What was formed by damming the Zuider Zee?

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, was dammed in 1929 and fully drained in 1930.

What happened to the Zuider Zee?

Zuiderzee floods, two catastrophic seawall collapses along the Netherlands’ coastline that caused major flooding of the former Zuiderzee (now IJsselmeer). The first, in 1287, caused more than 50,000 casualties, and the second, in 1421, killed up to 10,000 people.

Does the Zuider Zee still exist?

It was a golden age for this part of Holland, an age that ended abruptly in 1932 when, for a greater good, the Zuider Zee ceased to exist. It was in that year that an 18-mile-long dike was completed, closing off the Zuider Zee forever from the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

What is the Zuider Zee project?

THE Zuiderzee-Project aims at the reclamation and colonization of about 550,000 acres of land from a shallow sea—the parts to be re- claimed are not deeper than 15 f eet below sea-level—in the centre of the country (see map). The construction of the enclosing dam made the Zuiderzee a lake (it is now called IJsselmeer).

What was the main project of the Zuiderzee Works?

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 the village of Zurich in Friesland.

How much did it cost to build the Zuiderzee dam?

The total cost of the dam was about € 700 million (2004 equivalent). The project is still under construction as of 2021. The first island was completed in late 2020. After damming off the sea, the next step involved creating new land, known as polders.

When was the Zuiderzee dike and Delta Works built?

It’s dikes were completed in 1929 and by 1930 it had been pumped dry, not by windmills, but by one modern diesel powered pumping station and one electrically powered pumping station. Both used large Archimedes screw type pumps to move the water. Additional work took another four years before the land could be used for agriculture and construction.

How big was the Zuiderzee lake in the Netherlands?

The Zuiderzee Works in the Netherlands divided the dangerous Zuiderzee, a shallow inlet of the North Sea, into the tame lakes of IJsselmeer and Markermeer, and created 1650 km² of land.