van Dam, Petra J.E.M.

English

Before 1850 the low-lying areas of the Netherlands shared what I have termed an ‘amphibious culture’. The essence of this amphibious culture was a series of cultural adaptations to the wetland landscape. The first such adaption was the construction of settlements on elevations. During times of flooding, settlements provided shelter for victims from the inundated countryside. In addition, they served as centres of coordination for infrastructural repairs, as well as sources of material and financial reserves for post-flood reconstruction. A second feature was the compartmentalisation of the land, divided by interior dikes. This served to mitigate the adverse impact of floods by temporarily containing rising water levels. A third feature was the high potential of evacuation for both humans and animals due to the dense network of waterways and the wide access to boats. The amphibious culture model is derived from the coastal area around the Zuider Sea and, in this article, is applied to another low-lying part of the Netherlands, the River Region. Ultimately, the model contributes to understanding cultural and physical coping strategies and societal resilience to flooding.<br/

VU Research Portal

VU Research PortalThe amphibous culture along the Zuiderzee and the big rivers in the Netherlands, 1500-1850van Dam, Petra J.E.M.published inA comparative reflection about the Yangtze River and the Rhine2022document versionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of recorddocument licenseArticle 25fa Dutch Copyright ActLink to publication in VU Research Portalcitation for published version (APA)van Dam, P. J. E. M. (2022). The amphibous culture along the Zuiderzee and the big rivers in the Netherlands,1500-1850. In Z. Wang, & H. A. M. Klemann (Eds.), A comparative reflection about the Yangtze River and theRhine (pp. 274-295). Zhongxi book Company.General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.            • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.            • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain            • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ?Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediatelyand investigate your claim.E-mail address:vuresearchportal.ub@vu.nlDownload date: 14. Oct. 2023

The amphibous culture along the Zuiderzee and the big rivers in the Netherlands, 1500-1850

https://research.vu.nl/ws/files/251952310/Van_Dam_2022_Amphibous_culture_along_the_Zuiderzee_text.pdf

The amphibous culture along the Zuiderzee and the big rivers in the Netherlands, 1500-1850

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

VU Research Portal