Flevoland


Flevoland is the 12th and youngest province of the Netherlands, established in 1986, when the southern and eastern Flevopolders were merged into one provincial entity. It is located in the centre of the country, where the Zuiderzee was previously located. Almost all of the land belonging to Flevoland was reclaimed only in the 1950s and 1960s. By land area, it is the smallest province of the Netherlands at, but not by total area as that includes much of the waters of the Markermeer and IJsselmeer. The province has a population of 423,021 as of January 2020 and consists of six municipalities. Its capital is Lelystad and its most populous city is Almere.
Flevoland is bordered in the extreme north by Friesland, in the northeast by Overijssel, and in the northwest by the lakes Markermeer and IJsselmeer. In the southeast, the province borders on Gelderland, and in the southwest on Utrecht and North Holland.

Etymology

Flevoland was named after Lacus Flevo, a name recorded in Roman sources for a large inland lake at the southern end of the later-formed Zuiderzee; it was mentioned by the Roman geographer Pomponius Mela in his De Chorographia in 44 AD. Due to the slowly rising sea level, a number of lakes gradually developed in the Zuiderzee region, which eventually became contiguous. Pomponius wrote about this: "The northern branch of the Rhine extends to Lake Flevo, which encloses an island of the same name and then flows to the sea like a normal river." Other sources speak of Flevum, which means 'flow'. The process continued and gradually the Zuiderzee arose from this lake. The names "Flevoland" and "Vlieland" have the same origin.
Between 790 and 1250, Lake Flevo became connected with the North Sea. As a result, a number of villages were swallowed by the sea. The newly created inland sea was called Almere. The city of Almere is named after this lake.

History

After a flood in 1916, the decision was made to enclose and reclaim the Zuiderzee, an inland sea within the Netherlands, and thus the Zuiderzee Works started. Other sources indicate other times and reasons, but also agree that in 1932, the Afsluitdijk was completed, which closed off the sea completely. The Zuiderzee was subsequently divided into IJsselmeer and Markermeer, which in itself was planned to be mostly drained to make the Markerwaard. However, for economic reasons, the Markerwaard never went ahead.
The first part of the new lake that was reclaimed was the Noordoostpolder in 1942. This new land included the former islands of Urk and Schokland and it was included in the province of Overijssel. After this, other parts were reclaimed the southeastern part in 1957 and the southwestern part in 1968. An important change occurred in these postwar projects from the earlier Noordoostpolder reclamation: a narrow body of water was preserved along the old coast to stabilise the water table and to prevent coastal towns from losing their access to the sea. Thus, the Flevopolder became an artificial island joined to the mainland by bridges. The municipalities on the three parts voted to become a separate province, which happened in 1986.

Geography

Zuiderzee Works

Eastern Flevoland and Southern Flevoland, unlike the Noordoostpolder, have peripheral lakes between them and the mainland: the Veluwemeer and Gooimeer, respectively, making them, together, the world's largest artificial island.
They are two polders with a joint hydrological infrastructure, with a dividing dike in the middle, the Knardijk, that will keep one polder safe if the other is flooded. The two main drainage canals that traverse the dike can be closed by floodgates in such an event. The pumping stations are the Wortman at Lelystad-Haven, the Lovink near Harderwijk on the eastern dike and the Colijn along the northern dike beside the Ketelmeer.
A new element in the design of Eastern Flevoland is the larger city Lelystad, named after Cornelis Lely, the man who had played a crucial role in designing and realising the Zuiderzee Works. Other more conventional settlements already existed by then; Dronten, the major local town, was founded in 1962, followed by two smaller satellite villages, Swifterbant and Biddinghuizen, in 1963. These three were incorporated in the new municipality of Dronten on 1 January 1972.
Southern Flevoland has only one pumping station, the diesel-powered De Blocq van Kuffeler. Because of the hydrological union of the two Flevolands, it simply joins the other three in maintaining the water level of both polders. Almere relieves the housing shortage and increasing overcrowding on the old land. Its name is derived from the early medieval name for Lake Almere. Almere was to be divided into three major settlements initially; the first, Almere-Haven situated along the coast of the Gooimeer, the second and largest was to fulfill the role of city centre as Almere-Stad, and the third was Almere-Buiten to the northwest towards Lelystad. In 2003, the municipality made a new Structuurplan which started development of three new settlements: Overgooi in the southeast, Almere-Hout in the east, and Almere-Poort in the West. In time, Almere-Pampus could be developed in the northwest, with possibly a new bridge over the IJmeer towards Amsterdam.
The Oostvaardersplassen is a landscape of shallow pools, islets, and swamps. Originally, this low part of the new polder was destined to become an industrial area. Spontaneous settlement of interesting flora and fauna turned the area into a nature park, of such importance that the new railway line was diverted. The recent decline in agricultural land use will in time make expanding natural land use possible, and connect the Oostvaardersplassen to the Veluwe.
The centre of the polder most closely resembles the prewar polders in that it is almost exclusively agricultural. In contrast, the southeastern part is dominated by extensive forests. Here is also found the only other settlement of the polder, Zeewolde, again a more conventional town acting as the local centre. Zeewolde became a municipality at the same time as Almere on 1 January 1984, which in the case of Zeewolde meant that the municipality existed before the town itself, with only farms in the surrounding land to be governed until the town started to grow.

Municipalities

Politics

The King's Commissioner of Flevoland is Leen Verbeek, who is a member of the Labour Party . The States of Flevoland have 41 seats. At the provincial elections in March 2019, Forum for Democracy was the big winner of the elections. The party came new in the States with 8 seats, and is with those the biggest party. The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is second largest with 6 seats, after which the Party for Freedom and GreenLeft both have 4 seats. Christian Democratic Appeal, Labour Party, and ChristianUnion all have 3 seats. Socialist Party, 50PLUS, Democrats 66 and Party for the Animals have 2 seats, where the Reformed Political Party and Denk, another new party in the States, have 1 seat.

Economy

The Gross domestic product of the province was 14 billion € in 2018, accounting for 1.8% of the Netherlands economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 29,500 € or 98% of the EU27 average in the same year.

Transport

Rail

The Flevopolder is served by the Flevolijn, running from Weesp to Lelystad, and the Hanzelijn, continuing from Lelystad towards Zwolle. The two railways stations of the province with intercity services are Almere Centrum and Lelystad Centrum.
TrajectoryRailway stations in Flevoland
Weesp–LelystadNorth Holland – Almere Poort – Almere Muziekwijk – Almere Centrum – Almere Parkwijk – Almere Buiten – Almere Oostvaarders – Lelystad Centrum
Lelystad–ZwolleLelystad Centrum – Dronten – Overijssel

Furthermore, Lelystad Zuid is a planned railway station between Almere Oostvaarders and Lelystad Centrum. It has been partially constructed preceding the opening of the railway in 1988, but construction has been put on indefinite hold because of slower-than-expected development of the city of Lelystad.
Amongst the cities with direct train connections to Flevoland are Amsterdam, Utrecht, The Hague, Zwolle, Groningen, Leeuwarden and Schiphol Airport.

Airport

There is one airport in the province: Lelystad Airport. A second airport, Noordoostpolder Airport near Emmeloord, was closed in the late 1990s due to town expansion.

Events