Andrew N24

Netherlands Geographical Situation

The netherlands has an unique geographical condition. Its a small country with only 41.543km² total area. With the population over 17 million makes it ranked 30th for the most populated country on earth. The Netherlands is a very flat with almost 25% were at or below sea level. Over many centuries severe floods devestated the netherlands, killing tens of thousands. In order to save their homeland, they made countless windmills to pump water out of low lying area. They constructed man-made hills (polders), raising the level of farms and villages. In 1953 extremely high water caused nearly 2.000 deaaths, mostly in southern area. This incident made them wanting a major change, and so began something called Delta Project. The plan was to set up large series of sea-dikes, and inner canal and river dikes to protect this fragile land from disastrous flooding brought on by the constant pressures applied to it by the North Sea. With the climate changes, Netherlands is facing a whole new problem of sinking.