The Zuiderzeewerken (Zuiderzee Works) are a human-made system of dams, land reclamation and water drainage works, and the largest hydraulic engineering project undertaken by the Netherlands during the twentieth century. A dam is a barrier that divides waters. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water while other structures such as Floodgates, Levees Land reclamation is either of two distinct practices One involves creating new land from sea- or riverbeds the other refers to restoring an area to a more natural state (such as after Hydraulic engineering is a sub-discipline of Civil engineering concerned with the flow and conveyance of Fluids principally Water. The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands The twentieth century of the Common Era began on The project involved the damming off of the Zuiderzee, a large, shallow inlet of the North Sea, and the reclamation of land in the newly enclosed water body by means of polders. The Zuiderzee (ˌzaɪdɚ ˈzeɪ] Dutch: Zuiderzee, ˈzœydərzeː was a shallow Inlet of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands The North Sea is a marginal, Epeiric sea of the Atlantic Ocean on the European Continental shelf. A polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes, that forms an artificial hydrological entity meaning it has no connection with Its main purposes were to improve flood protection and create additional land for agriculture.
Original plans for the works date back to the seventeenth century, but it was not until a severe flood struck in 1916, that the Dutch parliament finally agreed. At this time Cornelis Lely (after whom Lelystad is named) was minister of transport and water management. Cornelis Lely ( September 23 1854, Amsterdam - January 22 1929, The Hague) was a Dutch civil Engineer He had always been an advocate of the plan and now had a chance to have the plan executed. The single biggest structure in the project was a 32 km long dam, the Afsluitdijk ('closure dike'), protecting the Dutch from the North Sea. The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand The Afsluitdijk ( English: Closure Dike Frisian: Ofslútdyk is a major dike in the Netherlands, constructed between 1927 and The North Sea is a marginal, Epeiric sea of the Atlantic Ocean on the European Continental shelf. But to test the waters the small Amsteldiepdijk was built first to connect the island of Wieringen to the North Holland mainland. Wieringen is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. North Holland ( Dutch: Noord-Holland,, West Frisian: Noôrd-Holland) is a province situated on the North Sea in the Mainland is usually the Continental part of a region as opposed to the Islands nearby Its construction lasted four years and proved to be a valuable learning experience for the much larger Afsluitdijk. When the Afsluitdijk was finished in 1932, the Zuiderzee was completely dammed off and from then on would be called the IJsselmeer. The Zuiderzee (ˌzaɪdɚ ˈzeɪ] Dutch: Zuiderzee, ˈzœydərzeː was a shallow Inlet of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands IJsselmeer (sometimes translated as Lake IJssel, alternative international spelling Lake Yssel) is a shallow lake of 1100 km² in the central Netherlands Total cost of the dam was about €700 million (2004 equivalent). Please update other articles as well to avoid contradiction within Wikipedia e
After damming off the sea, the next step involved creating new land, new polders. This was achieved by damming off portions of the IJsselmeer, and then pumping all the water out. For information on Wikipedia project-related discussions see WikipediaVillage pump. The first polder, Wieringermeer, was dammed in 1929 and fully drained in 1930. Wieringermeer is a municipality and a Polder in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The third, the Noordoostpolder, was not fully drained until 1942 and played a vital role for the Dutch Underground resistance during World War II, as the fresh polder offered numerous hiding places. Noordoostpolder ( is a Municipality in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including After the war, work was started on draining the Flevolands, a massive project totalling almost 1000 km². This area is now home to Lelystad and Almere; the latter is the fastest growing city in the Netherlands (in part because of its proximity to Amsterdam). Lelystad ( is a Municipality and a City in the centre of the Netherlands, and it is the Capital of the Province of Flevoland Almere is a city and Municipality in Flevoland, the Netherlands bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde. Amsterdam (pronounced) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west Another large polder was planned in the Markermeer, creation of which was heavily debated until plans were officially abandoned in the early 2000s. The Markermeer is a 700 km² Lake in the central Netherlands in between North Holland, Flevoland and its larger sibling the IJsselmeer A new province, Flevoland, was created out of the Noordoostpolder and the Flevolands in 1986, thereby completing the Works. Flevoland is a province of the Netherlands. Located in the centre of the country at the location of the former Zuiderzee, the province was established on
This newly created land has led to a great change of identity for towns like Lemmer, Vollenhove, Blokzijl, the former islands of Urk and Schokland, Wieringen and others. Lemmer (De Lemmer is a town in the municipality of Lemsterland (province of Friesland) in the Netherlands. Vollenhove is a village in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Steenwijkerland, southwest of Steenwijk Blokzijl is a town located southwest of Steenwijk in the province of Overijssel, the Netherlands. Urk ( is a Municipality and a Town in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. Schokland (mun Noordoostpolder) is a former island in the Dutch Zuiderzee. Wieringen is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Kuinre suffered from the change specifically because it was cut off completely from open water. Kuinre is a village in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It was a separate municipality until 1973 when it became a part of IJsselham, which in turn merged
