Ask Me Everything 3

Jiow many canals does Amsterdam have?

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There are five main canals and around 160 shorter waterways in Amsterdam. They drain into the IJsselmeer, the large shallow lakę in the center of the Netherlands. Amsterdam was laid out in the 1600s, and the canals are lined with narrow, steep-gabled houses, supported on wooden posts driven deep into the mud.

The Netherlands

01: Land area: 13,097 sq miles (33,929 sq km)

02: Population: 16,716,000

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		■Wh Ś -r

How to: make a polder

03: Highest point: 1,053 ft (321 m)

04: Lowest point: -21 ft

(-6.7 m)

05: Extent of waterways:

2,734 miles (4,400 km)

06: Capital: Amsterdam (The Hague is the seat of government)

Tell me morę: land from the sea

■    The Netherlands lies on the edge of the North Sea and is very fiat.

■    Around 24 percent of the land is below sea level, and was once covered with water.

■    Land reclamation began 700 years ago and is still going on today.

B Dikes are built to hołd back the sea, creating areas of reclaimed land called polders.

■    Polder land is very fertile and is used for intensive farming.

B Large cities, such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam, are built on reclaimed land.

B Rising sea levels due to global warming increase the danger of flooding

I ■ First, choose a suitable place parallel to the shoreline to make your polder.

Build a dam, or dike, to hołd back the sea and start pumping out the water from the land side.

VW ■ When the polder is ready, plant marram grasses on it to absorb the salt and to hołd the soil together.

■ Dig canals to keep the polder drained of water. You can now build your house on dry land