How the Dutch Built Land on Water Using a Complex System of Dams and Dikes
Comedians Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones of Map Men quite humorously explained how the Dutch built land where water once was by using a complex system of dams and dikes. This process is known as “Land Reclamation” was used to put the Zuiderzee Works in motion in 1916, which gave The Netherlands 17% more land than what was ever historically available.
You compare a map of present day Netherlands to one from 1300 and notice that a whopping 7,000 square km of land roughly 17% of the whole country has been conjured out of thin water.
