If you’re wandering around the Netherlands, you’ll probably hear an anecdote that may infuriate some, but that’s certainly not misguided: “God made the world, but the Netherlands was created by the Dutch.” And the truth is, they’re right. Not in a lyrical or symbolic sense. No. Literally, there is a significant part of the country that its inhabitants form by draining the water. To achieve this they resorted to embankments and polders, land reclaimed from the sea.
The Dutch use an overwhelming argument to support such a claim about the origin of their country, which is officially certified by the Guinness World Records. The country is home to the world’s largest artificial island, Flevopolder, with an area of 970 square kilometers surrounded by lakes Gooimeer, Ketelmeer and Veluwemeer and connected to the mainland by infrastructures such as bridges, the Drontermeer tunnel or a dam.
Basically Flevopolder a large polder, an area reclaimed from the North Sea and distinguished by its location right on the coast and its low level. Weirs and drains are mainly used to shape them. However, in the case of the Guinness World Records recognized island, the extension of the land is bounded by water to avoid problems with the water table.
Gain land from the water
The large piece of land is part of Flevoland, which is located in the center of the country and has about 400,000 residents, also bordering the youngest category in the Netherlands. It was founded less than 40 years ago in January 1986. It helps to understand the history of the historic island. As they explain on Why On Earth, the Dutch have learned in-depth about water engineering and management over the centuries with a clear purpose: “Keep your feet dry”. And in the meantime, provide yourself extensions of land to live or grow.
In the early 17th century, the country’s hydraulic engineers studied the opportunities and threats posed by the Zuiderzee, a shallow bay in the North Sea, and one of its key figures, Hendric Stevin, even suggested “domesticating” it. Funding and technical resources that did not exist at the time were available in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when authorities decided, discouraged by a flood in 1916. reclaim land from the sea.
To achieve this, they took advantage of the Zuiderzee’s shallow depth and built a large containment dam (Afsluitdijk), which was completed in the early 1930s. As part of their efforts, the engineers built other important infrastructures and the IJseelmeer lake. In the 1930s, the Dutch owned the Wieringermeer Polder, the first piece of land reclaimed from the sea. Soon after, in the 1940s, there was Noordoostpolder.
The Flevopolder—Why On Earth abounds—was built in two phases during the second half of the last century. After the Second World War, the works left eastern Felvopolder (1957) and in the late 1960s, southern Flevopolder in 1968. The result is the world’s largest artificial island even today. So much in fact that it is very far from IYas Island or Kansai International Airport in Japan, almost 11 km2. Other important projects have been launched in recent years, such as the Palm Deira in Dubai.
Pictures | Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA)
Source: Xataka
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