Contents |
Prelude
In 1916 the dikes at several places along the Zuiderzee (the current IJsselmeer) broke under the stress put on them by a winter storm, and the land behind them was flooded as had often happened in previous centuries. The Zuiderzee (ˌzaɪdɚ ˈzeɪ] Dutch: Zuiderzee, ˈzœydərzeː was a shallow Inlet of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands IJsselmeer (sometimes translated as Lake IJssel, alternative international spelling Lake Yssel) is a shallow lake of 1100 km² in the central Netherlands This particular flooding, however, provided the decisive impetus to implement the existing plans to tame the Zuiderzee. The concept of making the Zuiderzee more docile had first originated in the seventeenth century, but the ambitious solutions sought then were not possible given the technology of the time. As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 17th Century was that Century which lasted from 1601 - 1700 in the Gregorian calendar
The second half of the nineteenth century saw the emergence of the first feasible plans, with the primary objectives being improved protection from the open sea and the prospect of valuable new agricultural land. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar One of the most ardent proponents was Cornelis Lely, an engineer by profession and later government minister, whose 1891 plan would form the basis for what were to become the Zuiderzee Works. Cornelis Lely ( September 23 1854, Amsterdam - January 22 1929, The Hague) was a Dutch civil Engineer It consisted of a large dam connecting the northern tip of North Holland with the western coast of Friesland and the creation of initially four polders in the northwest, the northeast, southeast (later split up into two) and southwest of what would be then renamed the IJsselmeer (IJssel-lake), with two major lanes of water spared for shipping and drainage. North Holland ( Dutch: Noord-Holland,, West Frisian: Noôrd-Holland) is a province situated on the North Sea in the Friesland ( West Frisian: Fryslân, Dutch Friesland) is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the bigger region known IJsselmeer (sometimes translated as Lake IJssel, alternative international spelling Lake Yssel) is a shallow lake of 1100 km² in the central Netherlands River IJssel (ˈɛi̯səl sometimes called Gelderse IJssel (" Gelderland IJssel" to avoid confusion with its Hollandse IJssel namesake The initial body of water affected by the project was 3,500 km². Opposition came primarily from fishermen along the Zuiderzee who would lose their livelihood, but also from other people living in coastal areas along the more northerly Wadden Sea who feared higher water levels as a result of the closure, as well as those who doubted whether it was financially possible in the first place. The Wadden Sea ( Vadehavet, Waddenzee, Wattenmeer, Low German: Wattensee, West Frisian: Waadsee
However, when Lely became Minister of Transport and Public Works in 1913, the government started working on official plans to enclose the Zuiderzee. Due to the 1916 flooding and a continuously threatening food shortage during the First World War, support for the project grew. A famine is a widespread shortage of food that may apply to any Faunal species which phenomenon is usually accompanied by regional Malnutrition, Starvation World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All On June 14, 1918 the Zuiderzee Act was passed and the mammoth undertaking began. Events 1276 - While taking exile in Fuzhou in southern China, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The goals of the Act were threefold:
- Protecting central Netherlands from the effects of the North Sea
- Increasing the Dutch food supply with new agricultural land
- Improving water management by creating a lake out of the former uncontrolled salt water inlet
After the Dienst der Zuiderzeewerken (Zuiderzee Works Department), the government body responsible for overseeing the construction and initial management, was set up in May 1919, work could commence in earnest. Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture It was decided not to start building the main dam first, but rather to test the waters with a smaller dam, the Amsteldiepdijk across the Amsteldiep separating the island of Wieringen from the North Holland mainland. Wieringen is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Despite its limited length of just 2. 5 km, the dike took four years to build, from 1920 to 1924. It had nevertheless turned out to be a valuable learning experience which was put to use in the later projects.
As with dike building, making polders was tried out with the experimental polder at Andijk. Andijk ( West Frisian: Andìk) is a municipality and a village bordering Lake IJssel in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland Dike building, reclamation and agricultural methods were tested here on a relative small scale.
Zuiderzee becomes IJsselmeer
A new study, commissioned after doubts had arisen over the financial feasibility of the project, recommended that work should not only continue, but should be accelerated. It was therefore decided to start the next two major projects at the same time, in 1927. The most important of these would be the main dam, the Afsluitdijk (Closure-dike), running from Den Oever on Wieringen to the village of Zurich in Frisia (Dutch: Friesland) over a length of 32 km and a width of 90 m, at an initial height of 7. The Afsluitdijk ( English: Closure Dike Frisian: Ofslútdyk is a major dike in the Netherlands, constructed between 1927 and 25 m above sea-level and an incline of 25%.
