Netherlands 10 Biggest Lakes
None of the Netherlands’ largest lakes formed naturally, all resulted from the construction of dams, dikes and levies to protect the country from flooding by the North Sea…
Due to the country’s low elevation and flat topography, the Netherlands has naturally been prone to flooding, both by the North Sea and the numerous rivers which flow through it. Dams and dikes have been used throughout history with varying degrees of success to keep residents safe and protect the land from flooding.
It wasn’t until the 20th century the Dutch were able to undertake flood protection projects on a grand scale. The first of these was the damming of the Zuiderzee (South Sea), an inlet of the North Sea that separated the North Holland peninsula from the rest of the country. When a 32-kilometer long barrier (the ‘Afsluitdijk‘) was completed in 1932, the South Sea was no longer a sea at all but a lake, and the name changed from Zuiderzee to Ijsselmeer (Ijssel lake).
At first, the Ijsselmeer encompassed the entire area of the Zuiderzee. But today it is much smaller due to damming off portions of it (which created new separate lakes) and significant land reclamation include the entire province of Flevoland. But at 1,100 km2, it is still the largest lake in the Netherlands by a wide margin.
Damming off the southern portion of the Ijsselmeer created what is now the second biggest lake in Netherlands, the Markermeer (700 km2).
Two lakes were created during the draining of the Flevoland polders, Gooimeer (30 km2) on the south side and Veluwemeer (30 km2) on the east side. Both were originally part of the IJsselmeer.
Similar flood protection measures were undertaken decades later following the massive flood of 1953 in which 1,100 people died, predominantly in the provinces of Zeeland and South Holland. That project, the Delta Works (Deltawerken), created several more lakes which are now among the the biggest in the country. These include the Veerse Meer (203 km2), the Haringvliet (116 km2) and the Grevelingenmeer (110 km2).
Although not officially part of the Delta Works project, the Lauwersmeer (58 km2) was also created when another North Sea inlet, the Lauwerszee, was dammed.
THE NETHERLANDS 10 BIGGEST LAKES
- 1- Ijsselmeer (1100 km2)
- 2- Markermeer (700 km2)
- 3- Veerse Meer (203 km2)
- 4- Haringvliet (116 km2)
- 5- Grevelingenmeer (110 km2)
- 6- Lauwersmeer (58 km2)
- 7- Ketelmeer (35 km2)
- 8- Gooimeer (30 km2)
- 9- Veluwemeer (30 km2)
- 10- Tjeukemeer (22 km2)
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