Category: Windmills and Canals
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Why a Third of the Netherlands Was Once the Bottom of the Sea
How the Dutch reclaimed a third of their country from the sea and built an entire new province — plus get weekly Netherlands stories free in our newsletter.
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What Kinderdijk’s 19 Windmills Actually Did — and Why They Still Turn
Kinderdijk’s 19 windmills kept a Dutch region from drowning for centuries. Discover why they were built and what they saved — plus get weekly Netherlands stories free in our newsletter.
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How the Dutch Turned Catastrophe Into the World’s Greatest Sea Defence
In 1953, the North Sea killed 1,836 Dutch people in a single night. What the Netherlands built in response changed engineering forever — plus get weekly Netherlands stories free in our newsletter.
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The Dutch Windmill Village Where Life Still Runs on Wind and Wood
Discover Zaanse Schans, the living windmill village 20 minutes from Amsterdam where eight working mills still grind spices and press oil — plus get weekly Netherlands stories free in our newsletter.
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Why Kinderdijk Has 19 Windmills (And Why They Still Matter)
Image: Shutterstock A row of 19 windmills stands in a line along a canal south-east of Rotterdam, and together they look like the most Dutch thing on earth. Most visitors come, take a photograph, and leave thinking “well, that was lovely.” Almost nobody asks the obvious question: why are there 19 of them in a…