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

> Interactive animated map on Moving Polygons by chrisjager, 500 BC – 31 Oct 2026: 44 keyframes, 29 layers, 30 events.

- Map: https://www.movingpolygons.com/map/chrisjager/how-the-netherlands-rose-from-the-sea-500-bc2026
- Article: [How the Netherlands Rose from the Sea: 2,500 Years of Floods and Land Reclamation on One Map](https://www.movingpolygons.com/blog/netherlands-land-reclamation-history-map-500-bc-2026)
- Embed: `<iframe src="https://www.movingpolygons.com/embed/chrisjager/how-the-netherlands-rose-from-the-sea-500-bc2026" width="800" height="600" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>`
- Last updated: 2026-10-31

## About this map

Grey = water, white = land of the time. Today's land won from the water: green <1250, yellow 1250–1600, orange 1600–1850, red 1850–1950, purple >1950. After Vos's paleogeographic maps (Deltares/RCE); 1953 flood extent after Lencer, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5.

## Timeline

The map animates between these keyframes.

| Date | What the map shows |
| --- | --- |
| 500 BC | 500 BC · Peat bogs behind the dunes |
| 100 | AD 100 · Romans on the Rhine, Lake Flevo |
| 800 | 800 · Lake Almere and the Middelzee |
| 1000 | 1000 · Farmers start draining the peat |
| 1 Nov 1170 | 1170 · All Saints' Flood |
| 1250 | 1250 · West Friesland's ring dike closed |
| 14 Dec 1287 | 1287 · St Lucia's Flood opens the Zuiderzee |
| 19 Nov 1421 | 1421 · St Elizabeth's Flood |
| 26 Sep 1509 | 1509 · The Dollard at its largest |
| 5 Nov 1530 | 1530 · St Felix's Flood drowns Reimerswaal |
| 1 Nov 1570 | 1570 · All Saints' Flood |
| 1 Jul 1584 | 1584 · Saeftinghe lost in the war |
| 1 Jul 1597 | 1597 · The Zijpe diked |
| 1 Jul 1612 | 1612 · The Beemster is drained |
| 1 Jul 1622 | 1622 · The Purmer is drained |
| 1 Jul 1626 | 1626 · Wormer, Bijlmer and Watergraafsmeer |
| 1 Jul 1635 | 1635 · Schermer and Heerhugowaard |
| 1 Jul 1643 | 1643 · The Haarlemmermeer becomes one lake |
| 1 Jul 1700 | 1700 · Dollard and delta islands won back |
| 25 Dec 1717 | 1717 · The Christmas Flood |
| 1 Jul 1750 | 1750 · Peat diggers turn land into lakes |
| 1 Jul 1840 | 1840 · Zuidplas drained |
| 1 Jul 1852 | 1852 · Haarlemmermeer pumped dry |
| 1 Nov 1876 | 1876 · North Sea Canal, new polders |
| 14 Jan 1916 | 1916 · Zuiderzee flood brings the Zuiderzee Act |
| 31 Jul 1924 | 1924 · Wieringen joined to the mainland |
| 21 Aug 1930 | 1930 · The Wieringermeer falls dry |
| 28 May 1932 | 1932 · The Afsluitdijk closes the Zuiderzee |
| 9 Sep 1942 | 1942 · Noordoostpolder dry |
| 17 Apr 1945 | 1945 · Germans flood the Wieringermeer |
| 11 Dec 1945 | 1945 · Wieringermeer dry again |
| 1 Feb 1953 | 1953 · The North Sea Flood |
| 6 Nov 1953 | 1953 · Last breach closed at Ouwerkerk |
| 29 Jun 1957 | 1957 · Eastern Flevoland dry |
| 1 Jul 1961 | 1961 · Delta Works begin: Veerse Gat closed |
| 1 Jul 1965 | 1965 · Grevelingendam |
| 29 May 1968 | 1968 · Southern Flevoland dry |
| 23 May 1969 | 1969 · The Lauwerszee closed |
| 1 Jul 1971 | 1971 · Haringvliet dams, Maasvlakte |
| 1 Jul 1975 | 1975 · Houtribdijk splits the IJsselmeer |
| 4 Oct 1986 | 1986 · Eastern Scheldt barrier opened |
| 10 May 1997 | 1997 · Maeslant barrier completes the Delta Works |
| 22 May 2013 | 2013 · Maasvlakte 2 opens |
| 31 Oct 2026 | 2026 · The Netherlands today |

## Layers

| Layer | First shown | Last keyframe |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Timeline | 500 BC | 31 Oct 2026 |
| Land won before 1250 | 500 BC | 6 Nov 1953 |
| Land won 1250–1600 | 14 Dec 1287 | 6 Nov 1953 |
| Land won 1600–1850 | 1 Jul 1597 | 6 Nov 1953 |
| Land won 1850–1950 | 1 Jul 1840 | 6 Nov 1953 |
| Land won 1950–2026 | 1 Feb 1953 | 22 May 2013 |
| Land of the time | 500 BC | 1 Nov 1876 |
| Land of the time | 500 BC | 1 Nov 1570 |
| Land of the time | 500 BC | 1250 |
| Land of the time | 500 BC | 1 Nov 1876 |
| Land of the time | 500 BC | 19 Nov 1421 |
| Land of the time | 500 BC | 1 Jul 1584 |
| Land of the time | 500 BC | 1 Nov 1570 |
| Land of the time | 500 BC | 1 Nov 1570 |
| Water of the time | 100 | 22 May 2013 |
| Water of the time | 500 BC | 22 May 2013 |
| Water of the time | 500 BC | 31 Oct 2026 |
| Water of the time | 500 BC | 31 Oct 2026 |
| Water of the time | 500 BC | 22 May 2013 |
| Water of the time | 500 BC | 1 Nov 1876 |
| Water of the time | 500 BC | 22 May 2013 |
| Water of the time | 500 BC | 22 May 2013 |
| Water of the time | 800 | 22 May 2013 |
| Water of the time | 100 | 22 May 2013 |
| Water of the time | 500 BC | 22 May 2013 |
| Water of the time | 500 BC | 22 May 2013 |
| Water of the time | 500 BC | 1 Nov 1876 |
| Water of the time | 500 BC | 22 May 2013 |
| Water of the time | 19 Nov 1421 | 6 Nov 1953 |

## 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.
- Plus 18 smaller events, shown as dots on the map.