page_title: List of Dutch inventions and innovations
section_title: First pound lock in Europe (1373)
hierarchical_section_title: List of Dutch inventions and innovations / Inventions and innovations / Technology and engineering / First pound lock in Europe (1373)
caption_attribution_description: A map of the Zuiderzeeworks in the Netherlands. Made specifically for use in the Wikipedia article
context_page_description: The Netherlands and its people have made numerous contributions to the world's civilization in art, science, technology and engineering, economics and finance, cartography and geography, exploration and navigation, law and jurisprudence, thought and philosophy, medicine. and agriculture. The following list is composed of objects, unknown lands, breakthrough ideas/concepts, principles, phenomena, processes, methods, techniques, styles etc., that were discovered or invented by people from the Netherlands and Dutch-speaking people from the former Southern Netherlands. Until the fall of Antwerp, the Dutch and Flemish were generally seen as one people.
context_section_description: The Netherlands revived the construction of canals during the 13th–14th century that had generally been discontinued since the fall of the Roman Empire. They also contributed in the development of canal construction technology, such as introducing the first flash locks in Europe. The first pound lock in Europe was built by the Dutch in 1373 at Vreeswijk, where a canal from Utrecht joins the river Lek.
caption: The Zuiderzee Works turned the Zuiderzee into a fresh water lake IJsselmeer, and created 1650 km² of land. Flood control and land reclamation have been ongoing through history, making the Dutch among the world's leading experts in hydraulic engineering.[415] The Dutch have demonstrated that it is perfectly feasible to safely live below sea level. About 30% of the Netherlands lies below sea level. Also, about 55% of its area is vulnerable to flooding, and about 29% is susceptible to river flooding. As a really small-sized country with few natural resources, about 1/6 of the entire country (about 7,000 km2 in total) has been reclaimed from the sea, lakes, marshes and swamps. This has led to an old Dutch saying, "God created the world, but the Dutch created Holland (or the Netherlands)".
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