IJsselmeer - Dutch lake Due to the low level of their country,
the Dutch have always been forced to fight the water. This
battle has resulted in the development of large water works. One
of the results: the IJsselmeer. The most striking example of
conquering land from the sea is the closing of the Zuiderzee in
the 1930's. Between the provinces of Friesland and Noord-
Holland, a 30 kilometer dam was built, the so-called Afsluitdijk
(which means Closing Dike). This changed the Zuiderzee into a
lake. The salt sea water turned slowly into freshwater over
time. In the IJsselmeer, four large polders have been created,
covering some 1,650 square kilometers. Wieringermeer and the
Noordoostpolder are typical farmland polders, whereas East and
South Flevoland are being used as living and working space. From
January 1, 1986, the Noordoostpolder and both Flevopolders
formed the province of Flevoland. Lelystad is the capital of
this province, which used to be sea! Another large city in the
Flevopolder is the rapidly growin