Introduction of The Netherlands Our school in Nieuwdorp
Netherlands |
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The Netherlands are situated in the Northwest of Europe. It is a small country
with 16 million inhabitants. Bordering the Netherlands are Germany in the East,
Belgium in the South and the North Sea in the North and West. The United
Kingdom, Belgium, Germany and Denmark are also bordering the North Sea.
The Netherlands have a coastline that
consists of dunes. The dunes protect the land against the sea. The Netherlands
are partly below sea level. This means that a large part of the Netherlands
would submerge if there were no dunes. There are only two places along the
Dutch coastline where there are no dunes, and dykes protect these places.
The North Sea plays an important role for
the Dutch. Fishermen catch all kinds of fish in the North Sea. They set out to
sea in their fishing boats to catch cod, herring and shrimps for example. A
well-known fishing town is Scheveningen. Breskens and Vlissingen (Flushing), in
the Southwest of the Netherlands, are also fishing towns.
The North Sea also plays an important role
for the industry. In the great seaport of Rotterdam, lots of freight ships
arrive from all over the world to unload their goods. These goods are then
transported further into Europe by car, train and riverboat. In Rotterdam and
Vlissingen (Flushing) you find a lot of industry. Vlissingen (Flushing), in the
Southwest of the Netherlands, borders the Westerschelde, a sea arm off the
North Sea. Nieuwdorp is very close to Vlissingen
(Flushing). The Westerschelde connects Antwerp with the sea. Antwerp is the
biggest seaport in Belgium. Large sea ships sail in from the sea over the
Westerschelde to Antwerp. The Netherlands is also extracting oil and natural
gas from the North Sea. Large oil platforms are found in the North Sea, to get
the oil and natural gas to the surface. It is then pumped to the main land
through pipelines.
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In February 1953 the Southwest of the
country was hit by a severe storm and extreme high tide. A large part of the
Southwest was flooded as a result of that. Lots of people and animals drowned.
After this disaster, the Dutch government decided to protect the Dutch
coastline and make it safe. The dykes were raised and the Delta Plan was drawn
up. All the sea arms off the North Coast had to be closed as much as possible
to protect the land against the sea. This plan was finalised
in 1986.
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The areas behind the dams are now protected
nature reserves. Lots of birds have their breeding grounds there and seals can
be seen swimming in the waters.
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Impression of our region Zeeland:
the flag
Dunes
Vlissingen
Storm surge barrier in the Oosterschelde