How does it feel to sleep knowing that you are well below sea level and that the water canal next to your house is above your head. For a good part of Holland especially in the richest areas called the Randstad, made up of North and South Holland provinces, are mainly below sea level. This is where the name 'Holland' came from. The country officially is called The Netherlands but 'Holland' is more customary or commonly used, although strictly speaking that is not correct. The Randstad also contains the four largest Dutch cities. With its 10 million inhabitants, almost 2/3 of the entire Dutch population, it is one highest population concentration in Europe.
These are a couple of photo snaps of a canal I took just a short distance for our house. The canal is clearly sitting well above the houses and the surrounding fields. Logically it is quite difficult to comprehend how such a system could be continuously maintained to prevent it from wrecking and causing havoc to the population and affecting potential loss of property or life. Yet this is one of many hundred kilometres of canals dotting the country. The people here take these things for granted knowing that they have been carefully built and are properly managed and maintained. Indeed, this is one of the good examples that we should replicate in our own backyard.
How does it feel to sleep knowing that you are well below sea level and that the water canal next to your house is above your head. For a good part of Holland especially in the richest areas called the Randstad, made up of North and South Holland provinces, are mainly below sea level. This is where the name 'Holland' came from. The country officially is called The Netherlands but 'Holland' is more customary or commonly used, although strictly speaking that is not correct. The Randstad also contains the four largest Dutch cities. With its 10 million inhabitants, almost 2/3 of the entire Dutch population, it is one highest population concentration in Europe.
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