Wieringermeer

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Coordinates: 52.85° N 5.03° E
Wieringermeer

Country	Netherlands
Province	North Holland
Area (2006)
- Municipality	307.76 km² (118.8 sq mi)
- Land	194.82 km² (75.2 sq mi)
- Water	112.94 km² (43.6 sq mi)
Population (1 January 2007)
- Municipality	12,676
- Density	65/km² (168.3/sq mi)
	Source: CBS, Statline.
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Website: www.wieringermeer.nl

Wieringermeer is a municipality and a polder in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland.

1 Population centres
2 History
3 Local government
4 References

[edit] Population centres

The municipality of Wieringermeer consists of the following cities, towns, villages and/or districts: Kreileroord, Middenmeer, Slootdorp, Wieringerwerf.

[edit] History

The Wieringmeerpolder is a polder, newly created land. The creation of this polder started in 1927. Originally the polder would have been created after the completion of the Afsluitdijk, but there was a severe lack of agricultural ground. This meant that the dikes for the polder had to be built in the Zuiderzee, a sea, instead of in the milder lake IJsselmeer that the Zuiderzee would become after the completion of the Afsluitdijk. Therefore the dikes had to be tougher and ready to withstand the sea. Draining of the polder was finished on August 21, 1930.

The new land became useable in 1934. Four villages (Slootdorp (1931), Middenmeer (1933), Wieringerwerf (1936) and Kreileroord (1957)) eventually grew up in the polder. Since July 1, 1941 the Wieringermeer is an independent municipality. The Netherlands were occupied by Nazi Germany and on April 17, 1945 a vengeful German command ordered the dike of the Wieringermeer to be blown up: the Wieringmeer was innundated. No-one was killed as the polder slowly submerged again (the inhabitants where warned, too), but the high water and a subsequent storm destroyed most of the infrastructure built in the previous decade. The floodwater was fresh water, so the land did not have to be desalinated again. Reconstruction followed quickly; by the end of 1945 the polder was declared drained again and rebuilding the roads and bridges, houses and farms, was greatly facilitated by the experience of building them the first time.