Elburg, Nunspeet

What connects the Veluwe farming village of Nunspeet with the also Veluwe historic fishing town of Elburg? Two Veluwe towns that are very different and have very different histories. That is the Oude Zeeweg along the Veluwemeer, which, both physically and symbolically, plays a connecting role between the two places and was once part of the dykes that had to protect the area from the Zuiderzee.

The Zuiderzee was a large inland sea in the north of the Netherlands, which regularly caused floods. Especially during storm tides, the sea posed a major threat to surrounding coastal towns, such as Elburg. Over the centuries, quite a few of these storm surges took place. The Sint-Luciaflood of 1287, the Sint-Elisabethflood of 1421, the Stormflood of 1825 and the Stormflood of 1916 all had a devastating impact on Elburg. Dykes broke, houses were destroyed and the town, infrastructure and farmland were flooded time and again. People had to evacuate and livestock further inland regularly drowned. Higher Nunspeet did not experience these problems, but opened doors of churches, barns and farms to accommodate evacuees.

The young engineer Cornelis Lely (1854-1929) was a member of the Zuiderzeevereeniging that was founded in 1886 to draw up plans to close off and reclaim the Zuiderzee. The Hague engineer did a lot of research and produced no fewer than eight reports detailing his plans. In 1891, he presented his plans: a closing dike was to make the Zuiderzee safer and its reclamation was to provide agricultural land to solve long-term food shortages. Yet Lely's plans met with much opposition, even during the periods when he was a minister himself. Engineer Lely served as minister in three cabinets, from 1891 to 1894, from 1897 to 1901 and from 1913 to 1918. Only during his third term as minister and after the 1916 storm surge and the 1918 famine, was he able to convince parliament to pass his Zuiderzee Act.

It was not until January 1927 that construction of the afsluitdijk actually started. Only in 1932 was the afsluitdijk completed and the Zuiderzee no longer existed as such. From then on, the inland part of the dike was called the IJsselmeer. Cornelis Lely did not live to see it himself; he died in 1929 in The Hague, aged 74, while making plans for the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal. Simultaneously with the construction of the afsluitdijk, the reclamation of the Wieringermeer in North Holland was started. When this pilot project succeeded, the Noordoostpolder and Flevopolders were also reclaimed, which incidentally also met with opposition. The afsluitdijk and the reclamation had major consequences for life in the former Zuiderzee. Herring, porpoises and seals disappeared there forever and fishermen revolted. As a result, it was eventually decided not to impolder the Markermeer.

With the impoldering of the Eastern Flevopolder in 1957, a narrow strip of water was created between the new polder and the Veluwe mainland; the Veluwemeer was born. Today, you can cycle along the Oude Zeeweg between Nunspeet and Elburg with a view of the Veluwemeer. You will then cycle past the remains of St Ludgerus church, which was damaged in the 1825 storm, and discover what makes both Veluwe towns so unique. The history of fishing in Elburg and the agricultural character of Nunspeet.

Pen drawing Elburg: Gelders Archive
Photo Ir. Lely: Flevoland Archive


This Premium Cycle Route was compiled by our editor: Désirée van Uffelen.