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Geography of the Netherlands

Geography of the Netherlands
Satellite image of the Netherlands in May 2000
Satellite image of the Netherlands in May 2000

The geography of the European Netherlands is unusual in that much of its land has been reclaimed from the sea and is below sea level, protected by dikes. It is a small country with a total area of 41,545 km2 (16,041 sq mi) and ranked 131st. With a population of 17.4 million and density of 521/km2 (1,350/sq mi) makes it the second most densely populated member of the European Union after Malta, and the 12th most densely populated country in the world, behind only three countries with a population over 16 million. Consequently, the Netherlands is highly urbanized.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Geography of the Netherlands (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geography of the Netherlands
Geldersedreef, Lelystad

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Wikipedia: Geography of the NetherlandsContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 52.5 ° E 5.5 °
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Address

Geldersedreef

Geldersedreef
8226 RR Lelystad
Flevoland, Netherlands
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Satellite image of the Netherlands in May 2000
Satellite image of the Netherlands in May 2000
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Nearby Places

Lake Flevo
Lake Flevo

Lake Flevo was a lake in what is now the Netherlands, which existed in Roman times and the early Middle Ages. Some geographers believe that it was not a single lake, but rather a set of interconnected lakes. From the Indo-European root *plew- "flow", the name was transmitted by the Roman geographer Pomponius Mela in describing this region. In his treatise on geography of 44 AD, Pomponius speaks of a Flevo Lacus. He writes: "The northern branch of the Rhine widens as Lake Flevo, and encloses an island of the same name, and then as a normal river flows to the sea". Other sources rather speak of Flevum, which could be related to today's Vlie (Vliestroom), i.e. the seaway between the Dutch islands of Vlieland and Terschelling. This last name is grammatically more probable for a geographical indication, which is why it is assumed that Pomponius confused the declension of the word giving the name Flevo. In fact the Vlie formed outfall from the lake into the North Sea. Some texts of the middle-ages refer to this lake by the name of Almere. December 14, 1287, in what was called St. Lucia's flood during a memorable storm in Friesland and Holland, the North Sea invaded the freshwater lake, breaking and destroying several dams dunes and transformed it into a bay which was then called the Zuiderzee, meaning Southern Sea. In the second half of the twentieth century the Flevopolders and a new province, Flevoland, took the name of the body of water which lay there long ago.