Reclaimed Land in the Netherlands

Emmalee Wagner
Background ➢ Definitions
○ Polders - low lying lands
○ Zee - sea
○ Dijk - dike
○ Meer - lake
➢ Rhine, Meuse, and Scheldt delta
➢ First millenium: Largely covered in
wetlands; dwelling mounds
➢ 900 - 1200 AD: Small scale dikes and
polders
➢ 1250 - 1500 AD: Larger scale
➢ 1550 -1900 AD: Economic investment
➢ Lost 1,400,00 acres to Zuiderzee
■ 1287 - St. Lucia’s flood
■ 1421 - St. Elizabeth’s flood
Process ➢
➢
Earth dikes form border
Water is drained
○ Windmills and Archimedes screw
➢ Cultivating the land
○ Reeds, wheat, oats, crops
➢ Infrastructure and housing built
○ Road and canal on each side
History ➢ Zuiderzee Works 1919-1986
○ 1918 - Zuiderzee Act
○ Cornelis Lely
○ 1927-1932 - Afsluitdijk
■ Created IJsselmeer
○ 1927 - 1930 - Wieringermeer Polder
■ Land disputes
○ 1936 - 1942 - Noordoostpolder
○ 1950 - 1968 - Flevopolder
■ Water barrier between mainland
● Maintain water table
● Maintain coastal towns
○ Markerwaard
■ Houtribdijk - 1963-1975

Cornelis Lely
Land Use ➢ Wieringermeer
○ Best land - vegetables
○ Second best - grains
○ Worst - forested
➢ Flevoland
○ Noordoostpolder
○ Flevopolder
■ Eastern
■ Southern
● Urban: Planned towns for
housing crisis

https://www.clo.nl/node/20807
Environmental ➢
➢
Considered throughout polder creation
Planted forests on new land
Impact ➢
➢
Markermeer
Oostvaarderplassen
➢ “Room for the River”
Cultural Impact ➢
➢
Province Coat of Arms and Flags
To polder, poldering: Dutch political term
➢ Prosperity from tulips
○ Major export
○ Tourism
➢ Utrecht and Amsterdam

Rembrandt
Zeeland Flevoland
 ➢ Airports
Land Reclamation ○ Japan
○ Qatar
Around the World ○ Nîce, France
○ South Korea
○ San Francisco Int’l Airport
➢ Americas
○ Chicago Shoreline
○ Large parts of San Francisco
○ Parts of New Orleans
○ Mexico City
Nîce Airport, France
○ Panama City
➢ Europe
○ Spain, Ireland, Norway, Russia,
Monaco
➢ Asia
Hassan II Mosque ○ Singapore, Beirut, China, UAE
Casablanca, ➢ Africa
Morocco
○ Morocco, South Africa
Works Cited
http://www.let.rug.nl/polders/boekje/types.htm

https://www.entoen.nu/nl/flevoland/flevoland

https://www.visitflevoland.nl/nl/wij/geschiedenis

https://www.clo.nl/node/20807