Previous experiences had demonstrated that till (boulder clay), rather than just sand or clay, was the best primary material for a structure like the Afsluitdijk. Till is unsorted glacial sediment Glacial drift is a general term for the coarsely graded and extremely heterogeneous Sediments of glacial origin Boulder clay, in Geology, is a deposit of Clay, often full of boulders which is formed in and beneath Glaciers and ice-sheets wherever they are found but It had the added benefit that it was easily available; it could be retrieved in large quantities by simply dredging it from the bottom of the Zuiderzee. Dredging is an Excavation activity or operation usually carried out at least partly underwater in shallow seas or Fresh water areas with the purpose of Work started at four points: on both sides of the mainland and on two specially made construction-islands (Kornwerderzand and Breezanddijk) along the line of the future dike. Kornwerderzand ( West Frisian: Koarnwertersân) is a settlement on the Afsluitdijk, a major dam in the Netherlands that links Friesland Breezanddijk is a small community that lies near the midpoint of the Afsluitdijk in the Netherlands.
From these points the dike slowly grew as ships deposited till into the open sea in two parallel lines. Sand was then poured in between the two dams and as this emerged above the surface it was covered by another layer of till. The nascent dike was then strengthened from land by basalt rocks and mats of willow switch at its base. Basalt (bəˈsɔːlt ˈbeisɔːlt ˈbæsɔːlt is a common Extrusive Volcanic rock. Willows, sallows and osiers form the Genus Salix, around 400 species of Deciduous Trees and Shrubs found primarily The dike could then be finished off by raising it further with sand and finally clay for the surface of the dike, on which grass was planted.
Construction progressed better than expected. At three points along the line of the dike there were deeper underwater trenches where the tidal current was much stronger than elsewhere. These had been considered major obstacles to completing the dike, but they proved to be relatively straightforward. On May 28, 1932, two years earlier than initially forecast, the Zuiderzee ceased to be as the last tidal trench of the Vlieter was closed by a final bucket of till. Events 585 BC - A Solar eclipse occurs as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Year 1932 ( MCMXXXII) was a Leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. The IJsselmeer was born, even though it was still salty at the time. IJsselmeer (sometimes translated as Lake IJssel, alternative international spelling Lake Yssel) is a shallow lake of 1100 km² in the central Netherlands
The dike itself however wasn't finished yet as it still needed to be brought up to its required height and a road linking Friesland and North Holland also remained to be built. It wouldn't be until September 25, 1933 that the Afsluitdijk was officially opened, with a monument marking the spot where the dike had been closed. Events 303 - On a voyage preaching the Gospel, Saint Fermin of Pamplona is beheaded in Amiens, France Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The amount of material used is estimated at 23 million m³ of sand and 13. 5 million m³ of till and over the years an average of around 4,000 to 5,000 workers were involved with the construction every day, relieving some of the unemployment following the Great Depression.
Beside the dam itself, there was also the necessary construction of two complexes of shipping locks and discharge sluices at both ends of the dike. A lock is a device for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal Waterways. A sluice is a water channel that is controlled at its head by a gate The complex at Den Oever includes the Stevin lock and three series of five sluices for discharging the IJsselmeer into the Wadden Sea; the other complex at Kornwerderzand is composed of the Lorentz locks and two series of five sluices, making a total of 25 discharge sluices. Den Oever ( is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. Simon Stevin (1548/49 &ndash 1620 was a Flemish Mathematician and Engineer. Hendrik Antoon Lorentz ( July 18, 1853 &ndash February 4, 1928) was a Dutch Physicist who shared the 1902 Nobel Periodically discharging the lake is necessary since it is continually fed by rivers and streams (most notably the IJssel river that gives its name to the lake) and polders draining their water into the IJsselmeer. River IJssel (ˈɛi̯səl sometimes called Gelderse IJssel (" Gelderland IJssel" to avoid confusion with its Hollandse IJssel namesake
New land
The other major project started in 1927 was the construction of the 200 km² polder in the northwest, the first and the smallest of the five projected polders. It would replace the body of water south of Wieringen known as the Wieringermeer which would also become the name of the new polder. Wieringermeer is a municipality and a Polder in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It would be the only polder reclaimed from the Zuiderzee itself (the others were reclaimed after the Afsluitdijk was finished), but it wasn't entirely the first. A small test polder of some 0. 4 km² was constructed in 1926–1927 near Andijk in North Holland to research the effects drainage would have on the soil of the Zuiderzee and how best to configure the new polders.
Building the encircling dike for the Wieringermeer would be a little harder than it was for the later polders, because the Wieringermeer dikes had to be built before the completion of the Afsluitdijk, which meant the tidal currents of the Zuiderzee were still present. As a consequence, they would have to be somewhat higher. Construction started on the 18 km dike from Den Oever on Wieringen and the new construction-island of Oude Zeug and progressed satisfactorily; the Wieringermeer was closed off from the Zuiderzee in July 1929. The next step was draining all the water from the future polder.
