- The Netherlands surface area has been almost doubled over the centuries through the formation of “polders” or land reclaimed from the sea
- Most commonly associated with the Netherlands, polders can be found in nearly 20 countries worldwide
- Numbering more than 3000 today, the first Dutch polder was completed in the early 1600s
- The damming of the Zuider Zee (Zuider Sea) resulted in the IJsselmeer (IJssel Lake), which slowly transformed from salt water to fresh water
- The biggest part of the North Sea Protection Works project was a two-mile-long moveable surge barrier across an estuary finished in 1986
- It has been said that the North Sea Protection Works project is nearly equal in scale to the Great Wall of China
- The two most vulnerable areas for flooding in the Netherlands are the large tidal inlet formerly known as the Zuider Zee and the delta created by the Rhine and Meuse rivers in the southwestern corner of the country
