The Trip That Keeps Growing: Netherlands – Land of Dikes and Windmills

Netherlands – Land of Dikes and Windmills

The Netherlands, which means lower countries, is a country where over one-fourth of its country lie below sea level – and over half of the country lies less than three feet above sea level. If not for its dunes and dikes, most of its most populated areas would be inundated by the sea and the rivers that run through the country. Most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, amounting to nearly 17% of the country's current land mass.

Much of the country was originally formed by the estuaries of three large European rivers: the Rhine, the Maas and the Schelde, as well as their tributaries. The south-western part of the Netherlands is to this day a river delta of these three rivers, the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta. As a result, many thousands of lives have been lost due to flooding over the centuries. To guard against floods, a series of defenses against the water were developed. In the first millennium AD, villages, farmhouses, and roads were built on man-made hills called dikes. In the 12th century, local government agencies called "waterschappen"("water boards") or "hoogheemraadschappen"("high home councils") started to appear, whose job it was to maintain the water level and to protect a region from floods; these agencies continue to exist today. As the ground level dropped, the dikes by necessity grew and merged into an integrated system. By the 13th century windmills had come into use to pump water out of areas below sea level. The windmills were later used to drain lakes, some were used to cut timber, and some to mill grain into flour. Some of the water-control windmills are still in use today.

After the1953 flood disaster, the Delta Works were constructed, a comprehensive set of civil works throughout the Dutch coast. The project started in 1958 and was largely completed in 1997. The Delta project is considered by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the seven wonders of the modern world. I will talk more about that when I discuss our visit to the Delta Works.

Our first stop in the Netherlands was Nijmegen, the oldest city in the Netherlands, built on the banks of the River Waal where it meets the Rhine. It is also the 10^th largest city in the Netherlands with a population of 165,000 people.

One of the earliest mentions of the city is around the 1st Century BC. At that time the Romans built a camp on the spot where the city would later be built. They chose the location because of the strategic defense offered by the surrounding hills. By 98 AD Nijmegen was granted city rights by the Romans. During the 4th Century, as Roman rule in the region was diminishing, the city became part of the Frankish Kingdom, and by the time of the Dutch Revolt in 1585, Nijmegen became part of the Republic of United Provinces.

Due to its geographic location, the city was fortified heavily for a number of years, and endured numerous sieges over the centuries. As the population increased, many in the city wanted the fortification torn down to accommodate growth. However, it wasn’t until 1874 that the defenses were actually dismantled.

Though at peace today, Nijmegen has experienced centuries of war-related violence. Even as recently as WWII the city was the focal point of aggression. In 1940 it was the first Dutch city to be captured by the Germans. In an extremely unfortunate miscommunication, American bombers actually bombed the city, while mistakenly thinking they were bombing the German city of Kleve. The death toll was over 750 people

Our day in Nijmegen began with a talk by a local woman on Operation Market Garden. Operation Market Garden (17–25 September 1944) was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the Second World War. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time. The goal of the plan was to force an entry into Germany and over the Rhine by capturing the bridges across the Maas and Rhine Rivers. It made large-scale use of airborne forces, whose tactical objectives were to secure the bridges and allow a rapid advance by armored units into Northern Germany. Initially, the operation was marginally successful, and several bridges between Eindhoven and Nijmegen were captured. However, the Allies ground tank force's advance was delayed, which eventually forced the airborne troops who were working to capture the bridges to evacuate the area. The Allies failed to cross the Rhine in sufficient force and the river remained a barrier to their advance until the offensives at Remagen, Oppenheim, Rees, and Wesel in March 1945. The failure of Market Garden ended Allied expectations of finishing the war by Christmas 1944. Our speaker was only a small child at the time, but she remembered vividly the peaceful, sunny, Sunday morning when the paratroopers of the 101^st and 82^nd Airborne Divisions began landing in Nijmegen and surrounding areas. While the Operation was deemed a failure, the townspeople of Nijmegen are forever grateful for the efforts of the US Army to try and free them from the Germans. Even today at nightfall, 48 townsfolk cross over one of the bridges (where 48 Americans were killed) carrying lights to commemorate the lives lost in trying to capture the bridge. She gave a very moving talk.