Drainage of a polder is performed by a pumping station or mill, called a gemaal in Dutch. Two were built for the Wieringermeer, the Leemans, a diesel powered station, near Den Oever and the Lely, an electrically powered one, near Medemblik. A diesel engine is an Internal combustion engine which operates using the Diesel cycle (named after Dr Medemblik ( West Frisian: Memelik) is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region Different ways of powering the stations were used as a fail safe mechanism; should a calamity cause one station to lose its source of power, the other one would still be able to keep the polder dry. Safety engineering is an applied science strongly related to Systems engineering and the subset System Safety Engineering The pumping mechanism itself was based on a variation of the Archimedes' screw, as designed by A. Baldwin Wood. The Archimedes' screw, Archimedean screw, or screwpump is a Machine historically used for transferring water from a low-lying body of water into Irrigation Albert Baldwin Wood ( December 1 1879 - May 10 1956) was an Inventor and Engineer from New Orleans Louisiana The stations, completed in February 1930, managed to drain the polder after six months of continuous pumping. "Drained" in this context does not mean the land was wholly dry; extensive pools of shallow water still littered the muddy landscape. To make the soil usable it had to be further drained by a network of drainage canals. Many small ditches were dug that led to larger watercourses, which in turn transported their water to the main drainage canals. These canals, which had been dredged when the polder was still filled with water, conducted the surplus water to the pumping stations. The resulting dehydration caused the former seabed to sink, by well over a metre at some places. Once the ground had settled, the smaller ditches were replaced with underground drainage tubes, which would be used for the normal drainage of the polder.
| Project | Length | Start | Closure | Drained |
| Amsteldiepdijk | 2. 5 km | June 29, 1920 | July 31, 1924 | — |
| Afsluitdijk | 32 km | January 1927 | May 23, 1932 | — |
| Wieringermeer | 18 km | 1927 | July 27, 1929 | August 31, 1930 |
| Noordoostpolder | 55 km | 1936 | December 13, 1940 | September 9, 1942 |
| Eastern Flevoland | 90 km | Early 1950 | September 13, 1956 | June 29, 1957 |
| Southern Flevoland | 70 km | Early 1959 | October 25, 1967 | May 29, 1968 |
| Houtribdijk | 28 km | 1963 | September 4, 1975 | — |
With the hydrological infrastructure in place, the virgin land was developed to prepare for its later cultivation. Events 512 - A Solar eclipse is recorded by a monastic chronicler in Ireland. Year 1920 ( MCMXX) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display 1920 of the Gregorian calendar Events 30 BC - Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian 's forces but most of his army subsequently Year 1924 ( MCMXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Afsluitdijk ( English: Closure Dike Frisian: Ofslútdyk is a major dike in the Netherlands, constructed between 1927 and Events 1430 - Siege of Compiègne: Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne Year 1932 ( MCMXXXII) was a Leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. Wieringermeer is a municipality and a Polder in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Events 1214 - Battle of Bouvines: In France, Philip II of France defeats John of England. Year 1929 ( MCMXXIX) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1056 - Byzantine Empress Theodora becomes ill dying suddenly a few days later without children to succeed the Throne Year 1930 ( MCMXXX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Noordoostpolder ( is a Municipality in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. Events 1294 - Saint Celestine V abdicates the papacy after only five months Celestine hoped to return to his previous life Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1000 - Battle of Svolder, Viking Age. 1379 - Treaty of Neuberg, splitting the Austrian Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Flevoland is a province of the Netherlands. Located in the centre of the country at the location of the former Zuiderzee, the province was established on Events 509 BC - The Temple of Jupiter on Rome 's Capitoline Hill is dedicated on the ides of September Year 1956 ( MCMLVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 512 - A Solar eclipse is recorded by a monastic chronicler in Ireland. Year 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar) Flevoland is a province of the Netherlands. Located in the centre of the country at the location of the former Zuiderzee, the province was established on Events 1147 - The Portuguese, under Afonso I, and Crusaders from England and Flanders conquer Lisbon after a Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. Events 363 - Roman Emperor Julian defeats the Sassanid army in the Battle of Ctesiphon, under the walls of the Year 1968 ( MCMLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 476 - Romulus Augustus, last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, is deposed when Odoacer proclaims himself Year 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Hydrology (from Greek Yδωρ hudōr, "water" and λόγος logos, "study" is the study of the movement distribution and quality of Infrastructure typically refers to the technical structures that support a society such as Roads Water supply, Wastewater, Power grids The first plant to establish itself, though more so in the later polders than in the Wieringermeer, would be reed, sown from the air by plane onto the muddy flats while the polder was still being drained. Phragmites australis, the common reed, is a large perennial grass found in Wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the This sturdy plant helped evaporate the water and bring air into the soil thereby solidifying its structure and further preventing the emergence of unwanted weeds.
After the first infrastructure was put in place, the reed was burnt and replaced by rapeseed, turning the newborn polder into a yellow sea of flowers in spring. Rapeseed ( Brassica napus) also known as rape, oilseed rape, rapa, rapaseed and (in the case of one particular group of These crops were succeeded by various species of grain; in the Wieringermeer the first was rye, but the later polders followed the order of wheat, then barley and finally oat. Rye ( Secale cereale) is a grass grown extensively as a grain and forage crop Wheat ( Triticum spp is a worldwide cultivated grass from the Levant area of the Middle East. Barley ( Hordeum vulgare) is an annual Cereal Grain, which serves as a major animal Feed crop, with smaller amounts used for Oats redirects here It may mean either the common cereal oat discussed here or any cultivated or wild species of the Genus Avena. This process would take several years, but once finished allowed farmers to plant the crops they wanted. At the same time, other infrastructure such as roads and housing was built so that the polder was ready for people to live and work in.
