Editing Wieringermeer (section)

== History ==
Around the year 1000 AD, this area was land. However, several storms after 1100 turned it into a [[flood plain]]. Wieringmeer means "[[Wieringen]] Lake", the name of an inland lake that filled the area in the early [[Middle Ages|medieval]] period.

The Wieringmeerpolder is a [[polder]], newly created land, and part of the [[Zuiderzee Works]] developed in the 20th century. Originally the polder was planned after the completion of the [[Afsluitdijk]], but a severe lack of agricultural land meant construction was accelerated, starting in 1927.<ref name="ley196110">{{Cite magazine|last=Ley|first=Willy|date=October 1961|title=The Home-Made Land|url=http://galacticjourney.org/stories/6110Galaxye.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022062747/http://galacticjourney.org/stories/6110Galaxye.pdf |archive-date=2016-10-22 |url-status=live|department=For Your Information|magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction|pages=92–106}}</ref> The dikes had to be strong enough to withstand the force of the [[Zuiderzee]], a sea. Draining of the polder was finished on 21 August 1930. After the completion of the Afsluitdijk in 1932, the lake [[IJsselmeer]] was formed from the waters. 
[[File:Exterieur OVERZICHT - Medemblik - 20284820 - RCE.jpg|thumb|left|The huge Lely pumping station lies at the southern end of Wieringermeer near [[Medemblik]] and keeps the polder dry.]]
After desalinization, the new land became usable in 1934. Four villages (Slootdorp (1931), Middenmeer (1933), Wieringerwerf (1936) and Kreileroord (1957)), were developed in the polder.

Since 1 July 1941, the Wieringermeer had been an independent municipality. 

On 17 April 1945, during the [[World War II|Second World War]], the German occupiers ordered the dike of the Wieringermeer to be blown up: the [[Inundation of the Wieringermeer|area was inundated]]. No one was killed as the polder slowly submerged again (the inhabitants had been warned), but the high water and a subsequent storm destroyed most of the infrastructure built in the previous decade. The floodwater was [[fresh water]], so the land did not have to be [[desalination|desalinate]]d again. Reconstruction followed quickly; by the end of 1945, the polder was declared drained again. Rebuilding of roads and bridges, houses and farms, was greatly facilitated by the experience of building them the first time.