“A pitiful land, flooded twice a day,” was the verdict of the Roman savant, Pliny the Elder, of a region where “wretched peoples living in huts” perpetually battle to resolve the question of whether it “belongs to the land or the sea”.
The Greek geographer Pytheas reckoned “more people die here in the struggle against water” than against men. Yet by the late 17th century, the Netherlands was arguably Europe’s wealthiest nation. Even today the Dutch are, per head, in the global top 10.