The Wieringermeer, as the first of the envisioned five polders, served as a major testbed for ideas and techniques for the following projects. It's closest to the original concept of the new land being primarily used as agricultural land and it has retained a strong rural character. Four villages (Slootdorp (1931), Middenmeer (1933), Wieringerwerf (1936) and Kreileroord (1957) eventually were formed in the polder. Slootdorp ( is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. Middenmeer ( is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. Wieringerwerf ( is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. Kreileroord ( is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. The local governance presented a new problem at first; the area was divided among the mainland municipalities according to the boundaries used when there was still water, a configuration that wasn't always practical on the ground and one that unnecessarily split up responsibilities over several parties. The first solution was a form of government called an openbaar lichaam or "public body", a complicated arrangement which incorporated both the government body in charge of the actual development and an appointed committee responsible for public governance. As the polder became more populated, the demand for proper representation increased until finally on July 1, 1941 the municipality of Wieringermeer was established. "July 1st" redirects here For the Ayumi Hamasaki song see H (song. Year 1941 ( MCMXLI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (the link will display 1941 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Wieringermeer is a municipality and a Polder in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland.
Most of the hard work of the 1930s in building the Wieringermeer would come to naught as the Second World War drew to a close. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The Netherlands was occupied by Nazi Germany and on April 17, 1945 a vengeful German command ordered the dike of the Wieringermeer to be blown up. Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Events 69 - After the First Battle of Bedriacum, Vitellius becomes Roman Emperor. Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar No one was killed as the polder slowly submerged again, but the high water and a subsequent storm destroyed most of the infrastructure built in the previous decade. Reconstruction followed quickly and by the end of 1945 the polder was declared drained again and rebuilding the roads, bridges, houses and farms was greatly facilitated by the experience of building them the first time.
Noordoostpolder
The original 1891 plan called for the largest, southeastern polder to be built after the Wieringermeer, but it was decided in 1932 to give precedence to the northeastern one, which was smaller and therefore considered easier. This would be the Noordoostpolder (Northeast-polder). Initial financial difficulties meant that it wasn't until 1936 that construction began. Two dikes, totaling 55 km in length, steadily grew in the IJsselmeer, one starting from Lemmer in Friesland and from the island of Urk, the other from Vollenhove in Overijssel and again Urk. Lemmer (De Lemmer is a town in the municipality of Lemsterland (province of Friesland) in the Netherlands. Urk ( is a Municipality and a Town in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. Vollenhove is a village in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Steenwijkerland, southwest of Steenwijk Overijssel (Transiselania is a Province of the Netherlands in the central eastern part of the country The outbreak of the Second World War meant the construction of this latter dike and the necessary pumping stations had to be delayed; it wasn't until December 1940 that the encircling dikes were both closed, and the pumping stations would not be ready to start draining until early 1941. The Noordoostpolder was considered to be sufficiently drained in September 1942 and the developmental process was then put in motion on the 480 km² of new land.
The task of building the Noordoostpolder was eased by the earlier experience, the now placid waters of the IJsselmeer and the mechanisation of the construction process. Machines, sometimes made specifically for the Zuiderzee Works, were increasingly used for this and the final polders. Land usage would be much the same as in the Wieringermeer, again focusing on farming and areas with less fertile soil designated as forest land. Land in the polders was state-owned during the entire developmental process, but several years after this was completed the various plots could be distributed among private parties. Priority was at first given to the early pioneers who had been in the polder since the start; afterwards, interested farmers from all over the Netherlands were eligible for the remainder and candidates were put through a selection process before receiving their own piece of new land.
The North Sea flood of 1953 made the government change their priorities. The North Sea flood of 1953 and the associated storm combined to create a major Natural disaster which affected the coastlines of the Netherlands and England Instead of selecting the best farmers, a huge number of farmers from the flooded province of Zeeland were accepted as new inhabitants. Zeeland ( also called Zealand in English and Zeelandic, is a province of the Netherlands.
