Kinderdijk, Netherlands

This is where we went today. I will also post about the castle we went to see!! Here's a little history...
KinderdijkIn the Alblasserwaard, the area where to Kinderdijk belongs, problems with the water household became more and more apparent from the 13th century. To get rid of the excess water in the polders, long canals were dug. These canals are called "weteringen" and you can find them all over Holland. This method was sufficient only for a few years. When the ground lowered again because of it's structure (veen) and the level of the river raised at the same time, an additional way of keeping the correct level of the water in the polders was necessary.

It was decided to build a series of windmills which would pump the water into a reservoir (boezem) until the level of the river had reached a level that pumping the water into the river was possible again. To control the water completely was never possible and in the past centuries, Holland suffered from floods over 30 times, one more severe than the other, but always a threat to men, women, children and animals.