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30-507: The Rheiderland consists largely of marshland ( polder ) and is as flat as the rest of East Frisia, but there are fewer trees. As a result the view is generally clear as far as the horizon. Along the River Ems are the historic river marshes, down to 1.50 metres below sea level. Numerous birds breed on the damp and wet meadows including the peewit , black-tailed godwit and redshank . In winter up to 120,000 wild geese forage here (especially

60-403: A meaning somewhat opposite to that in coastal context. Ommelanden The Ommelanden ( Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɔməˌlɑndə(n)] ; Surrounding Lands ) are the parts of Groningen province that surround Groningen city . Usually mentioned as synonym for the province in the expression Stad en Ommeland ("city and surrounding lands"). The area was Frisian -speaking, but under

90-580: A military tactic in the past. One example is the flooding of the polders along the Yser River during World War I . Opening the sluices at high tide and closing them at low tide turned the polders into an inaccessible swamp, which allowed the Allied armies to stop the German army . The Netherlands has a large area of polders: as much as 20% of the land area has at some point in the past been reclaimed from

120-421: A new approach to the design of dikes and other water-retaining structures, based on an acceptable probability of overflowing. Risk is defined as the product of probability and consequences. The potential damage in lives, property, and rebuilding costs is compared with the potential cost of water defences. From these calculations follows an acceptable flood risk from the sea at one in 4,000–10,000 years, while it

150-407: A piece of land elevated above its surroundings, with the augmentative suffix -er and epenthetical -d- . The word has been adopted in thirty-six languages. The Netherlands is frequently associated with polders, as its engineers became noted for developing techniques to drain wetlands and make them usable for agriculture and other development. This is illustrated by the saying "God created

180-700: A single Roman Catholic parish at Weener . In this connection the region is well known for its large number of significant church organs, which have survived for centuries since they were built. The most significant is the Arp-Schnitger Organ in St George's church at Weener . On the Dutch side, secularisation has progressed much further. A mere minority adheres to one or other of the reformed churches. There are Dutch Protestant church parishes at Finsterwolde and Nieuweschans . The Niederdeutsch language

210-608: A small residual area of moor near Wymeer , the moors have now been destroyed. The predominant religion is the Evangelical Reformed Church, to which adhere around 70% of the population on the German side. Extant ecclesiastical monuments of this sect include the churches at Bunde , Ditzum and Jemgum . The first of these is the largest; the other two have belfries resembling lighthouses. In a few places there are also evangelical Lutheran parishes. There are minorities of Old Reformed and Free Church communities, and

240-533: A territory directly subsidiary to the Holy Roman Empire, whose constitution included a governing council. The feudal system was unknown in this region. The main settlements were Weener and Hatzum. Rheiderland became oriented towards Ommelanden . From 1362, due to the invasion of the sea, large districts of the area were submerged, creating a natural boundary, and the links with the Frisian areas east of

270-474: Is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as dikes . The three types of polder are: The ground level in drained marshes subsides over time. All polders will eventually be below the surrounding water level some or all of the time. Water enters the low-lying polder through infiltration and water pressure of groundwater , or rainfall, or transport of water by rivers and canals. This usually means that

300-556: Is one in 100–2,500 years for a river flood. The particular established policy guides the Dutch government to improve flood defences as new data on threat levels become available. Major Dutch polders and the years they were laid dry include Beemster (1609–1612), Schermer (1633–1635), and Haarlemmermeerpolder (1852). Polders created as part of the Zuiderzee Works include Wieringermeerpolder (1930), Noordoostpolder (1942) and Flevopolder (1956–1968) Several cities on

330-417: Is widely used for everyday purposes. Most people in the German part of Rheiderland speak East Frisian, or a local sub-dialect of that. In the Dutch part, in addition to Dutch, a dialect very similar to East Frisian is spoken. Dutch was the main ecclesiastical language until the 19th century, and has left many traces in the local dialect. On the grounds of its close cultural and linguistic connection with Dutch,

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360-574: The Ems developed. Much of the submerged land was reclaimed from the sea as a polder, a process which continued until the 20th century. From 1413 the area fell under the dominion of the Tom Brok family, and subsequently of Focko Ukena and then the Cirksena family. The area was later only independent for a brief period. The same fate befell what is now the German part of Rheiderland, which became part of

390-786: The Paraíba Valley region (in the state of São Paulo ) have polders on land claimed from the floodplains around the Paraíba do Sul river. Bangladesh has 139 polders, of which 49 are sea-facing, while the rest are along the numerous distributaries of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna River delta. These were constructed in the 1960s to protect the coast from tidal flooding and reduce salinity incursion. They reduce long-term flooding and waterlogging following storm surges from tropical cyclones . They are also cultivated for agriculture. The Jiangnan region, at

420-486: The Yangtze River Delta , has a long history of constructing polders. Most of these projects were performed between the 10th and 13th centuries. The Chinese government also assisted local communities in constructing dikes for swampland water drainage. The Lijia (里甲) self-monitoring system of 110 households under a lizhang (里长) headman was used for the purposes of service administration and tax collection in

450-495: The greater white-fronted goose , barnacle goose and greylag goose ). The grasslands of the Rheiderland are also a stopover of exceptional international significance for the golden plover , Eurasian whimbrel , curlew and peewit. As a result of its importance for bird migration the area was designated as an EU Important Bird Area in 2000. The northwestern part of the Rheiderland was reclaimed by several dyke systems from

480-542: The 11th century. The oldest extant polder is the Achtermeer polder, from 1533. As a result of flooding disasters, water boards called waterschap (when situated more inland) or hoogheemraadschap (near the sea, mainly used in the Holland region) were set up to maintain the integrity of the water defences around polders, maintain the waterways inside a polder, and control the various water levels inside and outside

