The Netherlands: a delta country guarded by the Delta Works
Background
The Netherlands lies in the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta along the North Sea coast.
The islands of the south-west, including Schouwen-Duiveland and Noord-Beveland, have an average elevation below sea level.
The North Sea flood of 1953 ravaged these low-lying coastal regions, and the Delta Works were begun afterwards as a massive project of dams, storm surge barriers and dikes.
The Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier, the largest part of the Delta Works, closes in between Schouwen-Duiveland and Noord-Beveland.
The final barriers were completed in 1997.
Delta the country lies in:
Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt
North Sea flood that prompted the Delta Works:
1953
Islands closed in by the Eastern Scheldt barrier:
Schouwen-Duiveland, Noord-Beveland
Final Delta Works barriers completed:
1997
Why it matters for exams: Flood defence, polders and the delta explain the Dutch geography that is asked alongside neighbours and seas.
Kerala PSCUPSC