Abstract
According to a popular Dutch theory, water has shaped the Dutch national identity. The Dutch fight against the water would have stimulated perseverance, ingenuity, cooperation and an egalitarian and democratic society. Despite the long water management history of the Netherlands, water became an important part of the self-images of the nation only in the eighteenth Century. In the 1780s the idea that the Dutch had wrung their country from the sea became popular. Initially, this idea was especially popular among the (proto-)liberal opposition, who emphasised the importance of the nation and its achievements. By the end of the nineteenth Century, water had become a national symbol for orthodox Calvinists, Roman Catholics and Socialists too, despite their different views on the nation. Whenever there was fast social change, political turmoil or external threats, as in the late eighteenth Century, the 1930s and 1940s and since the 1990s, the link between water and the Netherlands was used to promote national pride and unity and stimulate action. This link has also been used to promote specific hydraulic works, but it is a topic for further research how widespread and effective this practice was. As this paper is part of a special issue, Water History in the time of COVID-19, it has undergone modified peer review.
Highlights
According to a popular Dutch theory, water has shaped the Dutch national identity
It asserts that the nation and its institutions are the result of water resources development or, as the Dutch lawyer Donner put it, “the State, that are the dykes” (Van der Pot and Donner 1977, p. 138)
This article discussed the theory that the Dutch identity has been shaped by water
Summary
According to a popular Dutch theory, water has shaped the Dutch national identity. Due to its geography, the Netherlands have been in a constant struggle to protect the country from flooding and reclaim land. Shipping and trade do not figure prominently in the current theory on water and the Dutch identity, but they are often seen as very important for the Dutch identity They have been linked with flooding and land reclamation. According to Ockerse, the waterlogged conditions in the Netherlands and the threat of flooding had required the first inhabitants to work hard and develop expertise in building dykes and constructing wind mills This had stimulated industry and the arts and sciences, in particular practical sciences such as mathematics and engineering This book contains 26 double-paged pictures of the Netherlands, starting with a picture of the North Sea showing both seventeenth Century and modern ships and closing with a picture of the Afsluitdijk, a 32 km long dam, completed in 1932, that closed off the Zuiderzee, improved flood protection and facilitated large-scale land reclamation (see Fig. 2). This suggests it reflects deeplyheld images of the Netherlands—deeply-held in the early twenty first Century
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