We then left for a short walking tour through the Old Town of Nijmegen. It is not a very big area, so there was not much to see. We did visit the St. Stevenskerk Church, where construction started in 1260, but was not completed until 1560. Inside they were having a beautiful organ concert that we got to hear part of. Outside there is a statue of the devil “mooning” the church (to use Britta’s polite words). There was a large farmer’s market going on in the main square of the town and Britta bought us some herring with onions to sample. I was surprised – it did not have a strong fish taste and tasted ok.

In the afternoon we went on a tour of the ship’s galley. It is amazing that they can produce the meals that they do daily in such a small space. My kitchens in Florida and Virginia were larger than the galley on the ship. Talk about a precise assembly process!!

St. Steverskerk Church

Inside the church

Devil "mooning" the church

Bitta in her Dutch cheese hat

One of the beautiful old guild buildings

Small kitchen galley on our ship

That evening we sailed to Kinderdijk, famous for its 19 windmills built around 1740 and still working today for water control. As in years past, their purpose is to drain excess water from reclaimed, low-lying land and pump it into nearby rivers and canals (they pump from low to high). Millers (as they are called) still live in the windmills with their families and are responsible for the upkeep, maintenance and operation of the windmills. Today they are the largest concentration of preserved windmills in the Netherlands. We visited the oldest windmill in the area and had a talk and demonstration by one of the millers responsible for this windmill’s operation. He showed us how he has to set the sails (depending on the direction of the wind) and how he has to unfurl the sheets (either full or half-sheeted) again depending on the strength of the wind. All this is down by hand – no machinery. They have a system of communication between the windmills so that if there is a flood emergency, they can put the windmills in operation to pump out the excess water. What an interesting visit!

Windmill at Kinderdijk

Two Steelers fans meet up at Kinderdijk

Oldest windmill at Kinderdijk

Moving the sails by hand to catch the wind

Reefing the sails by hand

Windmills at Kinderdijk

Home built near Kinderdijk by Holland American captain

In the afternoon we sailed to the Delta Works Flood Control located in Veeland. After the 1953 tidal flood that destroyed the area and claimed 1800 lives, the Delta Works program began in earnest. Since the mid-30’s, engineers had been working on ways to protect the low-lying lands in this region. The idea they originally came up with was to dam up and block the flow of the North Sea into the Rivers on the coast of the Netherlands. The aim of the dams, sluices, and storm surge barriers was to shorten the Dutch coastline, thus reducing the number of dikes that had to be raised. They did this in the northern region of the country, but the result was that the estuaries and inland waters died because they did not receive any fresh water – fish and wildlife all but disappeared. The people in Zeeland protested against this option, and the Delta Works was formed. Engineers developed an ingenious system of pillars and storm gates that were erected across the entrance of the Rhine-Maas-Scheldt delta. We were shown a film showing how they constructed with marvelous feat of engineering. They first had to make two man-made islands in the middle of the delta leading into the North Sea. Then a trench was dug and covered with a sandwich of a mesh of metal-netting covered with a layer of stones, then topped with another metal-netting rug. Then the 65 pillars (each 128 feet tall and weighing 18,000 tons) were dropped on to the metal-netting rug. Between the pillars 62 large metal gates (weighing between 300 and 500 tons) were installed and then a road was built on top of the pillars. In the event of a potential flood, the gates can be lowered to prevent the water from the North Sea from entering the estuary. All the gates must be lowered at the same time. If one gate should fail to close, the other gates must be raised – the water pressure from the sea trying to get into one un-lowered gate would destroy the entire project. All of the equipment used in this project (from the tools to manufacture to pillars to the specialized boats needed to lay down the metal-netting rug and drop the pillars into place) had to be specially made for this project and was built on the two man-made islands. Unfortunately, after the project was completed, no one wanted the equipment so it was destroyed. Since the project was completed in 1997 the gates have been lowered 25 times. What an amazing feat of engineering. We got to walk out to the first gate to see how it was constructed. What was so very interesting was watching the water rushing under the gates – at this time the tide was pushing the out to the North Sea. The power of the water and the swiftness of the current were eye-opening.