The XIth century dike building methods, aimed at land protection and reclamation, were adopted by the Flemings and Hollanders who even adapted them to the plain of the Elbe River in Germany. It is true, however, that no certainty exists about these elevations being anthropic, even though Pliny's text uses the term built. Historians speak about moving 80,000 m 3 of clay (100,000 cu. miles), varying in size between 2 and 5 hectares (5 to 12 acres) and protruding about 10 m (33 ft) above sea-level. Plinus (Engl.: Pliny the Elder) described the Frisii (contemporary Frisians) as poor people who “try to warm their frozen bowels by burning mud, dug with their hands out of the earth and dried to some extent in the wind more than in the sun, which one hardly ever sees.” Documents seem to indicate that a little over 1260 mounds were built in an area of less than 2,200 km (800 sq.
The earliest written reports about the Frisians labeled them watermen and mudworkers ( van Veen, 1962), but they had also caught the attention of the Romans who took notice of the Frisii's artificial hillocks. And by the twelve hundreds they had managed reclamation and some coastal protection, particularly among estuaries, the Dordrecht area being an example (Figure 1). The Dutch, then commonly known as Hollanders, Zeelanders and Brabanters, and the Frisians (Lat.: Frisii) were either the first, certainly among the first in Northern Europe, to protect their establishments by earth mounds, and this as early as a thousand years ago. and Engl.: Bruges) who were brought to Aquitaine, centuries ago, to drain the then prevailing marshes. One even finds, abutting Bordeaux on the Gironde estuary (France), Bruges, a town settled by people from Brugge (Fr. True, their southern neighbors-Belgium and France-also added polderland and wateringen (Fr.: wateringues) to their territory with equal success. Reclamation goes back to the 13th and 14th centuries though the pièce de résistance was started in 1923 when the Zuiderzee, a deep sea indentation was dammed and became IJ ssel Meer (Lake Yssel). The oceanic domain bordering a coast has been eyed, for centuries, by particularly the Dutch as territory to be recovered, dammed, drained, and transformed into agricultural and/or pasture land. The paper follows the historical evolution of man's attempts to retain his “land”.Ĭonstruction of coastal defenses can be traced back to remote times in fact, attempts seem to have been made as soon as sedentary men settled along coasts. They must as well consider the economic and social impacts of coastal erosion. The groins, seawalls, breakwaters and the like proved to be illusory shields, to solve little, but to create new problems.Įngineers and scientists tried different approaches, inspired by Nature's own ways, nourishment for instance. the Dutch Verdronken Land van Saeftingen. It is probable that dams or walls were erected before the Frisians did, but their “defenses” were described by Pliny, and, jusqu'à preuve du contraire, are considered as the first “dike builders”.Įarthen artificial hillocks are the forerunners of stone constructions built to hold back the advances of the sea, particularly when sizeable areas of land were gobbled up by the waters along coasts, but also in estuaries, witness i.e. Coastal defenses can be traced back to remote times. He has consistently attempted to protect his settlements against the onslaughts of the sea. Man has been simultaneously awed by the sea and attracted by its shores. They have taken a special significance since Man has appeared.
Changes of sea-level, retreat of shorelines have occurred throughout geological times.
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