Which province of the Netherlands was reclaimed from the bay that endangered the country?

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.

After a flood in 1916, the Zuiderzee, an inland sea within the Netherlands, was decided to be enclosed and reclaimed: 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 (lake at the end of the river IJssel) 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 (English: Northeast polder) 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.