Afsluitdijk

The Afsluitdijk (Enclosing Dike) which closes off the IJsselmeer, 30km/18.5mi long by 90m/100yd across, links the provinces of Noord-Holland and Friesland. Built between 1927 and 1932, it converted the Zuiderzee into an inland lake, now known as the IJsselmeer. The Zuiderzee itself was an inland lake until Roman times; but during the early Middle Ages the level of the North Sea rose and gigantic storm tides broke through the land and made the Zuiderzee an inlet of the sea. Thereafter the government and people of the Netherlands wrestled with the problem of recovering the land drowned by the sea; but it was not until the 19th century that the technological resources for carrying through such a project became available. After severe food shortages in the Netherlands during the First World War and further heavy damage caused by a storm tide in 1916 the government approved a plan devised by a water engineer named Cornelis Lely, the object of which was twofold - to reclaim land for agriculture and to prevent further penetration by the sea. The construction of the Afsluitdijk had the effect of reducing the length of dikes in the IJsselmeer area by some 300km/185mi.

At the near (southwestern) end of the Afsluitdijk is a group of sluices, the Stevinsluizen, which control the water level in the IJsselmeer. On the seaward side of the dike are a number of harbor basins enclosed by stone walls.