Send Gift Baskets to Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands

Besides playing an important natural role, the original Haarlemmermeer lake was a relic of a northern arm of the Rhine which passed through this historic district in Roman times. In 1531, there were three smaller lakes near the original: the Leidsche Meer (Leiden Lake), the Spiering Meer, and the Oude Meer (Old Lake). Together they accounted for an area of about 31 square kilometers.

A few hundred years ago, the Haarlemmermeer formed by merging four lakes. In the process, many villages were submerged in water. One such village was Vennep, which is why Nieuw-Vennep was named after it. In Dutch, lakes either stay the same size or shrink; these changes are called “water wolves.” There is no word for lakes to grow. Haarlemmermeer was the scene of a naval battle in the Dutch War of Independence, fought between a Spanish fleet and ships of an alliance known as “the Rebel Sea Beggars,” who tried to break the Siege of Haarlemmermeer.

Many dangerous moments occurred in the past here and will in the future. On 7 January 1629, Frederick Henry drowned while attempting to cross during a storm. Haarlemmermeer, home to millions of people, was nearly twice the size it is today.

Jan Adriaanszoon Leeghwater proposed to dig a dike and drain the lake in 1643 on similar schemes by Nicolaus Samuel Cruquius in 1742 and Baron van Lijnden van Hemmen 20 years earlier. But it wasn’t just the natural disasters that caused the intellectual revolution. It was only after some of the worst artificial tragedies in history, such as an 1836 hurricane that flooded Amsterdam and a Christmas Day 1834 flood that struck Leiden.