Editing Afsluitdijk (section)

=== Reasons for construction ===
The Afsluitdijk (literally translated: shut-off-dyke) was completed in 1932, thereby shutting off the [[Zuiderzee]] (lit: Southern Sea) from the [[North Sea]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=''Polderkoorts. Hoe de Zuiderzee verdween'' [Polder Fever. How the Zuyderzee disappeared] |last=Hakkenes |first=Emiel |publisher=Uitgeverij Thomas Rap |year=2017 |location=Amsterdam}}</ref> Until then, the Zuiderzee had been a large bay south of the North Sea which gave maritime access to five provinces of The Netherlands, and particularly during the [[Dutch Golden Age]] provided a protected entrance and exit for the harbour of [[Amsterdam]] and several other important Dutch sea harbours. Furthermore, the Zuiderzee provided relatively shallow and calm fishing grounds for the many towns bordering the bay. However, the opening of the [[North Sea Canal]] (Noordzeekanaal) in 1876 gave a much shorter direct entrance to the Amsterdam harbour, and overfishing had depleted the shallow bay. In the second half of the 19th century, the Dutch population was exploding, and there was an increasing need for land for agriculture and animal husbandry. The Dutch already had centuries of experience of building dykes around lakes, emptying them and converting them to fertile [[polder]]land.

The next large project was to convert the Zuiderzee into polder. In 1886, a few notables established the Zuiderzee Society to investigate whether reclamation was feasible. One of the most prominent members of the society was [[Cornelis Lely]], a [[civil engineer]], prominent member and later chairman of the society.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Cornelis Lely. Ingenieur van het nieuwe Nederland [In Dutch: Cornelis Lely - Engineer of the new Netherlands] |last=Banning |first=Cees |publisher=Uitgeverij Pharos |year=2018 |location=Beilen, NL}}</ref> In 1891 he designed the first plan for the closure and reclamation of the Zuiderzee.

In 1913, Lely was Minister of Water Management, and land reclamation was included in the government program. His plan was initially opposed, particularly for its huge costs and also by the fishing industry. But after the [[flood of 1916]] and the [[1917 Potato riots|famine of 1918]], opinions were ready for this mega project and the parliament agreed, but it took another 9 years, until 1927, before the works actually began.[[File:Demping blinde geul-509991.ogv|thumb|thumbtime=150|Newsreel of the closing of the last gap]]