Amsteldiepdijk is a dike between Van Ewijcksluis and the island of Wieringen . It was built in 1924 and closes a portion of the Amsteldiep and of the Ulkediep .
85-454: It is often considered to be the first work of engineering of the Zuiderzee works . With the small dike, the former island (1200 to 1932) of Wieringen is connected on the western side with the mainland of North Holland and is no longer an island. The dam serves as a prototype in some way to works to come on the future IJsselmeer . Some errors served as lessons. A collapse is still visible on
170-592: A diesel powered station, near Den Oever and the Lely , an electrically powered one, near Medemblik . Different power systems were used in the stations as a safety mechanism. If one station lost power, the other one would still be able to keep the polder dry. The pumping mechanism itself was based on a variation of Archimedes' screw , as designed by A. Baldwin Wood . The stations, completed in February 1930, managed to drain
255-564: A 410 km (160 sq mi) 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 cabinets had intended to proceed with the Markerwaard, it was decided to indefinitely postpone the project in September 1986. A proposed alternative was to use the lake as a water reservoir for hydropower combined with wind-power from windmills on
340-567: A complex of lakes at the current location of the IJsselmeer. He called it Lacus Flevo . Over the centuries, the lake banks crumbled away due to flooding and wave action, and the lake, now called the Almere , grew considerably. During the 12th and 13th centuries, storm surges and rising sea levels flooded large areas of land between the lake and the North Sea, turning the lake into a bay of
425-468: 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 centre of
510-528: A dyke was built between Enkhuizen and Lelystad as the northern boundary of the Markerwaard , a planned but never realized polder in the IJsselmeer. This dyke, the Houtribdijk or Markerwaarddijk , split the IJsselmeer into two parts. The former southern part of the IJsselmeer is now the hydrologically separate Markermeer . The proposed polderisation of the Markerwaard was abandoned after many of
595-406: A major testbed for ideas and techniques for the following projects. It is 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 eventually were formed in the polder: Slootdorp (1931), Middenmeer (1933), Wieringerwerf (1936), and Kreileroord (1957). Local governance presented a new problem. The area
680-517: A single south-eastern polder were changed to construct two separate polders with a joint hydrological infrastructure. They were divided by a dike in the middle, the Knardijk , which would keep one polder safe should the other be flooded. The two main drainage canals to traverse the dike could be closed by weirs in such a flooding event. The eastern polder was planned to be the first, and the encircling dike began to take form in 1951. It progressed until
765-481: A small scale at the experimental polder at Andijk . A new study, commissioned after doubts arose over the financial feasibility of the project, recommended that work should continue and be accelerated. The Zuiderzee Works Department initiated the next two major projects at the same time, in 1927. The most important of these was the main dam, the Afsluitdijk (enclosure dam), running from Den Oever on Wieringen to
850-400: Is a closed-off freshwater lake in the central Netherlands bordering the provinces of Flevoland , North Holland and Friesland . It covers an area of 1,100 km (420 sq mi) with an average depth of 4.5 m (15 ft). The river IJssel , after which the lake was named, flows into the IJsselmeer. Two thousand years ago Pomponius Mela , a Roman geographer, mentioned
935-467: Is planned, although it will be accessible to tourists and birdwatchers . The creation process started in April 2016 with the first new island being inaugurated on 24 September 2016. The loss of the Markerwaard did not affect plans to create a new province out of the polders. The older Wieringermeer in the north, long since part of North Holland , would not become a part of it, but the municipalities of
SECTION 10
#17327719524871020-483: 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 3 October 1939, when the dike reaching from Lemmer was closed and Schokland when the surrounding water was consequently drained. Both islands stand out in the new land, physically and figuratively. The community of Urk in particular has remained an entity somewhat distinct from
1105-493: Is used for vegetables; the next best for rye and other grain; and the worst land is forested. Each plot has a paved road in the front and a canal in the back to make it accessible by land and water. A terp in the center of the polder is built higher than the highest recorded flood level of the North Sea to protect people if the dike fails; the Wieringermeer terp is large enough to hold the population of Amsterdam. During
1190-622: The Wortman (diesel powered) at Lelystad-Haven, the Lovink near Harderwijk and the Colijn (both electrically powered) along the northern dike beside the Ketelmeer. 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
