Land reclaimed from the sea adjacent to shore by constructing
dikes and
pumping out water.
This is a technique used widely along the coast of the
Netherlands since the
Middle Ages. The largest reclamation thus far began in 1932 when the
Dutch began draining the Zuider Zee,
a shallow inlet of the
North Sea in central Netherlands.
The project allowed for 850 sq mi (2,200 sq km) of land to be used for
farmland and
urban expansion.