How the Netherlands Rose from the Sea, 500 BC–2026

Timeline

Layers

Timeline · Land won before 1250 · Land won 1250–1600 · Land won 1600–1850 · Land won 1850–1950 · Land won 1950–2026 · Land of the time · Land of the time · Land of the time · Land of the time · Land of the time · Land of the time · Land of the time · Land of the time · Water of the time · Water of the time · Water of the time · Water of the time · Water of the time · Water of the time · Water of the time · Water of the time · Water of the time · Water of the time · Water of the time · Water of the time · Water of the time · Water of the time · Water of the time

Events

• 500 BC, Raised bogs behind the dunes: Behind a closed line of beach ridges and dunes, most of the west was a vast raised peat bog, in places metres above sea level.
• 100, Lake Flevo: Roman writers called the lake in the middle of the country Flevo. In 12 BC Drusus led a fleet from the Rhine through it to the North Sea.
• 800, The Middelzee: A tidal inlet, the Middelzee, cut Friesland in two (Westergo and Oostergo). It silted up and was diked between roughly 1100 and 1300.
• 800, Lake Almere: By the early Middle Ages the lake had grown into Almere, connected to the Wadden Sea through the Vlie.
• 1000, Draining the peat: From about AD 1000 farmers cut ditches into the bogs to farm them. Drained peat shrinks and oxidises: the land sank, year after year, until it lay below the level of the sea and the rivers.
• 1 Nov 1170, All Saints' Flood: Storm surges of the 12th century, traditionally the flood of 1 November 1170, widened the openings to the sea and turned Almere into a salt-water inlet.
• 1250, West Friesland ring dike: By about 1250 older dikes were linked into the 126 km Westfriese Omringdijk, which enclosed West Friesland against the sea.
• 14 Dec 1287, St Lucia's Flood: One of the deadliest floods in history (an estimated 50,000 to 80,000 dead). It finished the Zuiderzee as an arm of the North Sea; ring-diked West Friesland survived and Harlingen became a seaport.
• 19 Nov 1421, St Elizabeth's Flood: On 18–19 November 1421 dike breaches drowned the Grote Waard between Dordrecht and Geertruidenberg (2,000 to 10,000 dead). Much of it never came back: it became the Biesbosch, and Dordrecht became an island.
• 26 Sep 1509, The Dollard at its largest: The Cosmas and Damian flood of 1509 drove the sea far inland. Around 1520 the Dollard covered some 340–350 km²; from the 16th century both shores were diked back step by step.
• 5 Nov 1530, St Felix's Flood ('Evil Saturday'): On 5 November 1530 the eastern part of Zuid-Beveland drowned; of the Oost-Watering only the town of Reimerswaal was spared. This is the Verdronken Land van Reimerswaal.
• 1 Jul 1584, Saeftinghe drowned: During the Eighty Years' War, Dutch troops breached the last dike to stop the Spanish around Antwerp; Saeftinghe sank under the Scheldt. It is now the salt marsh of the Verdronken Land van Saeftinghe.
• 1 Jul 1612, Beemster drained: Amsterdam merchants financed the drainage; windmills pumped the lake dry between 1609 and 1612 and the land was divided among the investors. Its grid of roads and plots has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999.
• 1 Jul 1635, Schermer drained: The Schermer (1635) and Heerhugowaard (1631) completed the great windmill drainages of Noord-Holland's "Land of Leeghwater".
• 1 Jul 1643, The water wolf: Storms merged four lakes south of Haarlem into one Haarlemmermeer: 26 km² in 1531, about 150 km² by 1647, and still eating its shores.
• 25 Dec 1717, Christmas Flood of 1717: On Christmas night 1717 a storm surge broke the sea dikes around the North Sea, killing about 14,000 people, 2,500 of them in the Netherlands. Villages behind the dikes of Groningen were devastated.
• 1 Jul 1750, Lakes dug for fuel: Peat dug from below the water table for fuel left lakes behind all over Holland; many were drained again in the 18th and 19th centuries.
• 1 Jul 1852, Haarlemmermeer pumped dry: Three steam pumping stations (Leeghwater, Cruquius and Lijnden) pumped 800 million tonnes of water out between 1848 and 1 July 1852, adding 170 km² of land.
• 14 Jan 1916, Zuiderzee flood of 1916: On 13–14 January 1916 a storm flood broke dikes around the Zuiderzee. Two years later parliament passed the Zuiderzee Act, Cornelis Lely's plan to close and drain it.
• 21 Aug 1930, Wieringermeer dry: The first Zuiderzee polder (200 km²) fell dry on 21 August 1930, after the dike to Wieringen was closed in 1929.
• 28 May 1932, Afsluitdijk closed: On 28 May 1932 the last gap in the 32 km Afsluitdijk was closed: the Zuiderzee became the freshwater IJsselmeer.
• 9 Sep 1942, Noordoostpolder dry: The 480 km² Noordoostpolder fell dry on 9 September 1942, in the middle of the German occupation. The islands of Urk and Schokland became part of the mainland.
• 17 Apr 1945, Wieringermeer flooded: On 17 April 1945, weeks before the liberation, German troops blew up the dike in two places; the polder was under water within two days.
• 1 Feb 1953, North Sea Flood of 1953: In the night of 31 January to 1 February 1953 a storm surge broke the dikes of Zeeland, South Holland and West Brabant. 1,836 people died in the Netherlands.
• 29 Jun 1957, Eastern Flevoland dry: The 540 km² polder fell dry on 29 June 1957; Lelystad and Dronten were built on it.
• 29 May 1968, Southern Flevoland dry: The 430 km² polder fell dry on 29 May 1968; Almere was founded on it in 1976.
• 23 May 1969, Lauwerszee closed: A dam closed the Lauwerszee on 23 May 1969: the tidal bay became the Lauwersmeer.
• 4 Oct 1986, Eastern Scheldt barrier: Instead of a closed dam, the Oosterschelde got a storm-surge barrier with 62 gates that stay open, keeping the tides and the estuary alive. Opened 4 October 1986.
• 10 May 1997, Maeslant barrier: Two floating gates, each 210 m long, swing shut across the Rotterdam Waterway in a storm. Opened 10 May 1997, it completed the Delta Works.
• 22 May 2013, Maasvlakte 2: About 2,000 ha of new port land, opened on 22 May 2013.