Contained within the polder are two former islands, the glacial moraine hill of Urk and the elongated strip of peat land, abandoned in the 19th century, known as Schokland. Moraine refers to any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris (soil and rock which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions such as those Urk ( is a Municipality and a Town in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. Schokland (mun Noordoostpolder) is a former island in the Dutch Zuiderzee. Urk was then and is still today a fishing community and it served as a natural construction-island for both dikes as well as a base of operations for the later exploitation of the polder. Both ceased to be islands; Urk on October 3, 1939 when the dike reaching from Lemmer was closed and Schokland when the surrounding water was consequently drained away. Events 42 BC - First Battle of Philippi: Triumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian fight an indecisive battle with Caesar's Year 1939 ( MCMXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Both islands stand out in the new land, both physically and figuratively, as the community of Urk in particular has remained an entity somewhat distinct from the "mainland", e. g. it constitutes a separate municipality from the rest of the polder which formed the proper municipality of Noordoostpolder in 1962. The town of Kuinre was cut off from the open water, lost businesses and status. Kuinre is a village in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It was a separate municipality until 1973 when it became a part of IJsselham, which in turn merged
At the heart of the Noordoostpolder, where the three main drainage canals intersect, is the town of Emmeloord (1943). Emmeloord is the administrative center of the municipality of Noordoostpolder, Flevoland, Netherlands. Planned from the outset to be the first and the only major town of the polder, it serves as the local governmental and services centre. Ten smaller villages, conceived more as agricultural communities, were planned in a wide circle around Emmeloord, with the distances between them determined so as to be easily reachable by bicycle. The bicycle, cycle, or bike is a pedal-driven, human-powered vehicle with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind The first settlements were Ens, Marknesse and Kraggenburg (1949), followed by Bant (1951), then Creil and Rutten (1953), and finally Espel, Tollebeek and Nagele (1956). Marknesse ( is a village in the Dutch province of Flevoland. It is a part of the municipality of Noordoostpolder, and lies about 75 km east of Kraggenburg is a settlement in the Noordoostpolder with 1500 inhabitants Bant ( is a village in the Dutch province of Flevoland. It is a part of the municipality of Noordoostpolder, and lies about 10 km north of Emmeloord Creil is a town in France, one of the communes of the Oise département and a district of Senlis. Rutten ( is a village in the Dutch province of Flevoland. It is a part of the municipality of Noordoostpolder, and lies about 8 km northwest of Emmeloord Espel ( is a village in the Dutch province of Flevoland. It is a part of the municipality of Noordoostpolder, and lies about 6 km west of Emmeloord Tollebeek ( is a village in the Dutch province of Flevoland. It is a part of the municipality of Noordoostpolder, and lies about 8 km southwest of Nagele ( is a village in the Dutch province of Flevoland. It is a part of the municipality of Noordoostpolder, and lies about 10 km south of Emmeloord From Emmeloord three canals take their water to three pumping stations, the Buma near Lemmer, the Smeenge at Vollenhove and finally the Vissering in Urk. The first two are electrically powered (though connected to different power-plants) while the latter one has diesel-engines doing the pumping. Like all pumping stations of the Zuiderzee Works, they too were named after individuals who had at some point made a significant contribution to the project.
The Flevolands
The period immediately following World War II was spent restoring the Wieringermeerpolder and catching up with work on the Noordoostpolder, but it wasn't long before attention turned towards the next project: Oostelijk Flevoland (Eastern Flevoland), which at 540 km² was the largest of the new polders. In 1950 work commenced on several construction-islands in the middle of the IJsselmeer, the largest of which would be Lelystad-Haven which housed a community of dike-builders. The experience of the Noordoostpolder had shown that groundwater from the higher old mainland would flow to the lower new land, causing subsidence and dehydration in the old land. Groundwater is Water located beneath the Ground surface in Soil pore spaces and in the Fractures of lithologic formations In Geology, Engineering, and Surveying, subsidence is the motion of a surface (usually the Earth's surface as it shifts downward relative to It was therefore decided to geohydrologically detach the new polders from the mainland by leaving a string of peripheral lakes in between the two, requiring a much longer dike of 90 km to encircle the polder. Hydrogeology ( hydro- meaning water and -geology meaning the study of the Earth) is the area of Geology that deals with the distribution and
The plans for a single south-eastern polder had by this time given way to two separate polders that would have a joint hydrological infrastructure, with a dividing dike in the middle, the Knardijk, which would keep one polder safe should the other be flooded. The two main drainage canals that would traverse the dike could be closed by weirs in such an event. WEIR (1430 AM) is a Radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format The eastern polder would be the first of the two and the encircling dike began to take form in 1951, progressing nicely until the North Sea flood of 1953 struck the south-western Netherlands, for which people and machinery were transferred for repair work (further work here would later result in the Delta Works). The North Sea flood of 1953 and the associated storm combined to create a major Natural disaster which affected the coastlines of the Netherlands and England The Deltaworks are a series of constructions built between 1950 and 1997 in the southwest of The Netherlands to protect a large area of land around the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt Work on Eastern Flevoland resumed in 1954 and the dike was finally closed on September 13, 1956. Events 509 BC - The Temple of Jupiter on Rome 's Capitoline Hill is dedicated on the ides of September Year 1956 ( MCMLVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The pumping stations started draining the polder that same day and they completed their task in June 1957. Three were built: the Wortman (diesel powered) by Lelystad-Haven, the Lovink near Harderwijk and the Colijn (both electrically powered) along the northern dike beside the Ketelmeer. Harderwijk is also a village in the Dutch municipality of Opmeer All three were built with extra capacity with the future southern polder in mind.