1275-676: 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 power. Like all pumping stations of the Zuiderzee Works, they are named for individuals who made significant contributions to the project. The period following World War II was spent restoring
1360-635: The German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II the invading forces at first did not interfere; their engineers inspected the project as a model for reclaiming the Frische Haff . In 1945 retreating Germans ordered the inundation of the Wieringermeer , but it was drained again afterwards and the damage repaired. The Wieringermeer, as the first of the envisioned five polders, served as
1445-524: The IJsselmeer ( IJssel -lake). Two major lanes of open water were defined for shipping and drainage. The initial body of water affected by the project was 3,500 square kilometres (1,350 sq mi). Opposition came from fishermen along the Zuiderzee who would lose their livelihood, and from others in coastal areas along the more northerly Wadden Sea . They feared higher water levels as a result of
1530-741: The Maatschappij tot Uitvoering van Zuiderzeewerken . The American Society of Civil Engineers declared the works, together with the Delta Works in the South-West of the Netherlands, as among the Seven Wonders of the Modern World . The Low Countries have low flat topography, with half the land area below or less than 1 m (3 ft 3 in) above sea level , and have for centuries been subject to periodic flooding by
1615-473: The Markermeer . 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 many had hoped. The debate on whether to build
1700-512: The North Sea flood of 1953 struck the south-western Netherlands. Workers and machinery were transferred there for repair work (additional work here was part of the Delta Works ). Work on Eastern Flevoland resumed in 1954 and the dike was closed on 13 September 1956. The pumping stations started draining the polder that same day, completing the task in June 1957. Three pumping stations were built:
1785-464: The "mainland". It is a separate municipality from the rest of the polder, which was organized as the municipality of Noordoostpolder in 1962. The town of Kuinre was cut off from the open water, losing businesses and status. At the heart of the Noordoostpolder, where the three main drainage canals intersect, is the town of Emmeloord (1943). Planned to be the first and the only major town of
SECTION 20
#17327719524871870-565: The 18 km (11 mi) 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 ( gemaal in Dutch). Two were built for the Wieringermeer, the Leemans ,
1955-550: The Dutch population did not want the loss of the traditional seaside (now lakeside) environment and vistas. In 1986 three polders in the IJsselmeer constituted the new province of Flevoland , the twelfth province of the Netherlands. The water of the IJsselmeer is now almost completely fresh, the saline having long since been purged. This altered environment has had an impact on the fish and plant ecosystems . The change has been beneficial for Dutch boats, many of which are steel, as
2040-473: The IJsselmeer, the closed-off bay functions as a large freshwater reservoir, serving as a source for agriculture and drinking water. Outlet sluices in the Afsluitdijk regulate the water level of the IJsselmeer. The IJsselmeer is used for transport and fishing. It also offers a number of opportunities for recreational activity, both on the water and on its shores. Due to the shallowness of the IJsselmeer,
2125-508: The Markerwaard continued for years. The need for new agricultural land had mostly disappeared by this time and extra space for housing was unnecessary 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 cost-effectiveness of the polder. The original post-war designs had called for
2210-404: 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. It was decided to use geohydrology to detach the new polders from the mainland. A string of peripheral lakes have been left between the two, requiring a much longer dike of 90 km (56 mi) to encircle the polder. The plans for
2295-521: The North Sea, called the Zuiderzee . The Zuiderzee continued to be a threat to the Dutch, especially when northwesterly storms funnel North Sea waters towards the English Channel, creating very high tides along the Dutch coast. During the 17th century, Zuiderzee dykes collapsed several times, and plans were drawn up to eliminate the threat by draining the bay. Later drainage plans focused on creating fertile farmland, but they never progressed beyond
2380-498: The Wieringermeerpolder and catching up with work on the Noordoostpolder. Soon attention turned towards the next project: Eastern Flevoland (Oostelijk Flevoland), which at 540 km 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 initially housed a community of dike-builders. The experience of
2465-463: The Works. This new land led to an identity change for towns including Lemmer , Vollenhove , Blokzijl due to losing their direct access to the sea and Kuinre was completely cut off from open water. The former islands of Urk and Schokland , and Wieringen got connected to the mainland. The other major project started in 1927 was the construction of the 200 km (77 sq mi) polder in
