Works series of dams and storm surge barriers, designed to protect the Netherlands from flooding from the North Sea.
~ Wikipedia
Published on May 21, 2023