The Netherlands has many thousands of dikes. Dikes are the pivotal elements in our landscape, and have great cultural-historical value. We live in dike houses on the Waalbandijk, cycle along the meandering Omringdijk in West Friesland, or visit the monument on the Afsluitdijk. Nevertheless, quite a few of the dikes fail to meet current safety standards. In order to guarantee our safety, knowledge about dikes is therefore necessary. It is time for an overview as well as a look towards the future, in a standard work: Dutch Dikes.
Despite their importance to our history, economy, culture, and nature, our dikes have never been properly mapped out. This is remarkable, because without dikes, the Netherlands would never have existed.