2550-468: The Zuider Zee in 1886, and in 1891 Lely introduced his plan, which formed the basis for the development of what were to become the Zuiderzee Works. 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 in two), and southwest of what would be renamed
2635-465: The Zuiderzee and create large islands, as Lely warned that rerouting the rivers directly to the North Sea might cause inland flooding if storms raised the sea's level. He also wanted to preserve the Zee's fisheries, and for the new land to be accessible by water. The Dienst der Zuiderzeewerken (Zuiderzee Works Department), the government body responsible for overseeing the construction and initial management,
Amsteldiepdijk - Misplaced Pages Continue
2720-424: The Zuiderzee would be useful land. Plans were developed during the second half of the nineteenth century to protect areas from the force of the open sea and creating new agricultural land. Cornelis Lely (after whom Lelystad is named) was an ardent supporter, an engineer, and later government minister. A group called the "Zuider Zee Society" began a thorough investigation as to the best means of closing and draining
2805-602: The Zuiderzee. Hendrik Stevin in 1667 was the first to publish a study ("How the Fury of the North Sea may be stopped and Holland may be protected against it") proposing to drain the Zuiderzee. After the IJ and Haarlemmermeer were drained in the mid-19th century, van Diggelen, Kloppenburg, and Faddegon proposed that the Zuiderzee also be drained. Test drilling by the Zuiderzeevereeniging found that about three quarters of
2890-426: The Zuiderzee. On 13 and 14 January 1916 the dikes at several places along the Zuiderzee broke under the stress of a winter storm, and the land behind them flooded, as had often happened in previous centuries. This flooding provided the decisive impetus to implement the existing plans to tame the Zuiderzee. In addition, a threatening food shortage during the other stresses of World War I added to widespread support for
2975-602: The Zuiderzee. The Zuiderzee was no longer a sea inlet and was renamed IJsselmeer ( Lake IJssel ) after the IJssel river that flows into it, which is also the namesake of the province of Overijssel . The continuing flow of fresh river water soon flushed out the salt water. Part of the IJsselmeer was later closed off to form the Markermeer . From 1929 till 1967, over half the IJsselmeer was drained, creating 1,979 km (764 sq mi) of polders : Wieringermeerpolder , Noordoostpolder , East and South Flevoland . In 1975,
3060-506: The actual development and an appointed committee responsible for public governance. As the polder became more populated, the demand for representation increased until finally on 1 July 1941, the municipality of Wieringermeer was established. On 17 April 1945, in the closing days of World War II , the Wehrmacht breached the Wieringermeer dike with explosives to flood the polder and prevent allied advance. No casualties were incurred, but
3145-407: The bottom of the Zuiderzee. Work started at four points: on both sides of the mainland and on two purpose-made construction-islands ( Kornwerderzand and Breezanddijk ) along the line of the future dam. From these points, the dam was expanded as ships deposited till into the open sea in two parallel lines. Sand was poured between these two lines; as the fill emerged above the surface of the water, it
3230-481: The capital of a potential new province . This city, located in the centre of the reclaimed lands, was developed as Lelystad (1966), named after the man who had played a crucial role in the design and realisation of the Zuiderzee Works. Other more conventional settlements had already developed by then; Dronten, the local major town, was founded in 1962, followed in 1963 by two smaller satellite villages, Swifterbant and Biddinghuizen. These last three were incorporated into
3315-413: The closure. Other critics doubted whether the project was feasible financially. Queen Wilhelmina 's speech from the throne in 1913, urged reclamation of the Zuiderzee, and the requisite bill was introduced. When Lely became Minister of Transport and Public Works that year, he used his position to promote the Zuiderzee Works and gained support. The government started developing official plans to enclose
3400-496: The dam but proved not to be so. On 28 May 1932, two years earlier than forecast, the Zuiderzee was closed when the last tidal trench of the Vlieter was filled with a bucket of till. The IJsselmeer was born, though the lake still contained salt water at the time. The dam was not finished. It still needed to be brought up to its full height, and a road linking Friesland and North Holland remained to be built. In addition to completing
3485-481: The dam's construction, relieving unemployment during the Great Depression . The total cost of the dam was about € 700 million (2004 equivalent). The first island was completed in late 2020. After damming off the sea, the next step involved creating new land, known as polders. This was achieved by damming off portions of the IJsselmeer, and then pumping all the water out. The first polder, Wieringermeer ,
