Schouwen-Duiveland

I used to live on the island of Schouwen-Duiveland, located in the south-west corner of the Netherlands. This area is a river delta where 3 european rivers (among which the Rhine) come together. This part of the country is called Zeeland.

On the northern edge of this delta lies Rotterdam, the second largest city in the Netherlands and also the worlds largest harbour. On the south lies Belgium.

In the past this delta area consisted mainly of sandbanks. The sea has a rather big tidal difference of several metres here. So most of the land got flooded at least for some parts of the day. (BTW, you can check out the actual tidal situation here).

Many centuries ago the people on the islands started building dikes to protect themselves against high floods. Such pieces of land surrounded by dikes are called polders. At first they only made the highest parts of the islands into polders, but later also the lower sandbanks. Only the most western parts of the islands don't need dikes because they have a natural protection in the form of high dunes.

Sometimes several smaller islands were joined together into one larger island this way. This has also happened with the island that I live on. The name shows that it used to be 2 different islands called Schouwen and Duiveland (and also 2 smaller ones). Actually, the polder where my home is located used to be the water that seperated the islands.

At other times however land has been lost because of breaking dikes. On the picture shown here you can see an old church tower which was the only remainder of an old village after the polder was re-conquered from the sea.

In fact, not only the islands in the south west consist of these polders which are protected by dikes, but the whole western and northern part of the country. Large parts of the country even lay below the (average) sea level.

On februari 1^st 1953 something terrible took place in this area. That night there was a very heavy storm in combination with an exceptional high flood. During this storm several dikes broke and thousands of people were drowned that night.

After this disastrous event the people of Holland vowed that they'de never let something like this ever happen again. So they started up the project called the Deltaplan. This project consisted of 2 parts. First: building higher and stronger dikes around the islands. And second and most important: protect the delta area by building big dams between the islands.

One of those dams is a very special one. It is one that can be opened and closed on demand. This is done with big plates between huge pillars that can be pulled up or let down. This dam is really a very amazing and remarkable construction. The reason for building this special sort of dam instead of a regular dam was for ecological reasons. Much of the sealife in the waters behind the dam would have died if the tidal difference would have disapeared. Now the dam only closes whenever there's a storm or an exceptional high flood. The location of this dam is in the Oosterschelde, just south of the island that I live on.

All those dams not only protect us from high floods, but they also connect the islands to each other and to the mainland. Because of this, the islands can nowadays be reached by car. Ferry ships are not needed anymore. Apart from 3 different dams, my island is also connected with a long bridge called the Zeelandbrug. This bridge has a total length of 5 km. At the time it was built, it was the longest bridge in Europe.

The island has a population of about 30,000 people. About 10,000 of them live in Zierikzee, the main town on the island. Schouwen-Duiveland is a rural area and also a very popular tourist location, especialy the western part near the coast.

A short description of some of the places on the island:

Bruinisse. This is the most eastern village on the island. My mother was born here. This used to be a fishermans village. Many of the inhibitants descend from french huguenots, who fled from France in the 17th century because of religious persecution.

Zierikzee. As stated ealier, this is the main town on the island. It is a small historical city with lots of ancient monuments. In the past it used to be surrounded by a big citywall, but this wall has been broken down at some point in the past. In recent times some new suburbs have been added to the town.

Brouwershaven. Another medieval town which was once like Zierikzee, but which has sortof decayed in the past centuries. The rather big church, which was once at the center otf the town is now loacted on the edge of it...

Brouwersdam. This is one of the dams that connect the island to other islands. Along this dam is a very popular beach and windsurf location. It's especially very popular among german tourists.

Renesse. This is the nightlife center of the island. There are lots of bars, dancings, discotheques and fastfood restaurants here. This village is located on the west side of the island near the coast. There are many campsites in the area.

Westenschouwen. Another village on the west side of the island. This area has the largest dunes. There's also a small forrest in those dunes. This is a very beautiful location for a walk.

Noordgouwe. There's not that much special to tell about this village. It's the closest village to my previous home village Schuddebeurs. I went to primary school here when I was a kid.

Schuddebeurs. Last but not least :-). This is the village where I used to live. I was born and raised here. It's located somewhere in the middle of the island. It's really very small with only a few hundred inhabitants. Often it is considered as a suburb of the neighbouring village Noordgouwe. It's a somewhat peculiar combination of a farmers village and a rich suburb. There are a couple of small forests here and quite a few country-houses and villas. Actually, it is a bit boring village. Apart from a fancy restaurant and a gasoline station, there's not much else. For shopping and social activities people usualy either go to Noordgouwe or Zierikzee.