Background The Low Countries have low flat topography, with half the land area below or less than above sea level, and have for centuries been subject to periodic flooding by the sea. The seventeenth century saw early proposals to tame and enclose the Zuiderzee, but the ambitious ideas were impractical given the technology then available.
Background The Low Countries have low flat topography with half the land area below or less than above sea level, and have for centuries been subject to periodic flooding by the sea. The seventeenth century saw early proposals to tame and enclose the Zuiderzee, but the ambitious ideas were impractical given the technology then available.