Land and water
The Netherlands lies in the delta of three rivers: the Rhine, the Meuse and the Scheldt. The country is almost entirely flat, and a good part of it is man-made.
- Highest point
- Vaalserberg hill, 322 m, where Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands meet
- Lowest point
- Zuidplaspolder, almost 7 m below sea level
- Below sea level
- about a quarter of the land
- At risk of flooding
- about 60% of the country, if there were no dikes and dunes
- Largest port
- Rotterdam, the biggest port in Europe
The NAP datum
Dutch elevations are measured from NAP, Normaal Amsterdams Peil, or Amsterdam Ordnance Datum. Its history goes back to 1684, when the average high-water level of the IJ was marked in Amsterdam. Today NAP is also the reference point for the European height system.
Polders
A polder is a low-lying area enclosed by dikes, from which water has to be pumped out all the time. Windmills used to do the job; today electric pumping stations do. The water is lifted into canals and carried off to the rivers and the sea. Switch the pumps off and many polders would turn back into lakes.
You can see how it used to work at Kinderdijk, where 19 windmills from the 18th century still stand. They have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.
Water boards
Dikes, canals and water levels are managed by water boards (waterschappen), among the oldest elected bodies in the country: the first are almost 800 years old. Residents still elect their boards in separate elections. There are 21 of them today.
The 1953 flood and the Delta Works
On the night of 1 February 1953 a storm coincided with a spring tide, and the sea broke through the dikes in Zeeland and South Holland. In all, 1,836 people died.
After the disaster the country built the Delta Works (Deltawerken): dams, sluices and storm surge barriers that close off the sea inlets. The best known are the Eastern Scheldt barrier (1986), which closes only during storms, and the movable Maeslant barrier near Rotterdam (1997).
Land from the seabed
In 1932 the 32 km Afsluitdijk cut the Zuiderzee off from the North Sea, and it became the freshwater lake IJsselmeer. Parts of the lake were later drained, creating Flevoland, the youngest province, which has existed since 1986. Its main polder is one of the largest artificial islands in the world, and Almere, built on the former seabed, is now one of the country’s largest cities.
The coast and the Wadden Sea
The Frisian Islands stretch along the northern coast; the largest is Texel. Between the islands and the mainland lies the Wadden Sea. At low tide its bed is exposed and you can walk across it with a guide, a pastime called wadlopen. The Wadden Sea has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2009.
Climate
Mild and maritime: winters usually without hard frost, cool summers, and rain and wind all year round. The canals don’t freeze every winter, which is why the famous Elfstedentocht, a 200 km skating tour of eleven Frisian towns, was last held in 1997.