Amsteldiepdijk - Misplaced Pages Continue
3570-581: The dam, work needed was the construction of shipping locks and discharge sluices at the ends of the dam. 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. Periodically discharging
3655-439: 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 (1,250 km (480 sq mi)) continuing as the IJsselmeer and the smaller lake (700 km (270 sq mi)) being named
3740-478: The dikes, eliminating the unpredictability of the latter – when there is an overcapacity of wind, use that to fill the lake and when there is not enough, use the high water level for hydro power. In 2012, plans emerged to create the Marker Wadden , a group of islands designed to establish nature reserves in the north of the Markermeer. Contrary to the Markerwaard, no permanent human occupation
3825-399: 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 was much the same as in the Wieringermeer, again focusing on farming. Less fertile areas were designated to be planted as forest land. Land in the polders
3910-423: 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 was harder than it was for the later polders, because the Wieringermeer dikes were built before the completion of the Afsluitdijk. That meant the tidal currents of the Zuiderzee were still present. As a consequence, they were somewhat higher. Construction started on
3995-571: 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. These crops were succeeded by various grains. In the Wieringermeer the first was rye , but the later polders plant wheat, then barley , and finally oats. This process took years, but once finished allowed planting other crops. At the same time, other infrastructures such as roads and housing were built. The Wieringermeer and later polders were divided into plots of about 50 acres (20 ha). The best land
4080-596: The four inner enclosures. The department decided against building the main dam first, proceeding to construct a smaller dam, the Amsteldiepdijk , across the Amsteldiep. This was the first step in rejoining the island of Wieringen to the North Holland mainland. The dike, with a length of 2.5 km (1.6 mi), was built between 1920 and 1924. As with dike building, polder construction was tested on
4165-486: The freshwater significantly reduces rusting of the hulls, and there is far less build-up of marine growth (such as algae and barnacles below the barges ' waterlines). This has the knock-on benefit that barges and yachts in the IJsselmeer need far less antifouling , a coating which is inevitably somewhat toxic to wildlife. Due to considerable amounts of water from the Rhine flowing through its distributary IJssel into
4250-403: The government change its priorities. Instead of granting the new land only to farmers selected for their skill, the government granted land to a large number of farmers from the flooded province of Zeeland . The polder contains two former islands: the glacial moraine hill of Urk , and the elongated strip of peat land known as Schokland , largely abandoned in the 19th century. Urk was then and
4335-470: 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. Almere was to be divided into 3 major settlements, initially; the first, Almere-Haven (1976), situated along the Gooimeer (one of the peripheral lakes),
SECTION 50
#17327719524874420-403: The high water and a subsequent storm destroyed most of the infrastructure built in the previous decade as well as all crops. Reconstruction followed quickly, and by the end of 1945 the polder was declared drained again. 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
4505-462: 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 km (170 sq mi) polder of its water all by itself, completing its job in May 1968. Due to the geographically favourable location of the southern polder to
4590-480: The lake is necessary since it is continually fed by rivers and streams (most notably the IJssel River, for which the lake is named) and polders draining excess water into the IJsselmeer. The Afsluitdijk was opened 25 September 1933, with a monument marking the spot where the dam was finished. It used 23 million m of sand and 13.5 million m of till. An average of 4,000 to 5,000 workers were employed in
4675-498: The latter is the fastest growing city in the Netherlands (in part because of its proximity to Amsterdam ). Another large polder was originally planned in the Markermeer . This project was extensively debated until plans were abandoned in the early 2000s, as environmental issues were viewed differently than in the 1920s. A new province, Flevoland , was created out of the Noordoostpolder and the Flevolands in 1986, thereby completing
4760-400: The municipality existed before the town itself, with only farms in the surrounding land to be governed until the town started to grow. Markerwaard was a planned fifth polder that has never been completed. It was intended to build a south-western polder, to be called the Markerwaard , at several times during the project, but other polders took precedence. Parts of it have been built; in 1941 it
