Editing Zuiderzee Works (section)

==Background==
The [[Low Countries]] have low flat topography, with half the land area below or less than {{cvt|1|m}} [[Height above mean sea level|above sea level]], and have for centuries been subject to periodic flooding by the sea. The seventeenth century saw early proposals to tame and enclose the [[Zuiderzee]], but the ambitious ideas were impractical given the technology then available.

[[Image:Standbeeld Lely Afsluitdijk.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Statue of [[Cornelis Lely]] on the Afsluitdijk]]

From 1200 to 1900 AD the Dutch [[land reclamation|reclaimed]] {{convert|940000|acre}} of land from the sea and {{convert|345000|acre}} by draining lakes, a total of {{convert|1285000|acre}}, but lost {{convert|1400000|acre}} of land to the Zuiderzee. Hendrik Stevin in 1667 was the first to publish a study ("How the Fury of the North Sea may be stopped and Holland may be protected against it") proposing to drain the Zuiderzee. After the [[IJ (Amsterdam)|IJ]] and [[Haarlemmermeer]] were drained in the mid-19th century, van Diggelen, Kloppenburg, and Faddegon proposed that the Zuiderzee also be drained. Test drilling by the ''{{lang|nl|Zuiderzeevereeniging}}'' found that about three quarters of the Zuiderzee would be useful land.<ref name="ley196110">{{Cite magazine
 |last=Ley
 |first=Willy
 |date=October 1961
 |title=The Home-Made Land
 |department=For Your Information
 |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v20n01_1961-10#page/n91/mode/1up
 |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction
 |pages=92–106
}}</ref> Plans were developed during the second half of the nineteenth century to protect areas from the force of the open sea and creating new agricultural land. [[Cornelis Lely]] (after whom [[Lelystad]] is named) was an ardent supporter, an engineer, and later government minister. A group called the "Zuider Zee Society" began a thorough investigation as to the best means of closing and draining the Zuider Zee in 1886, and in 1891 Lely introduced his plan, which formed the basis for the development of what were to become the Zuiderzee Works.<ref name="EB1922">{{EB1922|inline=y|title=Zuider Zee|volume=32|pages=1143–1144 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.83474/page/n1189/mode/2up |last=Lely|first=Cornelius|author-link=Cornelis Lely}}</ref> It consisted of a large dam connecting the northern tip of [[North Holland]] with the western coast of [[Friesland]] and the creation of initially four polders in the northwest, the northeast, southeast (later split in two), and southwest of what would be renamed the [[IJsselmeer]] ([[IJssel]]-lake). Two major lanes of open water were defined for shipping and drainage. The initial body of water affected by the project was {{convert|3500|km2|sqmi|-1}}. Opposition came from fishermen along the Zuiderzee who would lose their livelihood, and from others in coastal areas along the more northerly [[Wadden Sea]]. They feared higher water levels as a result of the closure. Other critics doubted whether the project was feasible financially.

Queen [[Wilhelmina of the Netherlands|Wilhelmina]]'s [[speech from the throne]] in 1913, urged reclamation of the Zuiderzee,{{r|ley196110}} and the requisite bill was introduced.<ref name="EB1922"/> When Lely became Minister of Transport and Public Works that year, he used his position to promote the Zuiderzee Works and gained support. The government started developing official plans to enclose the Zuiderzee. On 13 and 14 January 1916 the [[Levee|dikes]] at several places along the Zuiderzee broke under the stress of a winter storm, and the land behind them flooded, as had often happened in previous centuries. This flooding provided the decisive impetus to implement the existing plans to tame the Zuiderzee. In addition, a threatening food shortage during the other stresses of [[World War I]] added to widespread support for the project. Lely stressed the importance of extending the area of arable land, and estimated that {{convert|500000|acres}} of good land would be reclaimed from the [[clay]] soil, while the regions with a sand bottom would eventually become the [[IJsselmeer]].<ref name="EB1922"/>

[[Image:Afsluitdijk 01.JPG|right|thumb|Construction of the Afsluitdijk]]
On 14 June 1918, the [[Zuiderzee Act]] was passed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nieuwlanderfgoed.nl/studiecentrum/themas/wieg-van-flevoland/zuiderzeewet|work=Nieuwlanderfgoed|title=TZuiderzeewet|access-date=2009-01-17|archive-date=20 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220114518/http://www.nieuwlanderfgoed.nl/studiecentrum/themas/wieg-van-flevoland/zuiderzeewet|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{r|ley196110}}
The goals of the Act were threefold:

*Protect the central Netherlands from the effects of the North Sea;
*Increase the Dutch food supply by development and cultivation of new agricultural land; and
*Improve water management by creating a freshwater lake from the former uncontrolled salt water inlet.

Unlike earlier proposals the act intended to preserve part of the Zuiderzee and create large islands, as Lely warned that rerouting the rivers directly to the North Sea might cause inland flooding if storms raised the sea's level. He also wanted to preserve the Zee's fisheries, and for the new land to be accessible by water.{{r|ley196110}} The ''Dienst der Zuiderzeewerken'' (Zuiderzee Works Department), the government body responsible for overseeing the construction and initial management, was set up in May 1919. In the initial stages of the work heavy clay was dredged out of the open sea and deposited along the track to be followed by the dam. The cost of the undertaking was calculated in 1914, in UK currency, at about £19,000,000 but it soon seemed likely to be very much more. At the time, ten years were allowed for the construction of the main dam and another 20 years for the completion of the four inner enclosures.<ref name="EB1922"/>

The department decided against building the main dam first, proceeding to construct a smaller dam, the ''Amsteldiepdijk'', across the Amsteldiep. This was the first step in rejoining the island of [[Wieringen]] to the North Holland mainland. The dike, with a length of {{cvt|2.5|km}}, was built between 1920 and 1924. As with dike building, polder construction was tested on a small scale at the [[Pilot Polder Andijk|experimental polder at Andijk]].