A new element in the design of this polder was the intention to establish a larger city to serve as a regional centre for all the polders and perhaps the capital of a potential new province. A Dutch province represents the administrative layer in between the national government and the local municipalities having the responsibility for matters of subnational or regional This city, located in the centre of the reclaimed lands, would be Lelystad (1966), named after the man who had played a crucial role in the design and realisation of the Zuiderzee Works. Lelystad ( is a Municipality and a City in the centre of the Netherlands, and it is the Capital of the Province of Flevoland Other more conventional settlements were already in existence by then; Dronten, the local major town, was founded in 1962, followed by two smaller satellite villages, Swifterbant and Biddinghuizen in 1963. These last three were incorporated in the new municipality of Dronten on January 1, 1972; Lelystad would be large enough to form its own municipality, which it became on January 1, 1980. Dronten ( is a Municipality and a Town in the central Netherlands. New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar)
Though agriculture was initially again the main purpose of the polder, the post-war period saw a shift in the design goals of the new polders. More farming communities, similar to the Noordoostpolder, had originally been planned, but changing agricultural needs and increased motorised mobility meant many weren't necessary and thus their number was eventually reduced to just two. Work on one village, Larsen, was just about to start when it was cancelled. However, the amount of agricultural land did not increase; rather it diminished as a result of the building of Lelystad (a city envisioned to eventually house at least 100. 000 inhabitants, but in 2005 had only 70. 000) and assigning more than just infertile soil for forests and nature reserves, a trend that would continue in the next polder.
| Polder | Size | Agriculture | Housing | Nature | Infrastructure |
| Wieringermeer | 200 km² | 87 % | 1 % | 3 % | 9 % |
| Noordoostpolder | 480 km² | 87 % | 1 % | 5 % | 7 % |
| Eastern Flevoland | 540 km² | 75 % | 8 % | 11 % | 6 % |
| Southern Flevoland | 430 km² | 50 % | 25 % | 18 % | 7 % |
Zuidelijk Flevoland (Southern Flevoland) is the name of the fourth polder of the Zuiderzee Works, built adjacent to its larger sibling, Eastern Flevoland. Since its northeastern dike, the aforementioned Knardijk, already existed, only 70 km of the dike remained to be built. Starting in early 1959, this was finished in October 1967.
Only one pumping station ('gemaal'), the diesel powered De Blocq van Kuffeler, needed to be built because of the hydrological union of the two Flevolands; once the polder was finished it would simply join the previous three in maintaining the water-level of both polders. Before it could do that however the newest gemaal had to first drain the 430 km² polder of its water all by itself, completing its job in May 1968.
Due to the geographically favourable location of the southern polder to the heavily urbanised centre of the Netherlands and in particular Amsterdam, the planners devised a design that would include a large new urban area, to be called Almere, in order to relieve the housing shortage and increasing overcrowding on the old land. Amsterdam (pronounced) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west Almere is a city and Municipality in Flevoland, the Netherlands bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde. It was to be divided into 3 major settlements, initially; the first, Almere-Haven (1976), situated along the Gooimeer (one of the peripheral lakes), the second and largest, Almere-Stad (Almere City) (1980), which was to fulfil the role of city centre, and the third, Almere-Buiten (1984), to the northeast towards Lelystad.
The area in between Lelystad and Almere was designated for heavy industries, but since enough space was still available on the old land for those industries this part of the polder was left alone for the mean time. After only a couple of years this landscape of shallow pools, islets and swamps became a popular resting and foraging area for many species of waterfowl, to the extent that it rapidly turned into a nature reserve of national significance. Although accidental in origin, the Oostvaardersplassen as they are known became by the 1970s the definitive destination for this section of the polder. The Oostvaarderplassen is a nature reserve in the Netherlands.