4845-411: The new municipality of Dronten on 1 January 1972. Lelystad was large enough to be organized as a separate municipality on 1 January 1980. Though agriculture was initially the main purpose of the polder, needs of the post-war period changed the design goals of the new polders. Changing agricultural needs and increased motorised mobility meant many farming villages were unnecessary and the number of towns
4930-527: The next polder. Southern Flevoland (Zuidelijk Flevoland) was 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 (43 mi) 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
5015-510: The northwest, the first and the smallest of the five projected polders. It replaced the Wieringermeer , the body of water south of Wieringen, and also the name of the new polder. It was 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 km was constructed in 1926—1927 near Andijk in North Holland to research
5100-404: The other three and the islands of the Noordoostpolder would together form the 12th province of the Netherlands, called Flevoland . 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 . After the new municipalities of Southern Flevoland were established in 1984, belonging to no province as
5185-554: The planning stage. It was only after the flood of 1916 that the legislature approved the Zuiderzee Works , a major hydraulic engineering project that involved building dykes, draining parts of the Zuiderzee, and constructing the Afsluitdijk to keep tides and high water out. In 1932 the Zuiderzee was closed off by the Afsluitdijk, a 32-kilometre (20 mi) dyke connecting Friesland and North Holland on either side of
SECTION 60
#17327719524875270-419: 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. Small ditches were dug leading to larger watercourses, which in turn transported their water to the main drainage canals. These canals, dredged when
5355-428: 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 became a municipality at the same time as Almere, on 1 January 1984, which in the case of Zeewolde meant that
5440-399: The polder was still filled with water, conducted surplus water to the pumping stations. The resulting dehydration caused the former seabed to sink by over a metre in 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. With the hydrological infrastructure in place, the virgin land
5525-522: The polder, it serves as the local governmental and services center. Ten smaller villages, conceived more as agricultural communities, were planned in a wide circle around Emmeloord, at a distance chosen to be easily covered by bicycle . The first settlements were Ens , Marknesse and Kraggenburg (1949), followed by Luttelgeest (1950), Bant (1951), then Creil and Rutten (1953), and finally Espel , Tollebeek , and Nagele (1956). From Emmeloord three canals carry their water to three pumping stations,
5610-529: The project. Lely stressed the importance of extending the area of arable land, and estimated that 500,000 acres (200,000 ha) of good land would be reclaimed from the clay soil, while the regions with a sand bottom would eventually become the IJsselmeer . On 14 June 1918, the Zuiderzee Act was passed. The goals of the Act were threefold: Unlike earlier proposals the act intended to preserve part of
5695-420: The sea. The seventeenth century saw early proposals to tame and enclose the Zuiderzee , but the ambitious ideas were impractical given the technology then available. From 1200 to 1900 AD the Dutch reclaimed 940,000 acres (380,000 ha) of land from the sea and 345,000 acres (140,000 ha) by draining lakes, a total of 1,285,000 acres (520,000 ha), but lost 1,400,000 acres (570,000 ha) of land to
5780-401: 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 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
5865-459: The side of the lake Amstelmeer. The government decided that it was the fault of the contractor, and ultimately he had to pay damages to the state. Prime contractors joined forces in a consortium, the Society for the implementation of work of the Zuiderzee . This small dike is important as the first time that boulder clay was used in the construction of dam. It remained to build the large dam in
5950-468: The south to close the polder Wieringermeer . 52°53′23″N 4°53′25″E / 52.88972°N 4.89028°E / 52.88972; 4.89028 Zuiderzee works The Zuiderzee Works ( Dutch : Zuiderzeewerken ) is a system of dams and dikes , land reclamation and water drainage work, which was the largest hydraulic engineering project undertaken by the Netherlands during
6035-428: The twentieth century. The project involved the damming of the Zuiderzee , a large, shallow inlet of the North Sea , and the reclamation of land in the newly enclosed water using polders . Its main purposes are to improve flood protection and create additional land for agriculture. The enormous scale of the works required the creation of a joint venture company comprising several large dredging contractors , known as
