Human–Environment Interaction 283
SEAWORKS The Dutch erected seaworks, structures that are used to
control the sea’s destructive impact on human life. Those seaworks
include dikes and high earthen platforms called
terpen. The dikes hold
back the sea, while the terpen provide places to go for safety during
floods and high tides.
Over the centuries, the Dutch found ways to reinforce the dikes and
to control water in the low-lying areas the dikes protected. In the 1400s,
the Dutch began using their windmills to power pumps that drained
the land. When the French conqueror Napoleon viewed a site with 860
windmills pumping an area dry, he reportedly said, “Without equal.”
Today the pumps use electric motors instead of windmills.
TRANSFORMING THE SEA Another remarkable Dutch alteration of
their environment was the transformation of the
Zuider Zee
(ZEYE•duhr ZAY
). It was an arm of the North Sea and is now a fresh-
water lake. The idea was originally proposed in 1667. But it was not
until the late 1800s and early 1900s that the Dutch perfected a plan to
build dikes all the way across the entrance to the Zuider Zee. Since no
saltwater flowed into that body of water, it eventually became a fresh-
water lake. It is now called
Ijsselmeer (EYE•suhl•MAIR). The land around
the lake was drained, creating several polders that added hundreds of
square miles of land to the Netherlands.
Waterways for Commerce: Venice’s Canals
Like the Netherlands, Venice, Italy, is a place where humans created a
unique environment. About 120 islands and part of the mainland make
up the city of Venice. Two of the largest islands are San Marco and
Rialto. A broad waterway called the Grand Canal flows between them.
Moving people or goods in Venice depends upon using the more than
150 canals that snake around and through the islands. Consequently, to
get from one place to another in Venice, you generally have two choices:
take a boat or walk. Almost anything that is moved on wheels elsewhere
is moved by water in Venice.
AN ISLAND CITY GROWS Venice began when people escaping
invaders took shelter on inhospitable islands in a lagoon. They
remained there and established a settlement that eventually became
Venice. The city is located at the north end of the Adriatic Sea, a good
site for a port. As a result, trade helped Venice grow.
BUILDING ON THE ISLANDS Building Venice required construction
techniques that took into account the swampy land on the islands.
Builders sunk wooden pilings into the ground to help support the struc-
tures above. So many pilings were required that oak forests in the
northern Italian countryside and in Slovenia were leveled to supply the
wood. The weight of the buildings is so great that it has compressed the
underlying ground. This is one of the reasons that Venice is gradually
sinking. Other reasons include rising sea levels and the removal of too
much groundwater by pumping.
PROBLEMS TODAY Severe water pollution threatens historic Venice.
Industrial waste, sewage, and saltwater are combining to eat away the
Background
A land link to
Venice was built
in 1846. A railway
bridge connected
Venice to the
mainland.
EUROPE
Making
Comparisons
What are
possible dis-
advantages of
windmills and of
electric pumps?
