The history of land reclamation in the Netherlands

The history of the Netherlands is closely tied to its fight against rising sea levels. Since early times, the people of the Low Countries discovered ingenious ways to hold back the sea. Parcels of land (polders) were slowly reclaimed as advances in wind technology (windmills) were put to use. This changing environment led to great social and cultural consequences, while the last 50 years have seen considerably more emphasis on the environmental aspects of land reclamation.

The speaker will give us a historical overview of this extraordinary achievement from 1100 A.C. to the present – and beyond, and will show how these technologies have been adapted to reclaim areas of Eastern England.

Walter Schuit studied economics at the Free University of Amsterdam. He then focused on educational psychology and industrial training. More recently, as a teacher of diverse subjects, he was involved with media and research in faculties of education at two universities, and since retirement he has developed programme techniques for courses in map reading. Incidentally, our speaker is proud to proclaim that he was born 5 metres below sea level!