The centre of the polder most closely resembles the pre-war polders in that it is almost exclusively agricultural. In contrast, the south-eastern part is dominated by extensive forests. It is also home to the only other settlement of the polder, Zeewolde (1984), again a more conventional town acting as the local centre. Zeewolde ( is a Municipality and a town in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. Zeewolde became a municipality at the same time as Almere, on January 1, 1984, which in the case of Zeewolde meant that the municipality existed before the town itself, with only farms in the surrounding land to be governed until the town started to grow. New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar)
The fifth polder
The fifth polder does not yet exist and may never be completed. It had been the intention to start building the south-western polder, known as the Markerwaard, at several points during the project, but other polders took precedence. Parts of it have in fact been built; in 1941 it was decided to begin work on the first section of dike, but the German occupiers stopped construction that same year. This dike originated on Marken, the last of the IJsselmeer islands, and went north for some 2 km where it ends abruptly today. Marken ( pop 1846 in 2004 is a peninsula in the IJsselmeer, the Netherlands, located in the municipality Waterland in the province North Holland After World War II, the eastern polder was chosen as the next project, but Marken was not wholly ignored; on October 17, 1957 a 3. Events 539 BC - King Cyrus The Great of Persia marches into the city of Babylon, releasing the Jews from almost Year 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar) 5 km long dike was closed, running south of the now former island to the North Holland mainland. North Holland ( Dutch: Noord-Holland,, West Frisian: Noôrd-Holland) is a province situated on the North Sea in the
When construction started in 1959 on a new dike it had not yet been decided whether this would be the northern dike of Southern Flevoland or the southern dike of the Markerwaard, but the choice eventually fell to the former and another chance for the Markerwaard had passed. A minor flood near Amsterdam in 1960 had demonstrated the danger a large IJsselmeer still presented. A further planned element of the Markerwaard was subsequently executed: a 28 km dike between Lelystad and Enkhuizen, including two complexes of locks and discharge sluices at either end, was to split the IJsselmeer in two, with the largest portion (1250 km²) continuing as the IJsselmeer and the smaller lake (700 km²) being named the Markermeer. Enkhuizen ( West Frisian: Inghúze is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region The Markermeer is a 700 km² Lake in the central Netherlands in between North Holland, Flevoland and its larger sibling the IJsselmeer Construction of this dike, known later as the Houtribdijk or Markerwaarddijk, progressed slowly, lasting from 1963 to 1975, after which it also served as an important road connection between the north of North Holland and the eastern Netherlands. The Houtribdijk did not however result in the construction of the rest of the Markerwaard, as had been hoped by many.
The debate on whether to build the Markerwaard would continue for many years. The need for new agricultural land had mostly disappeared by this time and extra space for housing wasn't necessary in this region. The existing ecological and recreational value of the Markermeer was considered by many to be equal or superior to any potential such value the Markerwaard would offer. Doubts began to surface about the overall cost-effectiveness of the polder. The original post-war designs had called for a 410 km² polder yet many different proposals were later put forth in an effort to combine the benefits of both the Markerwaard and Markermeer, all to no avail. Although several cabinets had previously intended in principle to proceed with the Markerwaard, it was decided to indefinitely postpone the project in September 1986, though the possibility of the fifth polder has so far not been completely ruled out. A cabinet is a body of high-ranking members of Government, typically representing the executive branch. An alternative purpose that has been proposed is to use the lake as a water reservoir for hydropower combined with wind-power from windmills on the dikes, eliminating the unpredictability of the latter - when there is an overcapacity of wind, use that to fill the lake and when there isn't enough, use the high water level for hydropower.
The loss of the Markerwaard did not affect plans to create a new province out of the polders. A Dutch province represents the administrative layer in between the national government and the local municipalities having the responsibility for matters of subnational or regional The older Wieringermeer in the north, long since part of North Holland, would not become a part of it, but the municipalities of the other three and the islands of the Noordoostpolder would together form the 12th province of the Netherlands, Flevoland. Wieringermeer is a municipality and a Polder in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. North Holland ( Dutch: Noord-Holland,, West Frisian: Noôrd-Holland) is a province situated on the North Sea in the Flevoland is a province of the Netherlands. Located in the centre of the country at the location of the former Zuiderzee, the province was established on The need for a new province was not immediately clear; Urk and the Noordoostpolder had been part of Overijssel up to that point and Dronten fell under Gelderland. Overijssel (Transiselania is a Province of the Netherlands in the central eastern part of the country Gelderland ( English also Guelders) is a province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country After the new municipalities of Southern Flevoland were established in 1984, belonging to no province as was the case with Lelystad, the provincial issue required renewed attention. With only six municipalities and without the Markerwaard the area was considered by opponents to be too light for an entire province, but the polder municipalities were unanimous in their desire: on January 1, 1986 the province of Flevoland was inaugurated. New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC Year 1986 ( MCMLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar) With a population of 356. 400 (2004) it is the least populous province, but the province of Zeeland has only 378. Zeeland ( also called Zealand in English and Zeelandic, is a province of the Netherlands. 300 and Flevoland has a higher population density than four other provinces.
The Zuiderzee Works had come to an end. The administration responsible for the construction and development of the new land had changed names over the years, but it had now served its purpose; in 1996 it was reorganised as a normal administration in charge of maintaining the sluices, locks, bridges and dikes in the region. The Zuiderzee Works had successfully transformed the once capricious heart of the Netherlands into fertile agricultural land with many new communities combined with an extensive fresh water supply and, although not originally envisioned, a collection of valuable ecological and recreational areas.
See also
- Delta Works for another major waterworks project in the Netherlands. The Deltaworks are a series of constructions built between 1950 and 1997 in the southwest of The Netherlands to protect a large area of land around the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt
- Flood
External links
- Nieuw Land Poldermuseum — A Flevoland museum on the Zuiderzee Works and Dutch water management in general. A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land a deluge
- The Zuiderzee Museum — Dedicated to the history and culture of the former Zuiderzee.
- Directorate IJsselmeer Region — The administration responsible for maintaining most of the Zuiderzee Works.
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