Cruyningen, P. van.

Bedijkingen in het Deltagebied tussen 1540 en 1700.

Historisch geografisch tijdschrift 32 (2014) 29 - 38.

Wie naar informatie zoekt over de hoeveelheid land die in Nederland sinds de vroeg-moderne tijd is ingedijkt, moet het doen met cijfers die in 1869 zijn gepubliceerd en al rond het midden van de 19e eeuw zijn verzameld. De resultaten van anderhalve eeuw waterstaatshistorisch en historisch-geografisch onderzoek zijn er dus niet in verwerkt. Aan die cijfers blijkt dan ook nogal wat te schorten. In dit artikel wordt geprobeerd tot een betrouwbaarder overzicht te komen voor het zuidwestelijk Deltagebied in de vroegmoderne tijd.

Land reclamation in the Delta area (Southwest of the Netherlands) between 1540 and 1700.

Information on the acreage of marshes and lakes drained since 1540 in the Netherlands was collected by Hartogh Heys van Zouteveen and was published in 1869. Since then several historians and geographers used his data in their publications, although some realized his data were deficient and tried to remedy this for some regions. In this article the data of Hartogh Heys for the South-west of the Netherlands are compared with a database composed in 2012, based on the most recent research on land reclamation in this part of the country. Although he did impeccable research, his data are proven to be unreliable because now we know much more about the years in which the polders were drained. However, the new data even more strongly confirm his main thesis: investment in land reclamation was influenced by the political situation. In years of peace and stability investment was high, in wartime it collapsed.