6120-470: The village of Zurich in Friesland. It was to be 32 km long and 90 meters wide, rising to 7.25 meters above sea-level, with an incline of 25% on each side. Experience showed that glacial till , rather than just sand or clay, was the best primary material for a structure like the Afsluitdijk. An added benefit was that it was easily available; it could be retrieved in large quantities by dredging it from
6205-476: Was closed, running south of the now former island to the North Holland mainland. 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
6290-486: Was covered by another layer of till. The nascent dam was strengthened with basalt rocks and mats of willow switch at its base. The dam was finished by raising it with sand and finally clay for the upper surface of the dam, which was planted with grass. Construction progressed better than expected. At three points along the line of the dam were underwater gullies, where the tidal current was much stronger than elsewhere. These had been considered major obstacles to completing
6375-545: Was dammed in 1929 and fully drained in 1930. The third, the Noordoostpolder , was not fully drained until 1942. It was an area much used by the Dutch Underground resistance during World War II , as the fresh polder offered numerous hiding places. After the war, work was started on draining the Flevolands, a massive project totalling almost 1000 km . This area is now home to Lelystad and Almere ;
6460-484: 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 (1.2 mi) where it ends abruptly today. After World War II , the eastern polder was chosen as the next project, but Marken was not wholly ignored; on 17 October 1957, a 3.5 km (2.2 mi) long dike
6545-425: Was developed to prepare for its later cultivation. The first plant to establish itself, though more so in the later polders than in the Wieringermeer, was reed , sown from the air by plane onto the muddy flats while the polder was still being drained. 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
6630-467: Was disrupted during World War II during the 1940 German conquest of the Netherlands. The encircling dikes were both closed in December 1940, and the pumping stations started draining in early 1941. The Noordoostpolder was considered to be sufficiently drained in September 1942, and the developmental process was started for the 480 km of new land. The task of building the Noordoostpolder was eased by
6715-400: Was divided among the mainland municipalities according to the boundaries used when it was water-covered. This configuration was not always practical on the ground and unnecessarily split responsibilities among several bodies. 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
6800-429: Was eventually reduced to two. Work on the village of Larsen was just about to start when it was cancelled. The amount of agricultural land did not increase; it diminished as a result of the building of Lelystad (a city envisioned to eventually house at least 100,000 inhabitants.) By 2005 it had 70,000 residents. In addition, more area was assigned for development as forests and nature reserves, a trend that would continue in
6885-458: Was set up in May 1919. In the initial stages of the work heavy clay was dredged out of the open sea and deposited along the track to be followed by the dam. The cost of the undertaking was calculated in 1914, in UK currency, at about £19,000,000 but it soon seemed likely to be very much more. At the time, ten years were allowed for the construction of the main dam and another 20 years for the completion of
6970-483: Was smaller and therefore considered easier. This would be the Noordoostpolder ( Northeast-polder ). Due to initial financial difficulties, construction did not begin until 1936. Two dikes, totaling 55 km in length, steadily grew in the IJsselmeer, one from Lemmer in Friesland to the island of Urk , the other from Vollenhove in Overijssel to Urk. Construction of these dikes and the necessary pumping stations
7055-452: Was state-owned during the entire developmental process. Several years after this was completed, the various plots were distributed among private parties, with priority given to the early pioneers who had been in the polder since the start. Later, farmers from all over the Netherlands became eligible for the remainder. Candidates were put through a selection process before receiving their own pieces of new land. The North Sea flood of 1953 made
7140-402: 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 insufficiently populous and developed for an entire province, but the polder municipalities were unanimous in their desire: on 1 January 1986, the province of Flevoland was inaugurated. With a population of 356,400 (2004) it
7225-642: Was the least populous province, but the province of Zeeland had only 378,300 and Flevoland has a higher population density than four other provinces. By 2015, Flevoland had surpassed Zeeland in population (403,380, compared to 380,620) and had a density of 280 persons per square kilometre. 52°49′16″N 5°16′08″E / 52.821°N 5.269°E / 52.821; 5.269 IJsselmeer The IJsselmeer ( Dutch: [ˌɛisəlˈmeːr] ; West Frisian : Iselmar , Dutch Low Saxon : Iesselmeer ), also known as Lake IJssel in English,
#486513