The old sea dikes

The old sea dikes no longer border the sea. Yet, against the slope of almost every dike, waves have once crashed. With the population increase in the 14th-15th centuries, it became necessary to gain more land for agriculture and livestock farming. The initially rather short sections of dike were interconnected to form a continuous water barrier. Inland, behind the dike, large farms were built from which, on the one hand, the reclamation of the enclosed polders was initiated, and on the other hand, the salt marshes on the outside of the dike were grazed by sheep. Over the centuries, many generations of coastal inhabitants have reclaimed about 2,500 square kilometers of fertile land from the sea.

Ontdek de Zwinregio