Flevoland

Provincial capital: Lelystad

Area: 211,816 hectares/523,186 acres (land

area 141,175 hectares/348,702 acres)

Population: 194,000

The province of Flevoland, at the south end of the IJsselmeer, came into being only in 1986, when the Oostelijk and Zuidelijk (East and South) Flevoland polders, previously under direct government administration, were combined with the Noordoostpolder (Northeast Polder), then part of the province of Overijssel, to form a new administrative unit. East and South Flevoland are separated from the mainland by a wide channel known as the Veluwemeer - a necessary feature, since without it the water table in the higher coastal areas would have fallen to an unacceptably low level. The polder, an expanse of clay soil lying 4- 5m/13-16ft below sea level, has been turned over to agricultural use and is very thinly populated. Apart from scattered farms there are only six settlements on the whole area of the polder. Flevoland is the first region in the Netherlands to be designated by the European Union as "underdeveloped" and to be granted financial assistance accordingly since 1993. That it was so assessed is probably mainly a matter of luck, because a large part of the population of the province actually works in Amsterdam rather than in Flevoland itself. As Flevoland was an entirely new creation, its development was systematically planned from the outset, the towns and other settlements, industrial areas, nature reserves, roads and canals being laid out on the drawing board in accordance with strictly functional principles. As a result motorists unfamiliar with the area have difficulty in judging distances on the dead straight roads: hence the expression polder blindness.