This allowed the introduction of 3 pumping area’s, that eventually drained the water in 1957 They first reclaimed small Island areas on which the workers and officials could live, and with determination they got as far as the mainland in 1955. The work was interrupted due to the war, but began again in 1950. However before the beginning on the Second World War it was decided that the land should once again be reclaimed from the sea.

The Zuiderzee was essential in the middle ages for the transportation of goods to and from Amsterdam and the North sea trading routes. It grew further in the middle ages under the name of Almere and then Zuiderzee. In the Roman times this new lake was called, Lacus Flevo. This encroachment of the water led to the peat banks, (peat was essential in these times, as it was cut then dried and used as fuel for cooking and domestic heating) being destroyed by the encroaching sea. But due to rising sea levels this was made more and more difficult. Indeed It was discovered that some very old skeletons of people, the oldest in this part of Europe, were living at or around Swifterbant, about 13 km from the area that is now Lelystad. And the later part of it’s history when the area that had been submerged by the rising sea levels, was drained of water and made fit for human habitation again.Īround 4,500BC, this marshy land was inhabited by people who lived off of the land. The history of Lelystad is in 2 parts really, the early part when the area was still above water given the lower sea levels of the time. But what it misses in historical context it makes up for in the modern and natural attractions that it has to offer. This means that the whole of the city is fairly new and so does not have the historic center that many Dutch cities have. The city itself has only existed since 1967 when the last draining of the water was complete and the land was no longer under the sea. It is also the capital city of the province of Flevoland. Lelystad is a city and a municipality in the middle of Holland.

Sun journal obituaries