510-739: The County of East Frisia. Until 1600, Rheiderland was nominally independent under the dominion of the Counts of East Frisia, but it was then definitively annexed to East Frisia. In 1806, when the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved, Rheiderland was included in the Department of Groningen (Département Ems-Occidentale ) in the Kingdom of Holland, later part of the French Empire, and was thus separated from East Frisia (the remainder of East Frisia became

540-548: The Dollart Bay. The marshy soils are very fertile, but higher as a result of the way they were created historically and therefore capable of being farmed. The farmers used to be well-to-do (and known as "polder princes" or Polderfürsten ), which is reflected today by their impressive Gulf farmhouses . In the south of the Rheiderland there were also areas of moorland , the outliers of the Bourtanger Moor . Apart from

570-535: The Département of Ems-Orientale ). After Napoleon fell from power, Rheiderland was reunited with East Frisia within the kingdom of Hanover, later of Prussia. Until 1932 the German part of Rheiderland formed the district of Weener in either Hanover or Prussia. By a decree of the Prussian Ministry of State, this district was dissolved and amalgamated with the district of Leer. After World War II ,

600-579: The Empire and therewith the freedoms of the Frisians. The fleur de lis is a pre- Reformation symbol of purity and of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the patron saint of the Frisians. The arms were taken from the former District of Weener. Rheiderland was settled by Frisians from an early date. After the foreign rulers were expelled from Friesland, Rheiderland, like the other Frisian areas, developed

630-474: The Netherlands claimed the area after World War II, albeit unsuccessfully. The largest settlement is the town of Weener . Administratively, the German part of the Rheiderland is divided into the communities of Weener, Bunde and Jemgum and the sub-community of Bingum in the town of Leer . On the Dutch side Rheiderland includes the community of Reiderland , the northern part of that of Bellingwedde ,

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660-714: The Netherlands claimed the whole of Rheiderland, but this claim was rejected by the victorious powers. In the German section the use of Dutch as the majority language quickly resumed. In any case, the only legal grounds for the Dutch claim were that the area had been part of the Kingdom of Holland, a French client kingdom, during the brief years of Napoleonic rule; but the Allied powers had no interest in making territorial changes along Germany's western border. 53°14′00″N 7°18′00″E  /  53.2333°N 7.3000°E  / 53.2333; 7.3000 Polder A polder ( Dutch pronunciation: [ˈpɔldər] )

690-420: The eastern part of Scheemda and the community of Winschoten . Despite the sparse population and the almost complete absence of industry, the area is a Social Democrat stronghold. Per pale, on the dexter side Or, an eagle sable, on the sinister side azure, a fleur de lis of the first. The arms derive from a medieval seal. The eagle is found in many Frisian arms and signifies the area's direct subsidiarity to

720-670: The influence of the Saxon city of Groningen most of the area turned to speaking Low Saxon . A reminder of the Frisian past is the Ommelanden flag which looks a lot like the Frisian provincial flag but has more and narrower stripes and more red pompeblêden (stylised heart-shaped leaves of yellow water-lily ). The area is made up of the following four quarters: 53°18′N 6°42′E  /  53.3°N 6.7°E  / 53.3; 6.7 This Groningen location article

750-407: The polder has an excess of water, which is pumped out or drained by opening sluices at low tide . Care must be taken not to set the internal water level too low. Polder land made up of peat (former marshland) will sink in relation to its previous level, because of peat decomposing when exposed to oxygen from the air. Polders are at risk of flooding at all times, and care must be taken to protect

780-551: The polder, with a liangzhang (粮长, grain chief) responsible for maintaining the water system and a tangzhang (塘长, dike chief) for polder maintenance. In Germany, land reclaimed by diking is called a koog . The German Deichgraf system was similar to the Dutch and is widely known from Theodor Storm 's novella The Rider on the White Horse . In southern Germany, the term polder is used for retention basins recreated by opening dikes during river floodplain restoration ,

810-485: The polder. Water boards hold separate elections, levy taxes, and function independently from other government bodies. Their function is basically unchanged even today. As such, they are the oldest democratic institutions in the country. The necessary cooperation among all ranks to maintain polder integrity gave its name to the Dutch version of third-way politics —the Polder Model . The 1953 flood disaster prompted

840-464: The sea, thus contributing to the development of the country. IJsselmeer is the most famous polder project of the Netherlands. Some other countries which have polders are Bangladesh , Belgium , Canada and China . Some examples of Dutch polder projects are Beemster , Schermer , Flevopolder and Noordoostpolder . The Dutch word polder derives successively from Middle Dutch polre , from Old Dutch polra , and ultimately from pol- ,

870-660: The surrounding dikes. Dikes are typically built with locally available materials, and each material has its own risks: sand is prone to collapse owing to saturation by water; dry peat is lighter than water and potentially unable to retain water in very dry seasons. Some animals dig tunnels in the barrier, allowing water to infiltrate the structure; the muskrat is known for this activity and hunted in certain European countries because of it. Polders are most commonly, though not exclusively, found in river deltas, former fenlands , and coastal areas. Flooding of polders has also been used as

900-594: The world, but the Dutch created the Netherlands". The Dutch have a long history of reclamation of marshes and fenland, resulting in some 3,000 polders nationwide. By 1961, about half of the country's land, 18,000 square kilometres (6,800 sq mi), was reclaimed from the sea. About half the total surface area of polders in northwest Europe is in the Netherlands. The first embankments in Europe were constructed in Roman times. The first polders were constructed in

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