3. The church of the island’s ‘principal town’ Middelbuurt
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6. Short History Schokland stands for the history and culture of the Netherlands; it is the symbol of our struggle against the sea. For centuries, Schokland was a densily populated island in the Zuiderzee. But when the sealevel kept rising, Schokland became smaller and smaller. By the early 19th century, the situatie had become intolerable, but the inhabitants of the island refused to give in. In 1859, after repeated flood disasters, the last villages were finally evacueted by royal decree. The island was abandoneded to the elements and the Schokland culture came to an end. In 1942, a large part of the former Zuiderzee was reclaimed, which meant that Schokland ceased being an island and could be reached from all sides via the former see floor.
7. 1859 Schokland’s loss of its island status took place in several stages, the first one ending in 1859. The population of slightly over 600 souls were forced to give up their age-long struggle against the water and were evacueted by order of the Dutch government. Permanent inhabitation of the island had become too dangerous in the view of the authorities. At that time, the situation was so bad, that with every storm the island was largely flooded. The population was forced to retreat in three villages that were built on ‘terps’ (mounds); Middelbuurt, Zuidert and Emmeloord. They used wooden foot planks to move between those villages, because most of the time the soggy land was impassable. In very heavy storms even the terps did not provide a safe place, as became clear in 1825, when a hurricane flooded the whole island and killes 13 inhabitants.
9. 1940 The next stage in the ‘embedding’ of Schokland started in 1940, when the dike of the Noordoostpolder was completed. This polder was part of the extensive Zuiderzee works, a project for the reclamation of a large part of the former Zuiderzee that was developed by the hydraulic engineer and minister Cornelis Lely. From now on, Schokland was lying within the dike of an enclosed lake. The lighthouses had lost their purpose and the last light keeper left Schokland in 1940. On the 9th of September 1942, in the middle of World War II, the Noordoostpolder was officially declared to be clear of the water and Schokland had actually become part of the mainland. In a certain sense this restored the situation as it was before the year 1000, when the Zuiderzee did not excist yet. So, finally man prevailed in the struggle against the water!
