'God created the world except Holland. The Dutch took it from the sea’.

This phrase summarises the characteristics of the Dutch landscape: man-man and water. This combination has resulted in typical, internationally important landscapes within Europe. Reclaimed lakes and polders are hardly found outside the Netherlands. Hardly, because in similar European coastal lowlands and bog areas one can find literally Dutch landscapes. During the whole second millennium Dutch people, organisations and capital were active in the reclamation of bogs, fens and coastal lowlands in Germany, Poland, England, France and Italy. The (clickable) maps on this page show their location. You will find guided walking tours through a selection of these landscapes that reveal the history of Dutch colonists, engineers and estate developers abroad. Walking tours in similar landscapes within the Netherlands are included as a reference.