POLDERS

WHAT IS A POLDER

• A Polder is a piece of low-lying land reclaimed from the sea or a river and protected by dykes, especially in the Netherlands

WHY DID THE DUTCH START MAKING POLDERS

• The Netherlands have one of the Highest population Densities in the world,So retrieving land from the water was necessary

RECLAIMED LAND

• Over 17% of the Netherlands is made of reclaimed land

HOW TO RECLAIM LAND

• There are many ways to reclaim Land.here are just a few examples.
• Land can be reclaimed from a body of water by piling cement until the desired height is reached then filling the area with dirt and clay
• Flood plains and marshes can get separated from the river or sea by building dikes to cut them off.these areas of land have to be drained frequently in order to prevent flooding

HISTORY OF LAND RECLAIMATION

• For over 2000 years the Dutch have been working on holding back and reclaiming land from the sea.The North Sea is known for incessant flooding
• The first settlers in the Netherlands were called the Frisian,they were the ones who began holding back land around 400 BCE.They built these things called terpenoids,earth mounds which they settled their dwellings upon.they were used to elevate villages and protect them from flooding.dykes were also built to hold back the North Sea and to protect the villagers from any floods

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

• Over 27% of The Netherlands is below sea level Today.this leaves over a quarter of the country susceptible to floods and only time will tell if the measures to put in place will be strong enough to hold up against them