Battle Against the Water
"God created the world, but the Dutch created the Netherlands" — this saying is no exaggeration. A third of the country lies below sea level. Without dikes, pumping stations, and sluices, Amsterdam would be an aquarium, Schiphol Airport a lake, and Rotterdam a lagoon.
The History of the Polders
Since the Middle Ages, the Dutch have reclaimed land from the sea and lakes through embankment and drainage (polders). The windmills we know from postcards were actually high-performance pumps that pumped water from the polders into the canals. Kinderdijk (19 mills) is the most impressive example.
The largest land reclamation project in history: The Zuiderzee Works (1920s–1960s). A 32 km long closure dam (Afsluitdijk) transformed the Zuiderzee into the IJsselmeer and enabled the drainage of vast polder areas — including the entire province of Flevoland with its capital Lelystad. Flevoland has only existed since 1968!
Delta Works
The flood disaster of 1953 (Watersnoodramp) — 1,836 dead, entire villages flooded — was the trigger for the largest infrastructure project in human history: the Delta Works. Since then, 13 dams, sluices, and storm surge barriers have protected the coast. The Oosterscheldekering (1986) is a technical masterpiece: 65 concrete pillars, 62 steel shields that only close during storm surges and otherwise maintain the tidal play. The Delta Works were declared one of the seven modern wonders of the world by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
