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Land from the Sea
engineering and geography
From the nineteenth century, steam pumps and later electric ones took over from these windmills, making it possible to drain far larger areas.
About a quarter of the Netherlands lies below sea level, and much of this land was once covered by water.
The water trapped inside the dikes then had to be removed, a job done for centuries by windmills that lifted it out.
Even today, these pumps must keep working, because water constantly seeps back into the drained land, which is known as a polder.
To create farmland, the Dutch began many centuries ago to surround low-lying areas with dikes, or earth walls, that kept the water out.