H.D. Pieters, MA
- Telephone:+31 20 59 87377
- Room nr:n-531
- E-mail:h.d.pieters@vu.nl
- Unit:faculteit der letteren (geschiedenis)
- Position:PhD
Research interests
Water history; Cultural history; History of technology; Heritage studies
Research
History of perception and management of floods in the Zuiderzee area (1600-1932)
The former Zuiderzee (“Southern Sea”) was a large salt water inlet of the North Sea in the northern part of the Netherlands. In 1932 the Afsluitdijk (“Closuredike”) was built, damming off the Zuiderzee and creating a large freshwater lake called the IJsselmeer (“Lake IJssel”). Before the construction of the Afsluitdijk, floods were a common part of life at the coastal areas of the Zuiderzee. Natural disasters like floods obviously have short term effects on the people living close to the sea. People drown and lose their cattle and houses. Dikes and villages have to be repaired and reconstructed afterwards. The consequences of floods were not only felt on this short term but also had long term effects.
The research of archaeologists and historical geographers provides a good overview of major and minor floods in the Zuiderzee area since 1500. Nevertheless, a lot of questions remain unanswered. How did people living next to the Zuiderzee cope with the threat of floods? Did their perceptions vary in place and time and how can these developments and variations be explained? What has been done with these experiences, have they led to changes in the way people thought and coped with floods? To answer these questions methods and approaches will be used that have been developed over the last two decades in the so-called field of disaster history.
This project is part of the research programme “The biography of the new land” which is an interdisciplinary research programme into the history and heritage of land, town and water in the former Zuiderzee area. This research programme is a cooperation between the research institute CLUE (Cultural Landscape and Urban Environment) of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the heritage centre of the province of Flevoland, the Nieuw Land Erfgoedcentrum.
Publications
- Harm Pieters en Paul Brood, Uitvinders in Nederland : vier eeuwen octrooien (G+J Uitgevers, Diemen 2009 1e druk).
